Computers and Composition Sep 2026 Open Access

When writing students design AI chatbots: Integrating design thinking as a critical AI literacy practice

Jialei Jiang University of Pittsburgh ; Gustav Verhulsdonck Central Michigan University

Abstract

This study examines how design thinking (DT) can function as a conceptual and analytical framework for supporting students’ critical AI literacy practices in writing and technical communication classrooms. Drawing on focus group interviews, individual reflection essays, and design artifacts from undergraduate technical writing students who collaboratively designed and customized AI chatbots using Poe, the study explores how students enacted responsible and user-centered design practices through each stage of the DT process. Findings reveal that 1) the empathize and define stages helped students identify algorithmic biases and frame inclusivity as part of user-centered design; 2) the ideate and prototype stages translated critical awareness into design decisions around prompt engineering, knowledge base curation, and visual accessibility; and 3) the test stage allowed students to revise their chatbot design through iterative usability testing and user feedback. Collectively, the DT process positioned students as human-in-the-loop co-creators who exercised rhetorical agency through prompt design, knowledge curation, and bias mitigation while designing customized chatbots. The article ends with pedagogical implications for integrating DT into critical AI pedagogy, chatbot design, and composition instruction.

Journal
Computers and Composition
Published
2026-09-01
DOI
10.1016/j.compcom.2026.103022
CompPile
Open Access
OA PDF Hybrid
Topics
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (50) · 23 in this index

  1. Agboka (2013)
    Participatory Localization: A Social Justice Approach to Navigating Unenfranchi…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Aguilar (2025)
    AI Writing Is Always Embodied: Building a Critical Awareness of the Invisible L…
    College Composition and Communication
  3. Bender (2021)
    On the dangers of stochastic parrots: Can language models be too big? Proceedings of the 2021 ACM conference on fairness, accountability, and transparency
  4. Cummings et al. (2024)
    Generative AI in first-year writing: An early analysis of affordances, limitati…
    Computers and Composition
  5. Dignum (2026)
    The AI paradox: How to make sense of a complex future
Show all 50 →
  1. Gallagher et al. (2025)
    When collaborating turns into dishonesty: A data-driven heuristic comparing hum…
    Computers and Composition
  2. Gallagher (2020)
    The Ethics of Writing for Algorithmic Audiences
    Computers and Composition
  3. Garib et al. (2024)
    DETECTing the anomalies: Exploring implications of qualitative research in iden…
    Computers and Composition
  4. Getto et al. (2026)
    How to Write With GenAI: A Framework for Using Generative AI to Automate Writin…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Gibbons (2016)
    Design thinking 101
  6. Graham (2023)
    Post-process but not post-writing: Large language models and a future for composition pedagogy
    Composition Studies
  7. Gupta et al. (2024)
    “Wayfinding” through the AI wilderness: Mapping rhetorics of ChatGPT prompt wri…
    Computers and Composition
  8. Hart-Davidson et al. (2025)
    Revisiting Four Conversations in Technical and Professional Writing Scholarship…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  9. Jiang et al. (2025)
    Augmenting User Experience Design with Multimodal Generative Artificial Intelli…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  10. Jiang et al. (2026)
    User experience in composition: Rethinking the past and mapping the future of w…
    Computers and Composition
  11. Jiang (2024)
    When generative artificial intelligence meets multimodal composition: Rethinkin…
    Computers and Composition
  12. Jones (2016)
    The Technical Communicator as Advocate: Integrating a Social Justice Approach i…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  13. Knowles (2024)
    Machine-in-the-loop writing: Optimizing the rhetorical load
    Computers and Composition
  14. Kosmyna, N., Hauptmann, E., Yuan, Y.T., Situ, J., Liao, X.H., Beresnitzky, A.V., … Maes, P. (2025). Your brai…
  15. Long (2020)
    What is AI literacy? Competencies and design considerations. Proceedings of the 2020 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems
  16. Luke (2014)
    Defining critical literacy
    Moving critical literacies forward
  17. Markauskaite (2022)
    Rethinking the entwinement between artificial intelligence and human learning: What capab…
    Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence
  18. Masters-Wheeler (2023)
    Artificial intelligence, large language models, and design thinking in TPC classrooms
    Programmatic Perspectives
  19. Mateas (2003)
    Expressive AI: A semiotic analysis of machinic affordances
  20. McKoy (2020)
    CCCC Black technical and professional communication position statement with resource guide. Conference on College Composition and Communication
  21. Mihalcea, R., Ignat, O., Bai, L., Borah, A., Chiruzzo, L., Jin, Z., … Solorio, T. (2025). Why AI is WEIRD and…
     ↗
  22. Németh (2025)
    Exploring the use of retrieval-augmented generation models in higher education: A pilot s…
    Social Sciences & Humanities Open  ↗
  23. Neshaei (2025)
    April). User-centric reflective writing assistance: Leveraging rag for enhanced personalized support
  24. Noble (2018)
    Algorithms of oppression: How search engines reinforce racism. Algorithms of oppression
  25. Pflugfelder et al. (2024)
    Surveillance Work in (and) Teaching Technical Writing with AI
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  26. Pigg (2024)
    Research writing with ChatGPT: A descriptive embodied practice framework
    Computers and Composition
  27. Ponce (2024)
    AI resume writing: How prompt confidence shapes output and AI literacies
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  28. Pope-Ruark et al. (2019)
    Introduction to Special Issue: Design-Thinking Approaches in Technical and Prof…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  29. Ranade (2025)
    Using rhetorical strategies to design prompts: A human-in-the-loop approach to make AI useful
    AI & SOCIETY  ↗
  30. Sackey (2025)
    A case for black user experience design
    Teaching user experience
  31. Saldaña (2021)
    The coding manual for qualitative researchers
  32. Sano-Franchini
  33. Shalamova (2024)
    Leveraging design thinking and generative AI to transform TPC pedagogy
    Programmatic Perspectives
  34. Shen (2026)
    How AI impacts skill formation
    arXiv
  35. Sorapure et al. (2026)
    Using AI to understand students’ self-assessments of their writing
    Journal of Writing Research
  36. Tham (2025)
    The rhetoric of design thinking: Histories, theories, and methods for innovation in technical communication
  37. Tham et al. (2022)
    Extending Design Thinking, Content Strategy, and Artificial Intelligence into T…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  38. Veeramoothoo (2022)
    Social Justice and the Portrayal of Migrants in International Organization for …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  39. Velander (2024)
    What is critical (about) AI literacy? Exploring conceptualizations present in AI literacy…
    Framing futures in postdigital education: Critical concepts for data-driven practices
  40. Velez et al. (2026)
    Historicizing critical discourse about emergent tools and technologies across 4…
    Computers and Composition
  41. Verhulsdonck et al. (2026)
    Expanding Human-in-the-Loop: Critical Sensemaking for Technical and Professiona…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  42. Verhulsdonck et al. (2021)
    Investigating the Impact of Design Thinking, Content Strategy, and Artificial I…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  43. Vetter et al. (2024)
    Towards a framework for local interrogation of AI ethics: A case study on text …
    Computers and Composition
  44. Wadinambiarachchi (2024)
    May). The effects of generative AI on design fixation and divergent thinking
  45. Walton (2019)
    Technical communication after the social justice turn: Building coalitions for action
CrossRef global citation count: 0 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related articles

  1. Pedagogy Apr 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism african american rhetorics cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy basic writing graduate education two-year college teacher development writing centers technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions digital rhetoric multimodality social media literacy studies race and writing gender and writing community literacy literary studies editorial matter
  2. Pedagogy Jan 2022
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis african american rhetorics decolonial rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy basic writing writing across the curriculum graduate education teacher development argument collaborative writing transfer assessment portfolios writing program administration writing centers peer tutoring technical communication professional writing archival research digital rhetoric social media grammar and mechanics literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies public rhetoric community literacy literary studies editorial matter
  3. Pedagogy Oct 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy advanced composition creative writing writing across the curriculum graduate education two-year college service learning teacher development technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions archival research multimodality artificial intelligence literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies literary studies editorial matter
  4. Pedagogy Apr 2024
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism feminist rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy creative writing teacher development collaborative writing assessment technical communication professional writing grammar and mechanics literacy studies gender and writing literary studies book reviews editorial matter
  5. Literacy in Composition Studies Dec 2024
    Review: Eli Golblatt, Alone with Each Other: Literature and Literacy Intertwined ↗
    Elizabeth Kimball
    rhetorical criticism composition theory genre theory first-year composition writing pedagogy argument writing program administration literacy studies community literacy literary studies book reviews