Rethinking Writing Instruction in the Age of AI

Writing is an invaluable academic skill, but it is also much more than that. It is a tool for thinking, a means of personal expression, and a vehicle of self-discovery. Despite the intellectual, interpersonal, and psychological value of writing, however, too many students, and too many people in general, feel "shut out" of writing.

With its emphasis on identifying and eradicating barriers to learning, Universal Design for Learning provides a framework that can help to empower student writers. Thinking about the stages of the writing process through a UDL lens can help writing instructors design activities that make each of these stages more accessible to more students. Even as the final goal of a writing project might be a written text, alternative forms of composition can enhance the sub-stages of the writing process in ways that provide multiple means for students to engage with the material and express their ideas.

As the world of composition instruction faces AI panic, the questions asked by compositionists should not be how to bypass the impact of chatbot tech, but how to embrace it as an opportunity for us to rethink what writing is for, why it's worth teaching and learning, and even, on a basic level, what writing is. Fortunately, UDL provides an educational philosophy that centers itself around adaptability to change. The goal of the "AI-proof" assignments in this book are not specifically to prevent students from "cheating," but to structure composition activities that engage students on personal and interpersonal levels.