Fall 2025 Workshops
Human Writing Across the Curriculum: Resisting GenAI in Writing Instruction
With Clare Sandy, Department of Linguistics and Language Development
Download Slides From The Workshop [pdf]
While the use of generative AI (GenAI) is being heavily promoted in practically everything
these days, including in student writing classes, many writing instructors are taking
a thoughtful and principled stance of "GenAI Refusal" (McIntyre et al., 2025). This
workshop is for writing teachers from any discipline who share or are curious about
an AI-resistant stance in teaching writing. It is particularly geared towards the
context of business writing, computational linguistics, and similar disciplines where
we might expect the highest interest in and adoption of such technology. We will learn
about the rationale behind refusing GenAI in writing classes, and explore strategies
and teaching methods that support this stance.
In this 75-minute workshop, we first discuss the "why" behind refusing GenAI. Some strategies for making this avoidance feasible (and even rewarding) in the context of teaching writing will be presented. Participants will then break into smaller groups to discuss their own experiences and ideas. To wrap up, we will share back ideas and insights with the group. We could create a compiled resource list of resources for future use and/or plan a follow-up meeting if there is interest.
Download Slides From The Workshop [pdf]
100WB Collaborative Teaching Exchange: Innovative Practices in Business Writing
With Sian Sloan, Department of English
Download Slides From The Workshop [pdf]
This one-hour workshop invites ongoing and new faculty teaching 100WB from both the
English and Linguistics and Language Department to a collaborative teaching exchange
and conversation, as well as a potential resource swap. There will be no “experts”,
just colleagues learning from each other. Though this class is taught by over a dozen
members of the SJSU faculty, I’m unaware of any uniform collaboration between faculty
- so let’s meet to learn from each other and potentially collaborate!
In our round table everyone will take a few minutes to share. You could share a favorite or innovative assignment, a classroom activity or strategy you’re proud of, or a current challenge you’d love ideas about. After that we will break out into thematic groups. Each group will share some conclusions to wrap up. We can exchange contact information and arrange an ongoing resource swap if we’d like. We can also plan future meetings if people are interested.
*SJSU offers 33 sections of 100WB in the Fall of 2025: 12 are taught by the English department as Written Communication: Business (10 in person, 2 online); 21 sections are taught by the Linguistics and Language department as Writing Workshop for Business Students (9 in person, 10 online).
Download Slides From The Workshop [pdf]
How to be an Effective Student Writer: A Student’s Survival Guide for Writing in Academia
and Beyond
With Todd Cormier, Department of Aviation and Technology
Download Slides From The Workshop [pdf]
Don’t let the title fool you, this workshop is primarily for instructors. We briefly discuss methods to help their our students write more effectively and at a college level. This makes an instructor’s life easier. Why? Because well written, brief, concise, student writing assignments that provide value to the reader, are the goal. As an instructor, this makes your life easier by improving students’ readability (or at least more interesting reading), which leads to faster grading for you, better grades for the student, and the ability to apply their writing skills to higher academia, and hopefully beyond academia.
Personally, I was shocked at the writing deficiencies of almost all of my 65 aviation students last fall! I had to inform them that although they were aviation students, and we don't expect Shakespeare, they nevertheless should be expected to write at a college level. I ended up being more of an English teacher for the written class assignments, and less of an air traffic control instructor. This included getting ESL students to realize that to be competitive in the job market, they would have to be able to write coherently in English.
The workshop is one session, broken into three parts:
- Part I: Fundamental Academic Writing Concepts
- Part 2: Basics of Mastering In-Class Writing Assignments
- Part 3: Writing Beyond Academia
A few key points (not all-inclusive) for the college student to understand:
Know your audience. In college the audience is your professors. But in the real world it is your peers, your boss, and the public!
Your writing must provide value to the reader! Tips to prepare students for writing for a professional audience, the public, their boss, or to prepare for graduate level assignments.
Aristotle's Rhetorical Triangle. Essential concepts for writing for a technical professional audience, influencing others, etc.
See you there!
Download Slides From The Workshop [pdf]
