A ChatGPT Experiment in Honors 37W

This showcase is an extension of an earlier talk Laurel Westrup gave as part of the Spring 2023 “AI in Action” event. It will focus on a specific use of ChatGPT in a Spring 2023 Honors Collegium Writing II course, “Sampling and Remix: The Aesthetics and Politics of Cultural Appropriation.”

Honors 37W, which focuses on cultural borrowing of many kinds, was an apt forum for discussion of generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) and large language models (LLMs) that draw on borrowed sources in order to create text. The instructor re-designed a staple course assignment to provide students an opportunity to try out and reflect on co-writing with a chatbot. The showcase will:

  • Provide context and a rationale for this particular use of ChatGPT
  • Discuss the assignment design
  • Review student responses to the assignment
  • Offer some thoughts on integrating ChatGPT into our courses based on this experiment 

Presenter Bio

Laurel Westrup is a Continuing Lecturer with Writing Programs and the Honors Program and the Coordinator of the Graduate Certificate in Writing Pedagogy (GCWP). She teaches courses across Writing Programs’ curriculum, from first-year composition and Writing II to upper division courses in the Professional Writing Minor, and she also teaches graduate pedagogy courses with the GCWP. She received a UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award in 2023.