This session has three presentations that focus on questions related to authorship, the student perspective on AI projects, and the ethics of using AI.
Teaching Authorship in the Age of AI
Yunus Doğan Telliel and Kevin Lewis
In this presentation, we discuss our findings from an ongoing research study examining students’ perceptions of authorship when working with generative AI tools in their writing projects. This research focuses on Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Professional Writing Program, consisting of a student survey, a faculty survey, and a qualitative study of AI-related assignments in technical communication courses.
Beyond Perceptions: Surveying Student Experiences with Responsible AI Use in Writing Courses
John Sherrill and Michael Salvo
This 20-minute presentation will provide instructor and student experiences working with AI in professional writing courses, including an experience report of teaching a collaborative report about AI, and preliminary findings from a mixed-methods survey of student experiences using AI. Rather than focusing exclusively on student and instructor perceptions about AI use in the classroom, our presentation challenges common instructor perceptions about how students may be using generative AI and LLMs in the classroom by providing experiential and quantitative data about how AI is shaping professional writing.
Technical Writing and Generative AI: Some takeaways for ethical reflection
Manushri Pandya and Arthur Berger
How are technical writers actually using generative AI?
At times, technical writers report using generative AI in ways that run counter to prevailing narratives. We hope to use our survey along with continuous feedback to think more critically about what the core concerns of the field are to its practitioners, in order to achieve its mission of “advanc[ing] technical communication as the discipline of transforming complex information into usable content for products, processes, and services.” [1] To that end, this presentation seeks to explore and provide insight into the intersections between AI, its potential impact on the practice of technical communication, its ethical implications, as well as its pedagogical applications and/or challenges in technical writing. [1] – STC mission from https://www.stc.org/about-stc/mission-a-vision/ Note: This is a collaborative project between Arthur Berger, President STC-Carolina; Manushri Pandya, PhD Student at NC State.