{"id":233008,"date":"2025-07-29T07:15:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T11:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=233008"},"modified":"2025-07-31T08:27:48","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T12:27:48","slug":"economist-reimagines-writing-courses-in-the-age-of-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/07\/economist-reimagines-writing-courses-in-the-age-of-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Economist Reimagines Writing Courses in the Age of AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes classrooms and careers alike, UConn professor of economics Metin Co\u015fgel<\/a> is asking a deceptively simple question: Can generative AI help students become better writers?<\/p>\n

The answer, Co\u015fgel says, lies not just in what we ask students to produce, but in how we guide them through the writing process itself.<\/p>\n

\"Portrait
Metin Co\u015fgel, professor and director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Economics. (Photo courtesy of Metin Co\u015fgel).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAI can help with writing, but students need to be able to own their work and defend it along the way, not just generate a final paper at the end because the system allows it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

This fall, Co\u015fgel will launch a redesigned version of ECON 2500W, a core writing-intensive course for UConn economics majors. Supported by a Teaching Enhancement Grant from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), the new curriculum integrates AI tools with traditional instruction to help students improve their writing, understand their learning process, and graduate with the skills needed for today\u2019s workforce.<\/p>\n

Co\u015fgel\u2019s approach is detailed in a recent article, Teaching Economical Writing in the Age of AI: A Process-Based Framework<\/a>, co-authored with economics professors Richard Langlois<\/a> and Thomas Miceli<\/a>. The piece outlines how AI can enhance student learning by framing writing as a structured, iterative process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want students to be expert AI users; we want them to learn how to write well,\u201d says Co\u015fgel. \u201cThat means connecting AI with the required analog skills that we want them to graduate with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teaching Writing Like an Economist<\/strong><\/p>\n

Co\u015fgel\u2019s research interests typically have little to do with emerging technologies, focusing instead on topics like the long-term economic history of the Ottoman Empire, the relationship between state and religion, and the effects of ethnic and racial diversity on performance in America\u2019s offshore whaling industry. His path into AI began, somewhat unexpectedly, with an administrative assignment.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, he was asked to chair a search committee for a new faculty position in economics, part of a CLAS faculty cluster hire focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning. To prepare, Co\u015fgel began learning the basics, and soon found himself increasingly interested in how AI could be applied to teaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more I learned, the more I wanted to learn,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Around the same time, Co\u015fgel was named director of undergraduate studies in economics and tasked with rethinking how the department approaches teaching in the age of AI.<\/p>\n

His new administrative role, combined with his growing interest in AI, sparked conversations with colleagues about how the technology could support teaching in one of UConn\u2019s largest majors. The economics program serves more than 1,000 students, all of whom must complete at least one writing-intensive (W) course.<\/p>\n

Co\u015fgel saw an opportunity to use AI not just as a writing tool, but to reimagine how assignments are taught and assessed in W courses.<\/p>\n

Instead of focusing solely on a final paper, his process-based model emphasizes a series of graded steps \u2014 including outlines, drafts, discussion posts, and presentations \u2014 that give students multiple opportunities to build skills and reflect on their learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to put students in a situation where they do their own calculations, where they understand that using AI has benefits and costs in terms of not learning skills,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Co\u015fgel tested the model in an honors course this past year, and his findings helped inform his recent article. This fall, he will pilot the AI-integrated version of ECON 2500W in two sections. By spring 2026, he hopes to roll out the model across all sections of the course.<\/p>\n

To ensure consistency, especially in sections taught by graduate assistants, he also plans to develop a standard HuskyCT course that instructors can adapt for their classes. The goal is to give every student, regardless of section, a strong and consistent foundation in writing for economics.<\/p>\n

Cross-Campus Collaboration<\/strong><\/p>\n

Co\u015fgel\u2019s efforts are part of a broader campus-wide conversation about how AI is changing the way UConn teaches and learns.<\/p>\n

This past year, he served on a CLAS task force exploring AI opportunities and concerns. He has also participated in a group hosted by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) focusing on teaching intentionally with AI, alongside faculty from across disciplines.<\/p>\n

According to Co\u015fgel, faculty are grappling with concerns about academic integrity, student learning, and the evolving role of generative AI in higher education. He says many people tend to fall into one of two camps: those who are highly resistant and want to ban AI from their classrooms, and those who are enthusiastic about its potential but often overlook its limitations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs economists, we know any time you do something there are costs and benefits, and you do something when the benefits are greater than the costs,\u201d Co\u015fgel says. \u201cThat it makes it more important to understand the costs and benefits of AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite concerns about overreliance on AI, Co\u015fgel believes there\u2019s reason to be hopeful. Used strategically, AI can democratize access to knowledge and help students understand complex topics more quickly, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, the possibilities are endless, and it\u2019s fascinating to see where it\u2019s going,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professor Metin Co\u015fgel is piloting a new AI-integrated writing curriculum in economics, one of UConn\u2019s largest majors, with the potential to shape how writing is taught across disciplines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":233011,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,2460,2256,2648,2235,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1858],"class_list":["post-233008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-faculty","category-innovation","category-blue-research","category-today-homepage","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 07:15:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233008"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233332,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233008\/revisions\/233332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/233011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233008"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=233008"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=233008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}