| Class | Semester | Instructor | Department | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writing Humor | Every Spring | Ryan Wepler | English | None |
Learning Objectives
- Students develop a clearer sense of their distinctive voice and sense of humor.
- Students use the process of prompting an LLM to write an existing paper to reflect on their writing objectives.
- By using an LLM to produce the most expected answer to a prompt, students find opportunities to pursue a more surprising direction.
- Create an occasion for an in-class discussion about spaces for the human in creative writing.
Description
Choose one of your previous essays (1a, 1b, 1c, or 1d) and ask ChatGPT to write an essay with the same premise as the one you wrote. You’ll need to include the word count (500–700 words), a request to make the essay funny, a mildly detailed description of your concept, and a few key details that the essay should include. It’s okay to try a few times, or ask the chatbot for follow-up adjustments to the essay.
Once you’ve received your response, read and compare the robot essay to the one you wrote. Then write a short reflection describing (1) how ChatGPT’s take on your premise is different from your own, and (2) what feels distinctive about your human comedy voice when compared with the voice of a robot comedian. (The reflection is all you need to post below.)
With Lil’s permission, I generated an example. Compare Lil’s Essay 1b to Robot Lil’s Essay 1b (which includes the prompt I entered into ChatGPT).
Reflections
I like that the assignment creates an occasion for discussing the spaces of the human in creative writing. It helps students develop a sharper sense of what true creativity is so that they can pursue it. As engagement with LLMs has grown over time, students have become less impressed with the AI-generated versions of their essays.