Russell Marcus, the Christian A. Johnson Excellence in Teaching Professor of Philosophy, recently presented a workshop on “Writing Instruction in the Age of AI” to an interdisciplinary group of curriculum developers involved with primary, middle school, and diploma (high school) programs at the International Baccalaureate Organization in The Hague, the Netherlands.
“The appearance of the current generation of AIs calls into question the kinds of writing instruction that many of us have developed and used, and raises myriad questions about how we should change our teaching,” Marcus says.
From ensuring that students do not use artificial intelligence illicitly, to using it for new kinds of writing, the workshop covered the kind of writing instruction students need now, and will need as AI continues to evolve and improve.
His presentation covered questions about the connection between learning to write and learning to think, conclusions that can be drawn for writing instruction, and how to communicate the value of writing instruction to students.
Marcus tried to answer those questions by looking differently at
• How AI can help with reading, which has the potential to improve learning;
• How AI can legitimately help produce writing in what he calls the “write-to-teach” mode; and
• How AI utterly undermines student and faculty goals when used in what he calls the “write-to-learn” mode.
Though artificial intelligence can write for us, it cannot think for us, he says.
Posted October 30, 2025
