Core Programming

This workshop invites instructors to explore ways of transforming traditional essay prompts into more dynamic, public-facing writing assignments. We will look at how to guide students toward formats like op-eds, podcast scripts, or digital storytelling projects that retain the rigor of critical thinking but also demand real-world rhetorical awareness. Instructors will leave with adaptable assignment prompt templates and strategies for integrating genre flexibility without compromising depth.

This one-hour workshop focuses on practical, high-impact strategies for responding to student writing, specifically through plenary and summative feedback. We will emphasize how to set clear evaluation criteria, identify patterns in student work, and write marginal and final comments that prompt meaningful revision rather than passive correction. The session emphasizes feedback as a form of dialogue, through comments, conferences, and peer exchange, aimed to help students see themselves as writers with real readers.

In this panel moderated by Campus Writing & Communication Coordinator Daniel M. Gross, UC Irvine professors Megan Peters (Cognitive Sciences) and Anastasia Berg (Philosophy) will discuss the limitations and broader impact of AI in the context of brainstorming and creativity. Prior to the event, we encourage attendees to read the articles published by the panelists: “How to develop good research questions” and “Why Even Basic A.I. Use Is So Bad for Students.” Hosted at the UC Irvine Center for Excellence in Writing and Communication, the event will also feature a Q&A session, and light refreshments will be served.

Note: Some news sites require subscriptions to read articles. UC Irvine Libraries offers free subscriptions to The New York Times for students, faculty, and staff.

Many teachers of writing think of “voice” as a personal quality applied to the writing after the ideas have been fixed on the page. But every discipline, from the humanities to STEM fields, has its own voice. Now with the rapid changes in the way students use commercial AI to read and write, voice has become even more important as faculty and students navigate the uneven territory of what authentic expertise (and human voices) sound like. This one-hour workshop will present updated and productive ways to teach voice in academic writing that align with your discipline’s voice and in such a way that elevates students’ ownership of their work. Instructors will walk away with new insights on what it means to sound like an expert in their field and institution as well as exercises and tools to assess voice.

The Age of AI motivated a substantial revision to our Upper-Division Writing Assessment Rubric, which has been unrevised for over a decade. This one-hour discussion will explain the contexts and rationale of this new version, provide examples of how to use the rubric with attention toward its new discrete sections, including voice/critical thinking/rhetorical awareness, and provide space to review the variety of feedback the CWCC has received since its launch in Fall 2025. This meeting will be in-person.