From Resumes to Surveys GenAI in the Professional Communication classroom

Abstract

Between Fall 24 and Spring 25 I trialed full integration of GenAI tools into my professional communications classes. To help foster student agency, I neither required nor banned the use of these tools, but instead left if, when, where, and how they were used up to my students: to mirror the professional realm they are moving into, these should be individual personal decisions, and not those forced on them. To ensure students are still being held accountable for their choices, they are required to complete extensive reflections after each major submission. After a year of this trial, the evidence strongly suggests that GenAI tools themselves do little to nothing to influence grades, and instead it simply comes down to how the student user implemented them.