Teaching Academic Writing and Research In Economics in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

The Teaching Academic Writing and Research In Economics in the Age of Artificial Intelligence  Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) has been developed within the Connect-UNITA framework and is organised by the University of Turin, with the involvement of the Department of Economics and Statistics “Cognetti de Martiis”, the Teaching and Learning Center, and the UNITA staff, in collaboration with several European partner universities.

The programme aims to strengthen participants’ competencies in the critical, ethical and pedagogically effective use of Artificial Intelligence for teaching academic writing and research in Economics. It explores how AI can support students in developing research questions, reviewing the literature, structuring academic papers, and improving academic English, while also addressing limitations, hallucinations, academic integrity, transparency, and assessment.

Through international collaboration, hands-on workshops and group project work, participants will exchange teaching practices and collaboratively design AI-supported learning activities and teaching materials.

The programme focuses on the critical and responsible use of Artificial Intelligence to support the teaching of academic writing and research in Economics. It combines theoretical reflection with practical work on research-question development, literature review, academic-paper structure, academic English, prompt design, ethics, transparency and assessment.

Through a combination of online training sessions and collaborative project work, participants will:

• critically use AI to help students develop and refine research questions
• guide students in using AI for literature searches and evidence synthesis, while recognising limitations and hallucinations
• support students in structuring academic papers and developing coherent arguments
• use AI to improve clarity, academic English and discipline-specific language ethically
• design, test and refine prompts and reusable meta-prompts
• address academic integrity, transparency, disclosure of AI use and assessment redesign
• design AI-supported learning activities and collaboratively develop teaching materials.

The programme combines theoretical input, practical exercises, collaborative teaching-material development and the design and presentation of a final group project in an international academic environment.

The programme fosters structured collaboration among European partner universities and enables participants to compare approaches to the teaching of academic writing and research in the age of Artificial Intelligence.

It brings together participants from different institutional and national contexts, encouraging exchange of practices, collaborative reflection and the co-design of AI-supported learning activities and teaching materials.

The programme combines online training sessions, collaborative project work, and in-person workshops, practical activities and the development and presentation of a final teaching project.

The virtual component includes live sessions on topics such as Artificial Intelligence in higher education, AI tools for data analytics, instructional design, and economic modelling. 

The on-site component focuses on the critical and pedagogically responsible use of Artificial Intelligence in teaching academic writing and research in Economics. It includes sessions and workshops on research-question development, literature review, academic-paper structure, academic English, prompt engineering and meta-prompting, ethics, transparency, assessment redesign, AI Act implications and the design of AI-supported learning activities. Participants will also develop and present a final group teaching project.

University of Turin:

• Department of Economics and Statistics “Cognetti de Martiis”
• Teaching and Learning Center
• UNITA staff

Partner universities:

• West University of Timisoara (Romania)
• Universidade da Beira Interior (Portugal)
• Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain)
• Universidad Pública de Navarra (Spain)
• Université Lumière Lyon 2 (France)
• Universidad de Barcelona (Spain)