I find it v clarifying/challenging way re: assignments. If (when?) AI can write an A-level undergrad essay on Paradise Lost, should we be happy we don't have to assign those essays anymore? Why do we assign them anyway? Why do we want undergrads to make an argument about a literary work? Etc - ThreadSky

zacharylesser.bsky.social • 57 days ago

I find it v clarifying/challenging way re: assignments. If (when?) AI can write an A-level undergrad essay on Paradise Lost, should we be happy we don't have to assign those essays anymore? Why do we assign them anyway? Why do we want undergrads to make an argument about a literary work? Etc

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thedaybooks.bsky.social•57 days ago

Right? I found it so intimidating as an undergrad taking Shakespeare courses to think that I had to come up with something NEW to say about Shakespeare (in 10 pages) as a 19yo with 5 other classes and a job. Surely there’s a better assignment to demonstrate understanding.

zacharylesser.bsky.social•56 days ago

From Stallybrass, "Against Thinking", fn1:

thedaybooks.bsky.social•56 days ago

Oh man, that’s much better.

zacharylesser.bsky.social•56 days ago

https://www.jstor.org/stable/25501804

seeshespeak.bsky.social•57 days ago

Because the process of arriving at / articulating an argument is itself an exercise in understanding? The essays as product were never the point; it was the process we were trying to encourage.

jonlewis.bsky.social•57 days ago

Right! Process over product.

thedaybooks.bsky.social•57 days ago

In comp, having students draft in class and turn in drafts all the time cuts down on various forms of plagiarism including AI — plus writing the assignments very narrowly and including personal reflection— AI doesn’t personally reflect well.

thedaybooks.bsky.social•57 days ago

Still, I think there must be things lit courses can do other than tests/quizzes and papers. Especially when there are already thousands of papers/books on an author they’re reading.

jonlewis.bsky.social•57 days ago

Yes, agreed. We need to unpack more than just finding sources. I am not doing enough on that score in my lit classes. Have to work on that.

rezekjoe.bsky.social•57 days ago

That sounds v helpful

rezekjoe.bsky.social•57 days ago

That is totally true

dmcampbellwsu.bsky.social•57 days ago

If you think of education as a process, the essay is the waste product. The product is what the students gain in knowledge, creativity, and the ability to think.

amberla.bsky.social•57 days ago

I just wrote an “AI” statement for my classes about how the process is the point!

rezekjoe.bsky.social•57 days ago

I’ve been avoiding the questions but I think we need to ask them

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