Teaching ChatGPT for Grant Writing An English Department Senior Capstone

Abstract

In the spring of 2023, stirred by reports that AI was radically transforming the writing industry (and "creating an epidemic of cheating"), I taught my Department of English senior capstone students how to use ChatGPT to write grants. In this brief write-up, I describe my rationale for teaching about the AI (to get students jobs); how it can fit into writing studies best practices (e.g., process pedagogy); ways to create assignments that might limit its use (localization and contextualization); as well as a few fast and messy activities and student process examples that evolved over the
semester. The students chose to offer their writing using a first name only and a pseudonym.