Working With (Not Against) the Technology: GPT3 and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in College Composition

Abstract

James Hutson*, Daniel Plate

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) for improvement of writing is commonplace with word-processing software and cloud- based writing assistants such as Grammarly and Microsoft Word. However, more and more options are cropping up that move beyond assistance with grammar, spelling, and punctuation to complete essay generation. The free availability of AI essay generators has led to lamenting the coming death of college writing. But AI has been used in the previously noted examples for decades without such a reaction. In fact, the idea that the use of essay generating software is synonymous with academic dishonesty is as passé as worries about allowing students to use calculators or chalkboards. Both are tools that emerged by affording students a different type of learning which was not rote memorization.

The questions now become how AI tools can and should be used to teach English composition and to what extent. In the con- ceptual age where AI is used to augment all other facets of human creativity, providing students with the tools they will need for effective communication becomes inevitable. These new AI tools may allow students to master grammar and syntax more quickly in order to move on to important research questions that will contribute to knowledge in their given fields. This study investigates the current and potential uses of AWE, AAG and AI essay generators in a first-semester English composition classroom.

Students in the study were provided with the same assignments and learning outcomes as are standard in English, composition courses but were encouraged to use AI applications when prompted to discover the usefulness and limitations of such technol- ogy. Results from the study confirm that use of such tools does not automatically lead to plagiarism or academic dishonesty. On the contrary, higher-order thinking skills and metacognition are required to use AI tools appropriately to learn writing skills. Furthermore, the tools themselves became the topic covered in the class for the study and led to further social and ethical implications.

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