Registration for the 2024 CCCC Fall Virtual Institute will close at 9:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday, October 23.
All registrants will receive an email with connection information on the evening prior to the Institute (October 22) and a reminder email on the morning of the event (October 23).
Institute sessions will NOT be recorded.
2024 CCCC Fall Virtual Institute: Machine Writing and the Work of Rhetoric and Composition
Program
October 23, 2024 | 10:45 A.M.–8:00 P.M. ET
ALL-ATTENDEE OPENING — 10:45–11:00 A.M. ET
Institute Co-Chairs:
- Antonio Byrd, University of Missouri–Kansas City
- Timothy Oleksiak, University of Massachusetts Boston
CONCURRENT ROUNDTABLE SESSION A — 11:00 A.M.– 1:00 P.M. ET
Option 1 — Administration
This roundtable will invite users to play an interactive adventure game in order to consider how writing program administrators facilitate real, low-stakes, complex conversations with layered audiences around AI. This gaming experience, directed and facilitated by the roundtable panelists, will ask participants to employ a concept-tactic approach of rhetorical listening. The virtual session aspires to disrupt the narrative(s) that generative AI has wreaked havoc on operations. Step outside of (or at least next to) the milieu, for a few minutes, in order to examine the roles, responsibilities, challenges, and opportunities in ways that open dialogue and sustain interest. In short, we will play and in doing so discover ways to engage with what may seem almost insurmountable.
11:00–11:45 — Roundtable Facilitators
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- Sherry Rankins-Robertson, University of Central Florida
- Aurora Matzke, Chapman University
- Angela Clark-Oates, California State University, Sacramento
- Kyle Jensen, Arizona State University
- Priscila Santa Rosa, University of Central Florida
- Anastasia Salter, University of Central Florida
11:45–12:15 — Focused Writing
12:15–12:35 — Small-Group Breakouts
12:35–12:45 — Large-Session Report Back
12:45–1:00 — Personal Break
Option 2 — Theory
This panel positions AI hype as an opportunity to develop grant proposals in writing studies with reproducible, aggregable, data-driven (RAD) designs. Panelists will share examples from their own research, such as corpus-driven analysis of AI prompts, and discuss how these projects can be adapted to collaborative RAD frameworks. The session will provide a collaborative space for participants to theorize and develop study designs aimed at fostering cross-institutional collaborations in the field while enabling researchers to evaluate those designs, thereby preventing confirmation bias.
11:00–11:45 — Roundtable Facilitators
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- John Gallagher, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Anuj Gupta, University of Arizona
- Shiva Mainaly, University of Memphis
- Fatima Zohra, University of Waterloo
11:45–12:15 — Focused Writing
12:15–12:35 — Small-Group Breakouts
12:35–12:45 — Large-Session Report Back
12:45–1:00 — Personal Break
CONCURRENT ROUNDTABLE SESSION B — 1:00–3:00 P.M. ET
Option 1 — Pedagogy
Our pedagogy roundtable will encourage discussions about the affective and emotional responses we have had to generative AI in university writing classrooms. Both undergraduate and graduate writing instructors alike must respond to the affordances and pitfalls of generative AI by first considering the various rhetorical situations and individual student challenges already present in their classrooms. Our roundtable will allow participants to take stock of their existing pedagogy and grapple with the need for critical AI literacy while examining its place alongside our time-tested pedagogical strategies like critical genre awareness, reflective writing, and experiential learning opportunities.
1:00–1:45 — Roundtable Facilitators
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- Marsha W. Rhee, Johnson C. Smith University
- Stephen Kim, Cornell University
- Quang Ly, University of Miami
- Jessica Mattox, Radford University
- Lydia Wilkes, Auburn University
1:45–2:15 — Focused Writing
2:15–2:35 — Small-Group Breakouts
2:35–2:45 — Large-Session Report Back
2:45–3:00 — Personal Break
Option 2 — Assessment
Join us in a Composition II Course Committee meeting where diverse views on AI in assessment are discussed with the goal of creating a program assessment rubric for the age of Machine Writing. Together, we’ll explore innovative ways to integrate AI into meaningful evaluation of student writing. #EdTech #AIinEducation
1:00–1:45 — Roundtable facilitators
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- Eugenia Novokshanova, Georgia State University
- Michelle Kassorla, Georgia State University
- Jennifer Duncan, Georgia State University
- Jennifer Hall, Georgia State University
1:45–2:15 — Focused Writing
2:15–2:35 — Small-Group Breakouts
2:35–2:45 — Large-Session Report Back
2:45–3:00 — Personal Break
CONCURRENT ROUNDTABLE SESSION C — 3:00–5:00 P.M. ET
Option 1 — Theory
This roundtable will feature the editors of College Composition & Communication, Computers & Composition, and Written Communication, who will consider several “live questions,” created by moderator Ira Allen, about the role that AI plays or might play in academic publishing. These editors will discuss how generative text technologies are and will inflect the processes and policies of their respective journals. The roundtable will also reserve time for attendees to consider those same questions, thus allowing editors and participants to collaborate on the future of academic journal publishing in rhetoric and composition.
3:00–3:45 — Roundtable Facilitators
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- Matthew Davis, University of Massachusetts Boston
- Ira Allen, Northern Arizona University
- Jason Tham, Texas Tech University
- Mya Poe, Northeastern University
- Dylan Dryer, University of Maine
- Kara Taczak, University of Central Florida
3:45–4:15 — Focused Writing
4:15–4:35 — Small-Group Breakouts
4:35–4:45 — Large-Session Report Back
4:45–5:00 — Personal Break
Option 2 — Pedagogy
As college students’ reading abilities decline (allegedly), educators face new challenges in teaching effective reading and composition skills. While much attention has been given to AI writing tools like ChatGPT, other emerging technologies are also transforming how students read and research, such as AI-powered PDF readers and advanced research applications. A working group from the University of Texas at Austin’s Digital Writing & Research Lab explores how these machine reading and research technologies reshape composition pedagogy and impact student learning. By combining established reading theories with a survey of new technologies, the group aims to provide insights into how machine reading may impact composition pedagogy, considering both its potential benefits and challenges.
3:00–3:45 — Roundtable Facilitators
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- Casey Boyle, The University of Texas at Austin
- Ali Gunnells, The University of Texas at Austin
- Maddie Bruegger, The University of Texas at Austin
- Carlee Baker, The University of Texas at Austin
- Samantha Turner, The University of Texas at Austin
3:45–4:15 — Focused Writing
4:15–4:35 — Small-Group Breakouts
4:35–4:45 — Large-Session Report Back
4:45–5:00 — Personal Break
CONCURRENT ROUNDTABLE SESSION D — 5:00–7:00 P.M. ET
Option 1 — Assessment
What do equitable and effective assessment practices look like in an era of artificial intelligence? This roundtable focuses on designing and revising writing assessments to integrate AI and learning objectives related to critical AI literacy. Exploring assessment in a variety of classroom and institutional contexts, we consider equitable assessments, ecological models, new rhetorics and rhetorical theories of assessment, and resistance of assessment-as-surveillance. Participants are invited to create or revise their own writing assessments informed by reflection on the roundtable discussion.
5:00–5:45 — Roundtable Facilitators
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- Salena Anderson, Georgia Southern University
- Xiao Tan, Utah State University
- Rodrigo Gomez, San Diego Miramar College
- Lynn Briggs, Eastern Washington University
- Kate Crane, Eastern Washington University
5:45–6:15 — Focused Writing
6:15–6:35 — Small-Group Breakouts
6:35–6:45 — Large-Session Report Back
6:45–7:00 — Personal Break
Option 2 — Administration
How does AI challenge what we do in the classroom, department, and institution? Why do we need AI policies and statements? Our roundtable invites participants to join us in a charette-style experience, in which organizers and stakeholders work together to create solutions, to collectively work through the thornier issues involved in creating, administering, and enforcing equitable and just AI policies. We will take participants through three scenarios that embrace the complications that AI administrative genres—which include but are not limited to policy—create for students, staff, faculty, and other campus community stakeholders. Participants will draft actionable policy artifacts in real time to effectively respond to generative AI policy decisions across learning and administrative contexts.
5:00–5:45 — Roundtable Facilitators
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- Rebecca Hallman Martini, University of Georgia
- Virginia Costello, University of Illinois Chicago
- Lainie Pomerleau, College of Coastal Georgia
- Franziska Tsufim, Wake Forest University
5:45–6:15 — Focused Writing
6:15–6:35 — Small-Group Breakouts
6:35–6:45 — Large-Session Report Back
6:45–7:00 — Personal Break
ALL-ATTENDEE OPEN TOWN HALL AND MOVING FORWARD FOR OUR MEMBERS — 7:00–8:00 P.M. ET
Institute Co-Chairs:
- Antonio Byrd, University of Missouri–Kansas City
- Timothy Oleksiak, University of Massachusetts Boston
Registered Attendees
Both roundtable participants and attendees will be listed in the final program. The program will be updated with the final list of registered attendees within 48 hours after the event.
