| This is a problem I’m working on. I’m a software engineer at major US research university developing AI-powered software to improve critical reading and writing skills in higher ed. The idea is to provide immediate, high-quality feedback to students, closing the “latency” of submitting something and waiting to hear back from you professor. I do genuinely think AI can reshape teaching and learning, but it will be a slow iterative process. We can use it scale what works (personalized learning and tutoring, helping students develop mastery/automaticity on topics, targeting areas where they struggle). It can also automate time-consuming tasks that bog teachers down. If you're interested in pedagogy, AI, and tech, please reach out. |
Oftentimes, the root cause of the critical reading problem is the quality of the writing that students are subjected to. My daughter recently showed me one of her economics readings, and said she couldn't understand it. It was 40 pages of convoluted academic writing like this:
Wibbels argues that developing countries face an inherently disadvantaged position in the world economy due to their dependence on foreign capital and an undiversified base of commodity exports as primary sources of hard currency. This dependent position relative to capital markets prevents developing countries from borrowing to engage in counter-cyclical aggregate demand management.
Is such language the optimal way to express ideas for comprehension by peers, students, and policymakers?
I hope your mission to improve writing skills in higher ed addresses the source of output - professors, teaching assistants, journal editors, and others who continue to promote outdated, inconsistent, and counterproductive academic writing styles.