Writing is thinking.
It’s not a part of the process that can be skipped; it’s the entire point.
It’s not a part of the process that can be skipped; it’s the entire point.
Reposted from
Anna E. Clark
This is what's so baffling about so many suggestions for AI in the humanities classroom: they mistake the product for the point. Writing outlines and essays is important not because you need to make outlines and essays but because that's how you learn to think with/through complex ideas.
Comments
Check the first draft of anything you write... 😱😅
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/386985734_Drawing_as_a_research_process_and_drawings_as_research_outputs_-_how_acceptable_are_they_in_various_disciplines
1/2
AI cannot do this either!
1.5/2
I would never try to shortcut the pure, mainline joy of those moments. They are so invigorating!
Or is it a companion in that journey of discovery?
Words don’t have any meaning outside the groups of people who use them.
Jokes aside the same applies to art. We don't just "make an art". There's an entire thought process into what looks right, why use this color, position, angle, what works and doesn't, and what we're trying to convey. Even in a 5 minute scribble there's a process.
Writing vs. painting for example.
I may be able to paint a person that's appealing to the eye but I can't put it into words like a writer could.
My handwriting is akin to ancient heiroglyphs that can only be deciphered by a professional team of monkeys.
"Anything students can't do, AI shouldn't do for them":
https://www.nathannobis.com/2023/05/what-are-we-going-to-do-about-chat-gpt.html
Being able to find a topic, organize a presentation, plan out and organize the parts of that discussion, etc. are all skills that shouldn't be outsourced.
The medium itself means nothing without that aspect!
"This school/university is the last time anyone will care to read something you wrote and offer you constructive criticism. The rest of your life will be trying to write like your boss and express their ideas. Savor this time."
I'd almost be happier about the state of things if I believed this were the explicit goal, but I think we're actually just sleepwalking into it & that is so much harder to fight.
But the act of brain to pen/keyboard cannot be reproduced or replaced. Too many variables in each individual’s noggin.
Personally, I think they can augment people’s thinking when done right.
They do come woefully under-prepared to college. That’s a discussion for another day.
And you are right. I never feel my best about a project until I've done a lot of notes and made a written plan.
I had that quote across the top of the whiteboard in the front of my classroom for my students to absorb.
"Minnesota?"
"What else?"
"..."
"SCHOOL. It is school, dummies. You are here to LEARN."
Studies have shown there is a 53% reduction in dementia risk for writers 😊
moist poast.
i am now a maoist.
Humanities should be partially performed by reading outloud and performing.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00146-023-01861-4
Product without process is hollow.
My freshman daughter just got home for Xmas break yesterday. She explained how she used ChatGPT in Biology.
She took her sem. study guide for the class and asked ChatGPT to create a 50 question quiz over the material. Then used it as a study tool.
Of course, there isn't really a path to profit, but at least a few folks will get their yearly bonuses.
“If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.” - George Orwell
😉
Shoulda used "writing is thinking" instead, because just "write" isn't working
Thinking doesn't end with writing, but wants to be brought into the world discursively, as communication.
LLMs *can* be used discursively, interactively, communicatively, collaboratively.
Speaking is thinking addressing itself to others.
Level 3 student (to me): "Does this sound OK, Miss?"
Me: "Yes but did you C & P some of it?"
Student: "Yes."
Me: "It would be better to put it in your own words. The tutor might recognise it."
Student: "But I don't understand it, Miss."
In this case it’s the “authority” of algorithmic token prediction… which is an insane thing to accept as your authority for thinking.
No one gives a F for the answer. The answer only exists as a proof of your learning.
We're conditioned to pass exams to the extent that we lose sight this entirely.
https://www2.csudh.edu/ccauthen/451S12/staffort.html
Excerpt: