Bringing the Term Paper into the Classroom

Nov 6, 2025

In this engaging conversation, Lily Abadal, an assistant professor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, discusses the impact of AI on traditional classroom dynamics. She advocates for bringing writing back into the classroom to foster integrity and intellectual virtues. Lily reimagines the term paper into step-by-step in-class assignments, emphasizing slow, thoughtful writing as essential for deep understanding. Her practical approach to teaching and unique grading methods reveal how students become more engaged and take ownership of their learning.

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ADVICE

Move Writing Into Class Time

Bring writing tasks into class so students practice within proper boundaries and build good habits.
Force practice in class to habituate virtues needed to resist shortcuts like overreliance on AI.

INSIGHT

Slow Thinking Produces Better Arguments

Slow, deliberate thinking is required for deep answers to big philosophical questions.
Structuring class time to force slow work cultivates students' capacity for sustained reasoning.

ANECDOTE

Teacher's Own Procrastination Shaped Method

Lily admits she procrastinated and rushed papers as an undergraduate.
That experience shaped her drive to force slow, in-class writing practices.

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With the advent of AI, many are questioning the traditional model of having students do much of the heavy lifting of a course on their own. If outside of class students can prompt AI to do homework, write essays, and create presentation slides, should instructors be using time inside the classroom differently than in the past?

An applied ethicist, Lily Abadal has been a vocal proponent of a philosophy that has always existed on the edges of higher ed but that has taken on new prominence in this current moment: If we care about it, students should be doing it in class.

Lily and host Jim Lang explore this idea and how she applies it to continue to push her students to become better writers and, in the process, stronger thinkers.

Key Topics Discussed:

How virtue ethics informs Lily’s argument that instructors should bring writing assignments into the classroom—and make students take their time with them
The way she has reimagined the traditional term paper as an in-class assignment
What this restructuring has meant for both the material she covers and what she does during a class period
The role of the instructor as coach in pushing students to expend the effort to master the fundamentals
Lily’s still-evolving approach to grading these assignments and getting students to focus on the process rather than checking boxes
How student attitudes toward the paper assignment change over the course of the semester

Guest Bio: Lily Abadal is an assistant professor of instruction at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Her research focuses on virtue ethics and moral formation, particularly in relation to emerging technologies. She is interested in helping mission-centered schools design pedagogical strategies, develop integrity-centered policies, reimagine assessments, and encourage genuine character formation in the age of AI.

Resources Mentioned:

Inside Higher Ed Piece: “A Way to Save the Essay”
Journal Article: “Ensuring Genuine Assessment in Philosophy Education” (Teaching Philosophy)
Lily’s Website: drlilyabadal.com
Lily’s LinkedIn
Episode Transcript (PDF)

Designed for Learning is hosted by Jim Lang, a professor of the practice in Notre Dame Learning’s Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence and the author of several influential books on teaching. The podcast is produced by Notre Dame Learning’s Office of Digital Learning. For more, visit learning.nd.edu/podcast. You can also follow Notre Dame Learning on LinkedIn.