Claiming Writer Agency in the Age of AI

Presented by Troy Hicks and Kristen Hawley Turner

As highlighted by researchers at the Brookings Institution, "AI holds significant promise for enhancing writing instruction and student outcomes across multiple dimensions of the writing process when used to amplify student learning rather than shortcut it." This webinar will explore strategies for helping students maintain agency as writers in an AI-driven world. Participants will discover how AI can support teachers in creating what the WestEd Digital Fluency group calls productive friction, while also encouraging students to use AI as thinking partners, research assistants, and co-writers. Through intentional instructional design, educators can ensure that students remain the ultimate decision-makers, sense-makers, and meaning-makers in their writing.

Participants will learn to:

• Explore how writers can maintain agency within a three-frame use of generative AI: thinking partner, research assistant, and co-writer
• Analyze a writing assignment through the lens of "productive friction" and intentional instructional design
• Examine AI tools beyond chatbots that can support students throughout the composing process