Appendix: Example Assignments

A.1. AI-resilient Assignments

A.1.1. Real-world group writing project

Purpose: to provide student groups an opportunity to collaboratively design and complete a writing project with a community partner, gaining practical experience by producing a real-world public health document.

Learning goals:

Apply writing strategies to real-world contexts.

Collaborate with community partners.

Strengthen awareness of rhetorical context by adapting tone, structure, and content to meet the needs of a given audience or purpose.

Assignment:

• Part 1 Project Proposal [in groups]: have student groups write a short 1-page proposal describing the final written product (e.g., brochure, social media posts, infographic, report) without using GenAI. This should include the intended audience, public health relevance, and potential visuals to include.
• Part 2 Draft Project [in groups]: ask student groups to create a first draft of the product including both text and visual element(s).
• Part 3a Peer Review [in class]: pair student groups into peer review groups. Have paired groups meet and share the audience, purpose and requested format of their group assignment with the group reviewing. Student groups can also share specific aspects of the project that they would like the group reviewing to focus on with their comments.
• Part 3b Peer Review [at home]: Have group members individually review the other groups draft. They should start by skimming the project draft without commenting, then read it through thoroughly and complete the peer review by leaving comments throughout the document. Each individual reviewer should share their project feedback with the group being reviewed.
• Part 4 Draft 2 Project [in groups]: student groups should work together to incorporate peer review suggestions. Collectively the group should create a reflective cover sheet, which details which peer reviewer comments were most helpful and why, the largest substantiative changes the writing group made in the second draft, and how those changes improved the paper. Student groups can also include information about which comments were not helpful and why. The second draft will be reviewed by the course instructor.
• Part 5 Draft 3 Project [in groups]: student groups should work together to incorporate instructor feedback. Collectively the group should create a reflective cover sheet, which details which instructor comments were most helpful and why, the largest substantiative changes the writing group made in the second draft, and how those changes improved the paper. Student groups can also include information about which comments were not helpful and why. The third draft will be reviewed by the community partner.
• Part 6 Final Written Assignment [in groups]: student groups should incorporate community partner suggestions. Student groups should create a reflective cover sheet (same as part 4 & 5).

This assignment was adapted from Anderson & August’s The Real-World Writing Project for Public Health Students and meets all eight criteria for effective writing assignments in public health.^20,72 These steps can be further adapted to individual classroom context and delivery method.

A.2. AI-assisted Assignments

A.2.1. GenAI as a brainstorming tool

Purpose: to help students brainstorm initial topic ideas based on assignment prompt.

Learning goals:

Generate multiple topics from a single writing prompt.

Expand thinking with the help of GenAI.

Assignment:

• Part 1 Draft Topic Ideas [at home]: have students review the assignment prompt and identify the main goal or question. Next, have students draft a short list of topic ideas addressing the assignment prompt without using GenAI.
• Part 2 Incorporating AI systems [in class or at home]: ask students to prompt a GenAI tool to “suggest potential topics related to X and/or Y,” based on the key goal/question identified in part 1. Having students submit an exploratory prompt rather than inserting the assignment prompt encourages a wider range of topic ideas and may help to preserve student agency in the brainstorming process. Have students complete this process 2-3 times, saving the GenAI output each time; this will allow students to see the different possible GenAI outputs for the brainstorming prompt.
• Part 3 Topic Assessment and Reflection [in class or at home]: have students assess the GenAI outputs and determine which topic they believe will best address the prompt. Have them submit their chosen topic and a short reflection on how GenAI improved or hindered their process.

This assignment was adapted from the “Brainstorm Research Idea” activity by Rajagopal Sankaranarayanan from The Faculty Guide to Getting Started With Gen AI by the University of Texas at Austin,⁷³ and from the Montana State University Center for Faculty Excellence.⁷⁴

A.2.2. Using GenAI to adjust tone, audience and formatting

Purpose: to help students learn how to tailor the text of a written document to a different audience or context.

Learning goals:

Tailor summaries to rhetorical context.

Identify, develop, and explore ways to write with AI.

Engage in critical reflection on the affordances and limitations of AI when adapting tone, phrasing, and content to match audience or context.

Assignment:

• Part 1 Draft Written Assignment [at home]: have students draft a relatively short written piece (e.g., formal email, fact sheet, policy memos, curriculum vitae) without using GenAI.
• Part 2 Incorporating AI systems [in class or at home]: ask students to copy and paste their drafted text from part 1 into a GenAI tool and prompt the GenAI tool to “rewrite this text for a(n) _______ audience” or “Example audiences could include but are not limited to college students, public health policymakers, or youth.” Have them complete this process 2-3 times, saving the output each time; this will allow students to see the different possible GenAI outputs for the same piece.
• Part 3 Individual Reflection [at home]: have students write a short summary comparing their initial draft and the GenAI revised draft. Ask them to reflect upon aspects that GenAI was capable of doing well, areas where it was limited or problematic, and areas where GenAI led to new ideas or thoughts to incorporate into the assignment for the final draft. Students can use quotes from the original or GenAI created drafts to illustrate their observations.
• Part 4 Final Written Assignment [at home]: ask students to create a final draft of the assignment, highlighting and commenting on areas where the phrasing or ideas came from GenAI. Have students submit the final draft with the individual reflection.

This assignment was adapted from the “Changing Audience” and “Changing Tense” activities by Tricia Berry from The Faculty Guide to Getting Started With Gen AI by the University of Texas at Austin.⁷³

A.2.3. GenAI as a peer editor: Sentence surgery

Purpose: to help students learn how to improve clarity and conciseness of a written assignment through revision at the sentence level.

Learning goals:

Identify weak, complex or convoluted sentences and grammatical errors.

Learn to revise sentences to improve clarity.

Identify, develop, and explore ways to write with AI.

Engage in critical reflection on the affordances and limitations of AI writing.

Assignment:

• Part 1 Draft Written Assignment [at home]: have students draft a written class assignment without using GenAI.
• Part 2a Human Peer Review [in class or at home]: assign students to peer review groups or dyads. Have each peer review group read through their assigned papers and identify sentences that are complex or ambiguous.
• Optional: limit the number of sentences peer reviewers select. This can be especially beneficial for longer writing assignments to save time, as well as allow the original student writer to understand the suggested changes and apply them throughout the rest of the assignment.
• Part 2b Incorporating AI systems [in class or at home]: have students insert sentences highlighted by their peer reviewer one at a time into a GenAI tool and prompt it to revise them (e.g., “revise this sentence to improve clarity”).
• Part 3 Individual Reflection [at home]: have students write a short summary comparing their initial draft and the GenAI revised draft. Ask them to reflect upon aspects that GenAI was capable of doing well, areas where it was limited or problematic, and areas where GenAI led to new ideas or thoughts to incorporate into the assignment for the final draft. Students can use quotes from the original or GenAI created drafts to illustrate their observations.
• Part 4 Final Written Assignment [at home]: ask students to create a final draft of the assignment, highlighting and commenting on areas where the phrasing or ideas came from GenAI. Have students submit the final draft with the individual reflection.

This assignment was created by Neeza Singh and Christopher McVey at Boston University and was sourced from their resource “AI Mini Games.”^75,76

A.2.4. Public health article summaries

Purpose: to help students learn how to communicate public health findings to lay audiences and assess appropriate AI-assisted steps in the writing process.

Learning goals:

Understand, analyze and summarize research articles for lay audiences.

Tailor summaries to rhetorical context.

Identify, develop, and explore ways to write with AI.

Engage in critical reflection on the affordances and limitations of AI writing.

Assignment:

Part 1 Draft Research Article Summary [at home]: have students select and read a public health research article of interest. Ask students to write a 300-500 word summary* of the article for a given audience (e.g., press release, newsletter, etc.), without using GenAI tools.

Optional: students can also submit a PDF of the article they have selected with annotations, potentially drawing instructors’ attention to how students are approaching and understanding research articles.

*Note: for graduate students, this could be learning to create rapid article summaries in which they read and summarize research articles within a short timeframe (~15 minutes). This could simulate the experience of distilling a large volume of information during a public health emergency (e.g., COVID-19) into accessible public health communication pieces.

Part 2 Peer Review [at home]: have students read assigned peer review articles and corresponding summary drafts in class and provide feedback on the research article summary. While peer reviewing, ask students to think about the appropriateness of the language and content given the intended audience, and whether the main points of the article were conveyed.

Part 3 Incorporating AI systems [in class]: ask students to upload their article to a GenAI tool and have it summarize the article for the same given audience identified in part 1. Have them complete this process 2-3 times, saving the output each time; this will allow students to see the different possible GenAI outputs for the same article.

Optional: ask students to submit the notes they took while reading the original article to a GenAI tool and have GenAI create the research article summary based on student notes.

Part 4 Individual Reflection [at home]: have students write a 1-2 page summary comparing their initial draft and the GenAI created draft. Ask them to reflect upon aspects that GenAI was capable of doing well, areas where it was limited or problematic, and areas where GenAI led to new ideas or thoughts to incorporate into the assignment for the final draft. Students can use quotes from the original or GenAI created drafts to illustrate their observations.

Part 5 Final Research Article Summary [at home]: ask students to create a final draft of the research article summary, highlighting and commenting on areas where the phrasing or ideas came from GenAI. GenAI can also be used to help students copy edit the final draft. Have students submit the final draft with the individual reflection.

Evaluation criteria:

Accuracy of research article summary.

Tailoring of language and content to audience, purpose, and context.

Genre expectations for type of summary (e.g., press release, newsletter, etc.) chosen/assigned.

Integration of ideas and/or words/phrasings from GenAI that are identified in the annotated version and noted in the reflection.

Quality of copy editing for grammar/punctuation/spelling.

Inclusion of article citation.

This assignment was created by Dr. Heidi McKee at Miami University and was sourced from the Writing Across the Curriculum Clearinghouse at Colorado State University.⁷⁷ The idea for rapid summaries (part 1) for graduate students was adapted from Dr. Brandon Guthrie’s Epidemiology 591 Journal Club course.