Two Takes on the College Essay in the Age of AI, and a Conversation
A month after ChatGPT was released to the public in the fall of 2022, essays proclaiming the death of the college essay—or defending its enduring merits—began to appear. These pieces would soon turn into a somewhat recognizable genre (the tech-panic essay authored by humanities and social science professors). The specific charge against Generative AI has varied—some argue that it enables plagiarism, others that it erodes critical thinking, still others that it accelerates the instrumentalization of education. The kind of damage at stake—whether a matter of integrity, a pedagogical concern, or an epistemological quandary—varies depending on who presents the argument. But what is clear is that a few years into this, and a semester into the College's Year of AI Exploration, most faculty have given it some thought, and taken a position (however provisional).
In this event, Professors Ann Cooper Albright (Dance) and Anna Levett (Comparative Literature) will offer two takes on writing, using them to spearhead a conversation among faculty and teaching staff about where we are, individually and collectively, in our thinking about teaching, writing, and AI encroachment.
We hope you’ll join us—please RSVP to sgutierr@oberlin.edu. Light appetizers will be provided.
Open to all Oberlin faculty
