Writing with AI: This is how the Long Day of Writing is revolutionizing universities!

Writing with AI: This is how the Long Day of Writing is revolutionizing universities!

On March 6, 2025, the 15th “Long Day of Writing” took place at the European University Viadrina. This event, organized by the Center for Teaching and Learning (ZLL), aims to offer students and teachers a platform for collaborative writing and exchange about academic writing techniques. This year's thematic focus was on dealing with artificial intelligence (AI) in the writing process, a topic that is becoming increasingly important for many academic actors. The coworking rooms in the Gräfin Dönhoff building provided the appropriate setting for the diverse offerings provided during the event.

In her introductory words, Anja Voigt-Färber, the head of the ZLL, emphasized the essence of writing as a central key skill in the academic context. "Everyone can learn to write well. There is support and offers of help," says Voigt-Färber. This was particularly well received by the participants, such as Maria Mammeri-Latzel, who is working on her master's thesis at the age of 65 and greatly appreciates the ZLL's support.

Variety of topics and workshops

The event offered a wide range of workshops including reading techniques, stress management and even yoga sessions. A central concern was to promote exchange about the challenges and opportunities of academic writing. This also included a virtual exchange between international writers. The workshops not only enabled participants to receive practical help, but also to reflect on their own writing. In particular, the focus was on the topic of AI - a tool that is becoming more present in the everyday lives of students and teachers.

Dr. Sigrun Meinig, who advises teachers on the use of AI tools, outlined the new requirements that arise from the use of AI. “We have to learn to deal with this technology and use it in a targeted manner,” she explained. In order to further support the teachers, the ZLL is planning a Faculty Learning Community in the summer semester. The focus here is on the responsible use of AI.

The role of artificial intelligence

AI writing tools are becoming increasingly important for academic writing. Paulina, speaker for writing didactics at the TU Dresden Writing Center, makes it clear that AI-supported applications such as ChatGPT can bring about potential changes in higher education. These tools, which are based on large language models and trained on extensive text corpora, not only enable the generation of texts, but also support research, reading and translation.

The benefits of AI in academic writing include, for example, linguistic competence and individual feedback. By exchanging ideas with AI, writers can produce better-founded and more differentiated academic texts - the possibilities seem almost endless. Nevertheless, Voigt-Färber warns that AI does not automatically make writing easier. “Reflection on writing must be increased,” is her message.

In a polarized debate about the impact of AI on higher education, some emphasize the opportunities while others warn about the risks. Regardless of this discussion, it is important for everyone who writes scientific texts to consider the role of AI. As Limburg et al. (2023) emphasize in their discussion paper, the integration of AI into the writing process opens up new possibilities for action and can sustainably strengthen the importance of academic writing.

In summary, it can be said that the “Long Day of Writing” not only offered a platform for the exchange of scientific writing techniques, but also encouraged people to critically reflect on the role of AI and consciously use its potential. The event once again demonstrated how much such events can contribute to promoting writing and learning in the academic community.

For further information please visit the website European University Viadrina, the TU Dresden and des AI Campus.