Critical Thinking, AI Co-Authorship, and the Future of Academic Writing

About this episode

The episode discusses the role of generative AI in academic writing and the importance of foundational writing skills.

In this episode of Deep Learning Dialogues , hosts Whitney McKinley and Katrina Gouett sit down with Dr. Christin Wright-Taylor, Manager of Writing Services at Wilfrid Laurier University, to explore the intersection of generative AI, academic writing, and the human voice. Shifting the conversation away from fear and toward hope, Dr. Wright-Taylor discusses why generative AI should be viewed as a "calculator for language" and argues that foundational writing skills are more critical than ever for guiding and assessing AI outputs. The conversation explores the necessity of protecting the "incubator of thinking" by encouraging students to embrace messy, authentic first drafts before turning to digital tools. By reframing writing as an iterative process rather than a transactional product, this episode challenges educators to evaluate their own implicit biases regarding academic tone and explore how rubrics can evolve to celebrate diverse cultural capital and unique student voices. Dr. Christin Wright-Taylor is the Manager of Writing Services at Wilfrid Laurier University, where she and her team specialize in helping students build self-efficacy and critical thinking through the…

People in this episode

Hosts: Whitney McKinley, Katrina Gouett

Guest: Dr. Christin Wright-Taylor

Topics covered

• critical thinking
• AI co-authorship
• academic writing
• generative AI
• educational practices
• diverse cultural capital

Keywords

• generative AI
• academic writing
• critical thinking
• iterative process
• educational practices
• cultural capital

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Waterloo

Books & works: The New York Times

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