Guides & Tips

Teaching Writing with Generative AI

BU writing instructors brainstormed this list of teaching ideas in the spirit of exploration and experimentation. We will continue to refine and update. You’ll notice that almost all of the suggestions end with a recommendation that students reflect on, debrief, compare, or discuss the AI-generated text—a step crucial to developing their critical AI literacy. Learn […]

Generative AI & Writing Assignment Design

The availability of generative AI requires writing instructors to be more deliberate about assignment design. Yet many principles we have always valued remain the same: Prompts should provide opportunities for students to use writing as a means to practice critical thinking and reflection; to engage deeply with texts, using sources to help them generate interesting […]

Teaching About AI-Mediated Writing

Artificial intelligence (AI) is shifting how we experience reading and writing. Students and instructors alike need some understanding of the main limits and affordances of AI-generated writing. This page offers some basic information for writing instructors and some guidance on how to talk with students about generative AI. Large language models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, use […]

Writing Instruction in the Age of Generative AI

“Writing is thinking” asserts compositionist John Warner in a 2023 column on AI in Inside Higher Ed. “If text is produced without thinking, that’s not writing. That’s something else.”  If you agree with Warner, it follows that the best way to respond to the rise of generative AI may be to continue or expand the […]

Syllabus Checklist

This checklist includes important reminders, deadlines, links, and tips for preparing your WR syllabus. Please review this checklist before submitting your draft syllabus to ensure that your syllabus aligns with the latest Writing Program requirements. Note that this checklist is for your use only and should NOT be submitted along with your syllabus. Consult the […]

Using Swivl to Record Your Classes

General Information What is Swivl? Swivl is a tool that can be used by faculty to create visual teaching portfolios by recording their in-class lectures. It can also be used to record and disseminate student presentations or discussions. The Swivl kit includes a small robot and a tablet that can be mounted on the robot. […]

Suggested Readings for WR 112: Essays/Articles

For AY 2023-2024, we are excited to announce a more flexible approach to texts in WR 112. In general, WR 112 instructors should feel free to use as many of the following texts as they would like to build up their course, supplementing as they see fit with other texts (including advertisements, videos, podcasts, TED talks, […]

Effective Collaboration with Writing Centers

How can we as faculty make the best use of the Writing Center for our students? This guide offers some suggestions for how to introduce the Writing Center at the beginning of the semester, how to discuss tutoring with individual students before they make an appointment, and how to encourage students to respond critically to […]

Providing Feedback

One of our expectations in the CAS Writing Program is that faculty will provide students with “timely and substantive” feedback on their writing, both on drafts and on final versions of papers/projects. In general, all faculty will meet with students individually at least twice in the semester to discuss their writing in formal writing conferences, scheduled […]