On May 8, 2024, Benjamin Breyer, Senior Lecturer in First-Year Writing, was awarded a Barnard Fund for Innovative Technology Grant and a Columbia Provost’s Innovative Course Design Grant to create a set of online tools that use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to tutor students in First-Year Writing (FYW) courses. The AI-powered hypermedia website, “AI-Assisted Critical Reading & Writing Tool,” will be rolled out and field-tested in the fall 2024 and spring 2025 semesters and is designed to help students develop the core academic writing skills emphasized in Barnard’s FYW program.
The adaptive AI project aims to address the growing diversity of Barnard’s student population, whose range of experience and skill levels in the FYW classroom has broadened, making it challenging for instructors to meet all learners’ needs in one semester. The AI exercises will use a custom chatbot that doesn’t simply provide the right answers but instead prompts and guides students toward the correct answers and gives feedback on their writing.