Stacey Sheriff, Colby College
Deirdre Egan
Eva Latterner
The Writing Enriched Classroom in the Age of AI
Thursday, January 8 | University Capitol Center 2520D
Session 1: 10 am to 12 pm Stacey Sheriff (Colby College): Enriching the Curriculum with Writing and AI Literacy: Where Do We Start?
Session 2: 1 to 3 pm Still Here: Helping Students Develop Strong Writing Skills Despite (and maybe even with the help of) Generative AI Tools
REGISTER HERE FOR ONE OR BOTH SESSIONS
This set of two workshops is part of the 2025-2026 Writing Across the Symposium (see below) which explores how best to integrate writing and communication across the curriculum at Iowa in the age of AI. In session 1, Stacey Sheriff, Associate Professor and Chair of the Writing Department at Colby College, describes the writing-enriched curriculum model and its advantages in the age of AI. In session 2, Deirdre Egan, Associate Director of the UI Writing Center, and Eva Latterner, Assistant Director of the Center for Teaching, will outline a writing-driven, AI-mindful approach that faculty can use to develop classroom activities and assignments that center the development of strong writing and critical thinking skills.
Session 1: Enriching the Curriculum with Writing and AI Literacy: Where Do We Start?
10:00 am to 12 pm
In this talk and interactive discussion, Stacey Sheriff, Chair of the Writing Department at Colby College, will explore how the key principles and pedagogies of writing across the curriculum are changing (or not) in response to generative AI. Focusing on the writing-enriched curriculum (WEC) model, she will explain how and why a WEC approach to writing across the curriculum is a smart place to start in the age of AI. The department-based and faculty-driven nature of this model supports a flexible, disciplinary, and iterative approach to developing students’ writing and AI literacies. The interactive discussion will include time for faculty to articulate department- and field-specific developments, needs, and concerns for generative AI and writing in their areas. This will be followed by small, interdisciplinary group discussions to compare experiences and opportunities across the university.
Session 2: Still Here: Helping Students Develop Strong Writing Skills Despite (and maybe even with the help of) Generative AI Tools
1:00 to 3:00 pm
In this session, Deirdre Egan, Associate Director of the UI Writing Center and Eva Latterner, Assistant Director of the Center for Teaching, focus on how to teach with writing in the age of AI. Using a writing-driven, AI-mindful approach, they will lead faculty through a process of designing classroom activities and assignments that focus on learning and the development of strong writing and critical thinking skills. Faculty will leave with a list of practical examples of how to flip the classroom to protect student learning and how to use AI tools - when appropriate - in ways that scaffold rather than sabotage learning.
Writing Across the Disciplines Symposium
The 2025-2026 Symposium on Writing Across the Disciplines is designed to draw on national expertise to explore options for establishing an innovative and dynamic writing across the disciplines (WAD) program at Iowa. The goal is to design a program that responds to the challenge and opportunities of AI, integrates writing and communication instruction broadly across departments and fields, and enhances Iowa's reputation as a place "where great writers are made" (The Atlantic, 2007).
The symposium will feature campus visits by three nationally known scholars with expertise in writing across the disciplines. The purpose is to increase knowledge of writing across the disciplines scholarship and to foster cross-departmental and cross-college collaborations about the kind of models that would work best at Iowa. The invited scholars will present their research, lead workshops on different kinds of writing across the disciplines programs, and facilitate discussions between faculty and administrators on best practices and assessment methods. Speakers include Dan Melzer, UC Davis (August 11) and Stacey Sheriff, Colby College (January 2026).
The symposium was made possible by an Arts and Humanities Initiative Grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research. Co-sponsored by the Writing Center, the Center for Teaching, the Frank Business Communication Center, the College of Nursing, the Obermann Center, and the Scientific Editing and Research Communication Core.
Previous Symposium Events
Dan Melzer, UC Davis
Fall 2023 Institute
Teaching Writing in the Age of AI
Monday, Aug. 11 | University Capitol Centre 2520D
Session 1: 10 a.m. to noon. Dan Melzer (UC Davis): Writing Across the Curriculum in the Age of AI
Session 2: 1 to 3 p.m. Transparent Assignment Design Retreat
BOTH SESSIONS ARE FULL AND REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED
This set of two workshops brings together national expertise and campus-based support for teaching with writing and assignment design. In session 1, Dan Melzer, UC Davis, author of Engaging Ideas, describes writing across the curriculum programs with a focus on how writing assignments can promote student learning in the age of AI. Session 2 led by the Center for Teaching provides an overview of evidence-based strategies to make assignments more engaging, meaningful and equitable. Co-hosted by the Center for Teaching and the Writing Center, these workshops will provide faculty with concrete tools and strategies to refine their assignments for the fall semester.
Session 1: Writing Across the Curriculum to Support Students and Faculty in the Age of AI
10 a.m. - noon
In this session, Dr. Daniel Melzer, associate director of first-year composition at UC Davis, will give an introduction to Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) as a concept, describe different structures for WAC programs, and discuss the benefits of WAC programs for faculty, students, and administrators. He will focus on the benefits of WAC pedagogies through the example of designing writing assignments in the age of Gen AI. Dr. Melzer will provide examples of the ways that WAC pedagogies can help faculty across disciplines design engaging assignments that encourage students’ creativity and critical thinking while also using technology to coach and support students as writers.
Session 2: Transparent Assignment Design Retreat
1 - 3 p.m.
This casual retreat facilitated by the Center for Teaching will help instructors learn how to design assignments leveraging the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework, which a growing body of evidence indicates helps enhance student learning and create more equitable courses. There will also be optional support for instructors who would like to produce research on the efficacy of their assignments.
How it started
The first Institute for Teaching with Writing took place during the 2020-2021 winter break. A series of four virtual two-hour workshops, it brought together fourteen faculty and two graduate students from fields as diverse as nursing, education, philosophy, international relations, and sociology to talk about how to incorporate more writing into their courses. Motivated by a collective love of language and desire to support the development of student writing skills, participants designed and workshopped formal and informal writing assignments, engaged in discussions about multimodal writing assignments, and heard about successful writing assignments from a panel of faculty from History, the College of Business, and Psychology. The Institute included a keynote talk by Brad Hughes, emeritus Director of Writing Across the Curriculum at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Institute was supported by the Department of Rhetoric, the Obermann Center and the UI Center for Teaching.
Past events
The 2025 Winter Institute for Teaching with Writing
Session I, Monday, January 6, 10 am - 12 pm: Low-Stakes Writing Assignments, Brainstorming, and AI
Session II, Wednesday, January 8, 10 am - 12 pm: Drafting and Editing: Strategies to teach your students.
Session I: Monday, January 6.10:00 am Writing to Learn: Short informal writing assignments to promote student learning. 10:40 am Brainstorming and Idea Generation: Strategies to teach your students (including ethical use of AI). 11:20 am Student Attitudes to AI Writing Tools: Examples from Biology.
| Session II: Wednesday, January 8.10 am Writing First Drafts: Scaffolding the early stages of the writing process. 10:40 am Beyond the First Draft: Teaching students revision strategies which might occasionally involve AI. 11:20 am The Final Stages of the Writing Process: Teaching students to edit their work with and without help from AI. |
2024 Fall Institute for Teaching with Writing
Monday, August 5 & Wednesday August 7
10 am to 12 pm in the Hanson Center for Communication.
Session I: Monday, August 5, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Low-Stakes Writing Assignments and Writing Rubrics that Work
10:00 am: Low-Stakes Writing
Low-Stakes Writing: In-Class Writing to Generate Engagement.
Anne Sands, Department of Rhetoric
Using Targeted Writing to Build Student Skills and Confidence.
Justin Cosner, Department of Rhetoric
11 am: Writing Rubrics
Align and Refine: Designing Rubrics Aligned with Course and Assignment Goals. Tamar Bernfeld, Center for Teaching.
Customizing Your Rubrics: Options and Implications. Carol Severino, UI Writing Center.
Session II: Wednesday, August 7, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm.
Teaching with Writing using Models, Examples and AI
10 am Using Models and Examples to Teach with Writing
Large- and Small-Group Workshopping Strategies for Teaching Writing.
Christine Blaumueller, Scientific Editing and Research Communication Core, College of Medicine.
Capitalizing on the Upside and Minimizing the Downside of Using Models to Teach Writing.
Dawn Anderson, College of Law
AI Roundtable, 11 am - 12 pm
Student Perceptions of AI Effectiveness in Drafting and Editing Business Communication Writing Assignments.
Pamela Bourjaily, Tippie College of Business.
Course Planning and Assignment Design with AI.
Carl Follmer, Tippie College of Business.
Using AI as a Writing Coach.
Deirdre Egan, UI Writing Center.
Sponsored by the Writing Center, the Hanson Center for Communication, the Frank Business Communication Center, the Center for Teaching, the Scientific Editing and Research Communication Core, the College of Law Writing Center, the Department of Rhetoric, and the Obermann Center.
2024 Winter Institute for Teaching with Writing
2023 Fall Institute for Teaching with Writing
2023 Winter Institute for Teaching with Writing
2022 Fall Institute for Teaching with Writing
2022 Winter Institute for Teaching with Writing
2021 Fall Winter Institute for Teaching with Writing
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