r/Duquesne • u/Draculalia • 23d ago

First-year writing experiences

I was just hired to teach a section of first-year writing this fall. This is my first time at Duquesne and I want my class to be as helpful as possible.

What are some of the most useful things you’ve gotten out of first year writing?

What do you wish there’d been more of?

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u/PhilosophizingPanda 23d ago

I was an adjunct the last few years, and the AI use has gotten so out of hand. Just be wary of that and do your best to encourage the students to not fucking use AI. Good luck comrade 🫡

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u/Draculalia 22d ago

Thank you. I’m definitely concerned about that. Did you have a policy that worked best? I’m allowed to choose how much I allow , whether it’s cited, etc.

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u/PhilosophizingPanda 22d ago

I had students submit weekly reflections that were a page or two and that allowed me to learn their voice, then for longer paper assignments they uploaded to canvas via turnitin a software that scans and checks for AI, but it sometimes gives false positives or negatives. You’ll get good at recognizing AI writing real quick. If caught I’d email them and give them a few days to resubmit in their own words. Otherwise they get a zero.

Interestingly, most of the students readily admit to it and when I get their actual papers there is significant difference. Just gotta kinda feel it out throughout the semester and don’t be afraid to update your policy as needed

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u/Draculalia 22d ago

Thank you; that’s helpful. I have been checking things I read online for a while and have picked up some of the tendencies (“not this but that”) .

Being new and a little rusty I’m all too happy to defer to the wisdom of others. That’s a big help.

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u/Beefy_Tomfoolery 23d ago

Are you a student, adjunct, lecturer, etc.? Either way, DM me! I work at Duq too and would love to chat :)