Comp in the Age of AI

Hi, all. Below is a page (very much in-progress) of sample assignments, discussion questions and resources for teaching about and with Chat GPT in the City Tech classroom. If you have any assignments that have been particularly successful in your own classes, please email me at: firstyearwriting@citytech.cuny.edu and I’ll add them to this page!

Introductory Discussion:

We suggest that early in the semester, you discuss Chat GPT with your students. Here is a slideshow that will guide students through that discussion. It includes info on how Chat GPT works, plagiarism concerns and—most importantly—the importance of students’ own voices. It will take 30-45 mins of class time.

Key points of this presentation:

  • ChatGPT is a predictive text model, meaning that it responds with what it believes is the “correct” human response based on statistical probability gleaned from a large dataset (basically, the internet).
  • This means Chat GPT is good at repeating the most frequently recorded information, but not great at assessing that information (it doesn’t know if the answer to a question is true or not, just that it’s the most likely answer.)
  • Most importantly, GPT lacks “a Human Sensibility” – in other words, it doesn’t have a personality, and that shows in its writing!
  • Using Chat GPT to write your essay for you is a violation of City Tech’s Academic Integrity Policy and may land you in serious trouble!

Questions for Discussion and Reflection:

  • How would you feel if your professor used AI to grade papers/ to give feedback on your writing?
  • What does it mean to learn? How can Chat GPT help us learn? How can it harm our learning?
  • Why do you think students use Chat GPT?
  • You have something to write about, something to say that no other person (and certainly no robot) can say. What is it?

Questions for further discussion: 

Adapted from “Teaching the Artificial Student” by Mark Di Mauro, Ph.D.

  • What will the “classroom of the future” look like?
  • What is an “augmented work force?” How does Artificial Intelligence fit into that work force? How do humans?

Questions for evaluating sources:

  • Can other credible sources (outside of generative AI) validate the data or item produced?
  • Who is represented in this data? Who is left out? Why might this be? 

Assignments and Exercises:

Adapted from “Teaching with Generative AI” from the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Teaching and Learning 

  • Spot the Bot: Present Students with a series of algorithmically generated texts and ask them to select which one is human (bonus fun: include popular, but atypical, texts like Finnegan’s Wake, House of Leaves, or Infinite Jest) 
  • AI Brainstorming v1: Ask students to create a two-sentence description of a short story using an AI bot, and then ask them to extend that short fiction into flash fiction (1-2 pages) 
  • AI Workshop: Ask students to plug their own writing into an  algorithm and ask for feedback.  Do they agree with the AI? Why or why not? Ask students to insert other text  (online articles, famous literature, etc.) and do the same.
  • AI Editing: As part of a lesson on classroom prep/grading/editing and/or peer review, generate a series of “student” papers with AI, and use them as models for students to  grade and give feedback.
  • Not Your Words: Ask GPT to use an  AI avatar of a different race/gender than the words of a famous author, politician, or speaker. Have students listen to the AI version and the original and encourage in class discussion about how the deliverer of the content changes perception of that content as well as how the change shows potential biases of GPT. 

Ideas for Working Collaboratively with AI:

  • Ask students to complete a written assignment, then use AI to generate a version of the same assignment. Instruct students to compare the two and reflect on their work.
  • Instruct students to assign an AI tool a specific persona and roleplay a scenario 
  • Have students use AI to make a creative visual work that helps clarify or illustrate a course concept.
  • Ask students to fact check and critique AI output.
  • Encourage students to use AI to brainstorm and refine topic and research question ideas.

Using AI for research:

Zoom Workshop:

Here is a link to a Zoom hosted by City Tech’s Office of First Year Writing (02/28/25) in which Prof’s Goldschmidt, Schmerler and Scanlon presented assignments to help students think with and about Chat GPT  (Passcode: 2Vbk$dTQ)

Other Resources:Â