Generative AI and writing assignments: Long live the master's dissertation. Let's bury it

Study programmes have to answer societal needs. They have to take GenAI into account and adequately adapt to it. GenAI changes the world students have to be prepared for.

The paper raises the question whether and how GenAI forces study programmes to revisit their learning objectives. Since GenAI strongly supports the process of drafting texts, the importance of writing skills as learning objectives can dramatically change.

The paper assesses whether writing remain pertinent learning activities and if so, how new challenges to evaluate students’ writing skills in a sound way may be addressed sustainably.

Dealing with the question whether GenAI should be banned or embraced, the paper - against the background of Ghent University’s recent policy-shift regarding the use of GenAI -highlights solutions to meaningfully integrate GenAI in writing assignments. Advantages, contextual requirements and possible backdrops are pointed out.

Special attention is given to the question whether the master’s dissertation can remain the cornerstone of the integrated acquisition of academic skills at master level, and the evaluation of those competences.

Since the academic community is globally convinced of the value of the master’s dissertation as a lever for competences that characterize an academic study programme, the paper celebrates it, while at the same time suggesting to bury it in its current form as due to GenAI it is probably not fit for purpose anymore.

This paper was presented at EQAF and reflects the views of the named authors only.

ISSN: 1375-3797

Generative AI and writing assignments: Long live the master's dissertation. Let's bury it

Bertel De Groote

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