Academic writing is a core competence in higher education, requiring clarity, rigor and critical thinking. The rapid development of generative artificial intelligence tools raises new questions for researchers and teachers: how can these tools support the writing process without replacing scientific reasoning or undermining academic integrity

This 2-hour introductory online course is designed for participants who are little or not at all familiar with generative AI tools. It offers a guided and critical first exploration of how such tools can be used to support academic writing, while clearly addressing their limitations and ethical implications.

The course aims to provide participants with practical reference points, concrete examples and a critical framework to help them make informed decisions about whether—and how—to integrate AI tools into their writing practices.

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Understand what generative AI tools are (e.g. ChatGPT, Copilot, Mistral) and how they function at a basic level.
• Identify appropriate and limited use cases for AI in academic writing (e.g. clarifying structure, improving readability, reformulating passages, summarising content).
• Experiment with AI tools in a guided way, while learning how to critically assess their outputs.
• Recognise common limitations, risks and biases associated with AI-generated text.
• Reflect on ethical issues and good practices related to the use of AI in research and academic writing.
• This course contributes to the development of skills in scientific communication, research quality, and the responsible integration of digital tools in academic contexts.

Course structure

• Introduction: why (and why not) use generative AI in academic writing today?
• Accessible overview of how generative AI works and presentation of commonly used tools.
• Demonstrations of typical use cases in academic writing, with commentary.
• Guided hands-on activities: reformulation, summarisation, readability analysis and detection of imprecisions using example texts.
• Optional individual or pair work on short text excerpts provided by participants.
• Wrap-up discussion: benefits, limitations, ethical concerns and open questions.

Target audience

Teachers and researchers

Researchers, PhD candidates, and higher education teaching staff from all disciplines who wish to discover generative AI tools and explore their potential role in academic writing. No prior technical knowledge or experience with AI is required.

Responsibles and speakers

Speakers

Christiane Caneva, Head of the Didactics and Digital Skills Service at the University of Fribourg

Dates and locations

Period	Location
26.02.2026 from 11:30 to 13:30