ENGLISH 20: College Composition II- Multilingual

Engaging, Critical, Insightful

Reflection on Instructional Change:

I chose to focus on the practice of Empowering Students Using AI by designing an assignment that emphasized sentence revision and concise writing. The assignment asked students to revise sentences manually, concentrating on clarity and brevity, and then use generative AI to perform the same task. Students individually reflected on their experiences and participated in a class discussion to evaluate the differences, strengths, and limitations of the revisions generated through each method.

During these discussions, many students expressed surprise at the output from generative AI, noting that while the AI often produced concise sentences, some revisions sacrificed the original meaning. Interestingly, students observed that their revisions were sometimes more concise and retained meaning better than the AI-generated ones. For example, one student remarked, "I thought for sure ChatGPT would come up with the better sentence, but even though it did, I think it took way less time."

Engaging with the course material for Empowering Students Using AI proved especially valuable. I appreciated the opportunity to discuss this topic with colleagues and to reflect on their diverse approaches. These conversations were inspiring and thought-provoking, prompting me to reconsider and refine my assignment design.

One significant insight from the Observe and Analyze portion of the course was the variety of ways instructors incorporate generative AI into their teaching. I found it particularly surprising—and enlightening—that I had not considered demonstrating AI's utility as a personal assistant during class. This idea, introduced by one of my colleagues, expanded my understanding of how AI tools can support teaching and learning innovatively.

Evidence of Instructional Change

evidence of instructional change
Assignment prompt: Concise Writing and Revision: Compare, Analyze and Reflect	Students reflecting on, critiquing, and comparing the output of ChatGPT	ACUE Badges

Practice and Reflect Teaching and Learning with AI:

The AI ACUE course has allowed me to redesign an existing assignment to incorporate AI technologies into its structure. This opportunity enabled students to reflect on and explore the use of generative AI, considering how they might integrate it into their current writing practices. One challenge I encountered was that many needed to become more familiar with accessing or using this technology despite the growing sense that students are overwhelmed by AI- this speaks to broader concerns about access and barriers in educational spaces. To address this, I introduced a lesson on using ChatGPT effectively and citing it as a source. I emphasized that if students use this technology, they should treat it like any other source by properly citing it, thus reframing AI as a tool—rather than a means to "cheat."

Course Syllabus

ENGL 20: College Composition II- Multilingual Syllabus and Schedule

Faculty Bio

faculty bio
	Valerie T. Smith is a lecturer in the English department. She teaches both lower- and upper-division writing courses, including sections designed for multilingual learners.

Funding
	This work was supported by: US Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution Project TECH4Equity US Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution Project STEM4Equity P031C210012 *Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the US Department of Education.