Orchestrating Authentic Student Writing in the Age of AI

“Assigning traditional essays is unethical in the age of AI,” say Scott Carlson and Matthew Brophy in The Chronicle of Higher Education . That’s because the use of AI tools to write essays with little or no student effort has become a “subversive epidemic,” with the true victims being “honest, hard-working students who are now disadvantaged in compromised classrooms,” say Carlson and Brophy, “This inequity is compounded when only well-resourced or tech-savvy students can fully exploit these tools.”

It’s still essential that students learn to write, they believe: “The ability to clearly communicate ideas is not only an effective way to convey arguments and persuade people, but it also indicates that one has processed and absorbed the ideas shared – one of the reasons writing has long been a key part of the curriculum.” So must all student essays now be written in class under the watchful eye of teachers? That’s impractical, say Carlson and Brophy, but so is trying to catch cheaters with AI-detection tools, which are notoriously unreliable. Instead, they suggest the VOICE framework (which Brophy is using in his classes at High Point University) to ensure authentic student writing in the age of AI:

• Verification of process – Use tools like Google Docs and Draftback to monitor students’ writing as it unfolds – “each thoughtful pause, revision, and rephrasing part of the paper’s cultivation,” they say. “This not only deters undetectable cheating but also affirms writing as iterative and evolving.”

• Ownership through reflection – Have students give brief oral presentations to explain in their own voice their writing decisions and idea development.

• Iterative stages – Students work through progressive phases – low-stakes reading-analysis papers, proposals, drafts, and revisions – which scaffold learning and make last-minute outsourcing to ChatGPT less likely. Students are graded on their process as well as the final product.

• Collaborative engagement – Peers review drafts, which makes writing social and accountable. “When students explain their ideas to each other,” say Carlson and Brophy, “they clarify those ideas for themselves. This also adds to motivation by looping peers into their process and helps lighten the burden on the professor. Further, it cultivates a classroom community based on trust and sharing of ideas.”

• Emphasis on ideas over mechanics – “Instructors must confront the startling truth that never again will college graduates need to write a polished essay entirely on their own,” say the authors. “They will always have AI as their co-author. In the age of AI, the value of writing lies less in grammar and polish than in grappling with comprehension, synthesis, and original insight.”

“Stop Assigning Traditional Essays” by Scott Carlson and Matthew Brophy in The Edge: The Chronicle of Higher Education , October 16, 2025; Brophy is at mbrophy@highpoint.edu.

The Marshall Memo Admin - Issues