AI in WI: �Writing and Thinking Through Our Disciplinary Lenses

Recognizing disciplinary ways of using language is important because one cannot fully comprehend the texts of a specific discipline—where disciplinary knowledge is produced, stored, transmitted, and evaluated—without having a sense of how the discipline organizes information through language. 

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Fang (2012, p. 36)

Large Language Models (LLMs) are "trained on most of the internet, which it uses to create webs of associations to do next word prediction" (Ethan Mollick). 

Evolving LLMs

Every semester, I ask ChatGPT "What do university faculty need to know about LLMs going into the semester?" 

Bing Co-Pilot

login with MU credentials

semi-protected

ChatGPT (free version)

not protected

less powerful than paid version

Google Gemini

data cutoff at 2023

multimodal

Claude

free version is limited

developer focus on safety & ethics

Key Points for Faculty (Spring 2025 Semester)

• Capabilities
• Assist with writing, summarizing, and providing feedback.
• Support research by synthesizing ideas and suggesting resources.
• Aid in creating lectures, quizzes, and problem-solving models.
• Limitations and Risks
• Can produce inaccurate or biased information ("hallucinations").
• Raises ethical concerns about originality and academic misconduct.
• Pedagogical Implications
• Redesign assignments to emphasize drafts, reflections, and process.
• Teach students to critically evaluate AI-generated content.
• Integrate AI as a learning tool, not a shortcut.
• Academic Integrity
• Update policies to clarify acceptable AI use in coursework.
• Be cautious with AI-detection tools due to accuracy issues.

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AI Tool Options Supported by MU 

Disciplinary Reading, Writing, And Thinking in the Age of AI

What are specific ways of thinking and/or skills you want students to get out of your courses?

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Which of these thinking practices or skills are better developed in collaboration with AI?

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Which are better developed apart from AI?

Image generated using Canva Magic Media 

If learning with AI, how do you convince students to use the AI to help them learn and go slowly rather than as a shortcut to doing the work quickly? 

ChatGPT as an alarm clock for teaching and learning. 

~ Dr. Sid Dobrin

In other words, how do we increase students’ time management practices and their investment in the writing process to make AI a tool rather than a shortcut?

Shanahan, T., & Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching disciplinary literacy to adolescents: Rethinking content-area literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 78 (1), 40-59. 

You are here

Our students are here

We each have a "disciplinary literacy profile" (Buehl, 2011) or varying degrees of literacy depending on the discipline. 

When reading in your discipline . . .

•  In what order do you approach a new text?
• Which elements do you pay most attention to? 
• Which elements do you skim? 

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When thinking in your discipline . . .

•  What does fact mean to you?
•  What sort of evidence is appropriate and convincing? 

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When writing in your discipline . . .

•  What voice is valued in journal articles or other publications? 
•  What sort of structure is preferred?

Our students may think that knowledge is a discrete thing to be gained—and that we have all the answers. 

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Or they may see reading/writing as one-size-fits-all practices. 

Strategies to Engage Students in the Initial Processes of Reading, Thinking, and Writing

Please reach out to me if you want to brainstorm more ideas for your specific class!

{My class} opens up all these wonderful questions that I hope give them a lens to consider not just A.I. after they leave my classroom but whatever comes after A.I. Because there’ll always be a new wave of technology that promises a shinier future while hiding the risk and the trade-offs" (McMillan Cottom).

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Gift link (30 minute listen)

Academic Integrity

The Student Code of Conduct prohibits students' use of generative AI on assignments without explicit permission from the instructor. 

See your handout and Missouri Online's Teaching Tools site for more info. 

. . . BUT this policy still allows grammar checking features in Grammarly or MS Word. 

AI Guidelines from Provost's Office

Visit the Provost's Office AI and Syllabus Information Website for more.

All courses must include an AI policy with the following:

• When the use of AI is permitted with attribution.  
• When the use of AI is not permitted.  
• What are the consequences for misusing AI (refer to academic integrity policy).
• Which AI tools are permitted or not permitted.
• What counts as AI use in their course, including applications like grammar checkers, spellcheck, web search, and editing aids. 

Student data should NOT be entered into generative AI tools" (Provost Martens email communication, August 2024).

"Currently, MU does not allow the use of AI detectors for student work. These tools are likely to provide false results, and dependence upon them may result in false accusations" (AI Task Force Report, 2024).

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How Do We Address Disciplinary Literac(ies) in Writing Intensive Courses? 

• Consider real-world problems which have more than one acceptable solution
• Practice critical scholarship
• Perform critical reflection 
• Take and defend a position on an issue
• Pick a topic/format and justify the choice 
• Perform original research and defend research approach
• Interpret data and evidence to justify conclusions
• Other 

Writing Intensive Guidelines

Addressing complexity in context, interpretation, explanation, analysis, evidence, or evaluation.

Reflecting on our Students 

Now consider and take a few minutes to jot ideas. . . ​

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• Where might you allow/encourage AI? Where might you prohibit it?
• What parts of your understanding/writing process might be new to students? ​
• What elements of your writing process might you want to make visible to your students? 
• How might you want to revise or adapt your writing assignment(s) to engage students in processes for learning disciplinary reading/writing/thinking?