Enhancing Academic Writing and Digital Literacy with an AI Coach

Promoting academic writing and AI literacy

This project will iteratively develop, implement, and evaluate an AI tool to improve academic writing and digital literacy across California public higher education segments. The project will leverage PapyrusAI, a tool created with NSF funding to help students plan and revise their writing by using embedded prompts to guide interaction with AI. The PapyrusAI platform, associated resources, and professional development activities will be further developed to broadly support both foundational writing in first-year English and ESL composition and disciplinary writing across the curriculum. Teams of instructors across selected departments at UCI, Cal State Fullerton, and the North Orange County Community College District will collaborate in faculty learning communities to implement AI-based writing with PapyrusAI, collect and analyze outcomes data, and iteratively develop the platform and associated resources, including online professional development materials, with the goal of involving 25% of writing instructors by the end of the project. Simultaneously, a funding model will be developed so that the platform’s modest API and associated server costs can be recovered on an ongoing basis, thus allowing instructors and students throughout the UCI, CSU, and CCC systems to access and use PapyrusAI to support the development of their academic writing and digital literacy.