The University of the Western Cape (UWC) Writing Centre celebrated its 30th anniversary with a colloquium in late September.
The event highlighted the centre's accomplishments over the past three decades and paid tribute to its founder, Prof Brenda Leibowitz.
Among several issues, the colloquium explored one of the most pressing issues in academia: the role and impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in and on academic writing.
The colloquium brought together a range of stakeholders to discuss practices, share insights, and engage with the contentious challenges of developing students' academic literacies in an era increasingly shaped by AI technologies, among the many issues explored at the event.
Prof Susan van Schalkwyk opened the event with a heartfelt tribute to Prof Leibowitz, followed by a presentation by Dr Arona Dison on the Writing Centre's remarkable achievements over the years.
However, it was Prof Peter Plüddemann from the Faculty of Education who brought the spotlight to the evolving academic landscape, delivering a presentation on the intersection of AI and academic literacies.
Prof Plüddemann focused on the implications of AI for written assessments, particularly examining whether AI-generated or AI-assisted text should be permissible in student submissions.
He raised several pertinent questions, igniting a lively dialogue: Should AI-generated text be allowed in assessments? What about AI-paraphrased content or human-altered AI-generated text? Should submissions passed through AI paraphrasing tools be acceptable?
"Let's face it, everybody wants better marks," Prof Plüddemann stated.
"But at what point does the writer's voice become submerged? If students use AI in their writing, when do they start handing over their identity to achieve higher grades?"
To illustrate his point, Prof Plüddemann shared an experience where more than half of his students had used AI to generate content for an assignment without ever reading the required novel.
"Unbeknownst to them, the novel I chose wasn't available online, so AI couldn't get its claws on it," he said.
"It immediately became clear that the students had been caught out. But in effect, I had been caught out because what I hadn't done was to problematise the use of AI in advance. I've kind of assumed that people wouldn't, but of course they did. Big mistake”.
While the students were given a second chance to complete the assignment, Prof Plüddemann noted that many remained unapologetic about their use of AI.
This raised a critical point: "We cannot simply surrender our agency to technological innovation with unparalleled potential for good and harm. We need to negotiate the terms of our engagement with AI — not just as lecturers, but as students, administrators, and an institution."
He emphasised the need for honesty in addressing AI's role in academia.
"Maybe we'll have to find ways of openly acknowledging the use of AI instead of pretending it's not there," he added. "You can't secretly look at it, use it, and pretend it didn't happen. We need to confront it."
A central theme in Prof Plüddemann’s address was relevance in the AI age: "What does it mean to be critically engaged when AI is part of the equation? AI is not just about copying and pasting large chunks of text. It's about learning to use AI tools in a way that enhances, rather than diminishes, our voice and identity."
As UWC, like many other institutions worldwide, continues to develop its policy on AI, Prof Plüddemann urged that such policies should not be imposed from the top down.
Instead, he suggested collaborative policy-making, where management, staff, and students work together to shape guidelines that reflect the needs and values of all parties.
The event highlighted the centre's accomplishments over the past three decades and paid tribute to its founder, Prof Brenda Leibowitz.
Among several issues, the colloquium explored one of the most pressing issues in academia: the role and impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in and on academic writing.
The colloquium brought together a range of stakeholders to discuss practices, share insights, and engage with the contentious challenges of developing students' academic literacies in an era increasingly shaped by AI technologies, among the many issues explored at the event.
However, it was Prof Peter Plüddemann from the Faculty of Education who brought the spotlight to the evolving academic landscape, delivering a presentation on the intersection of AI and academic literacies.
Prof Plüddemann focused on the implications of AI for written assessments, particularly examining whether AI-generated or AI-assisted text should be permissible in student submissions.
He raised several pertinent questions, igniting a lively dialogue: Should AI-generated text be allowed in assessments? What about AI-paraphrased content or human-altered AI-generated text? Should submissions passed through AI paraphrasing tools be acceptable?
"Let's face it, everybody wants better marks," Prof Plüddemann stated.
"But at what point does the writer's voice become submerged? If students use AI in their writing, when do they start handing over their identity to achieve higher grades?"
To illustrate his point, Prof Plüddemann shared an experience where more than half of his students had used AI to generate content for an assignment without ever reading the required novel.
"It immediately became clear that the students had been caught out. But in effect, I had been caught out because what I hadn't done was to problematise the use of AI in advance. I've kind of assumed that people wouldn't, but of course they did. Big mistake”.
While the students were given a second chance to complete the assignment, Prof Plüddemann noted that many remained unapologetic about their use of AI.
This raised a critical point: "We cannot simply surrender our agency to technological innovation with unparalleled potential for good and harm. We need to negotiate the terms of our engagement with AI — not just as lecturers, but as students, administrators, and an institution."
He emphasised the need for honesty in addressing AI's role in academia.
"Maybe we'll have to find ways of openly acknowledging the use of AI instead of pretending it's not there," he added. "You can't secretly look at it, use it, and pretend it didn't happen. We need to confront it."
A central theme in Prof Plüddemann’s address was relevance in the AI age: "What does it mean to be critically engaged when AI is part of the equation? AI is not just about copying and pasting large chunks of text. It's about learning to use AI tools in a way that enhances, rather than diminishes, our voice and identity."
As UWC, like many other institutions worldwide, continues to develop its policy on AI, Prof Plüddemann urged that such policies should not be imposed from the top down.
Instead, he suggested collaborative policy-making, where management, staff, and students work together to shape guidelines that reflect the needs and values of all parties.
