Tamara Tate

New paper alert! Tate, T.P., Ritchie, D.R., & Warschauer, M. (2026). Generative AI as a Mediational Agent: Rethinking Learning in Sociocultural Theory. @markwarschauer.com @uci-education.bsky.social doi.org/10.35542/osf...

This is long. I hope you’ll read it anyway. I’ve brought the tea: claims of noncitizen voting, last minute pre-election charges; it’s the same tired playbook & it's failed before. They’re hoping you don't remember. But knowledge is power. Read here: joycevance.substack.com/p/the-reoccu...

If the problem is not polarization but authoritarian extremism, then the solution is not encouraging civil dialogue between racists and anti-racists; the solution is "to recommit to the project of pluralistic American democracy"

The Digital Learning Lab has been awarded a $10 million, five-year grant from IES to establish a national research center on the effective and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence in postsecondary writing instruction! More details at writeai.center @uci-education.bsky.social

We'd also like to highlight our sister project, PapyrusAI out of UC Irvine, led by @drtate.bsky.social and Mark Warschauer. www.genaied.org

Whatever your feelings about AI, we invite you to consider the Peer & AI Review + Reflection @pairrfeedback.bsky.social approach. Students build skeptical AI literacy by engaging with AI feedback alongside human feedback. We'll share our materials and invite input in a free webinar August 18. +

"Scientists who use AI are morons who aren't reading" I'm a computational social scientist and I feel like LLMs are a lot of things, but one thing they can be is a computational tool for text-based information in science. Here is what I am doing this morning

Celebrating the release of Writing and Rhetoric Studies in the Loop: A GenAI Prompt Library, edited by @mettalrose.bsky.social and Brian Gogan. Because... *Prompting is writing. *Prompting is one way to shape AI to do more good and less harm. *People who study writing and rhetoric can help.

One-minute lesson narrated by @sifill.bsky.social on the significance of the 14th Amendment in the @250to250.bsky.social series by @hcrichardson.bsky.social Learn more by following The 14th Amendment Center @the14thcenter.bsky.social at Howard University Law School. youtu.be/l347V4pJF5E?...

Anthropic is retaining user data for 30 days with Mythos, supposedly for safety review, including on enterprise plans with zero data retention. This may be a nonstarter for many campuses and industries.

Week Two of 250 to 250:

Great opportunity for students to use AI to improve their writing based on research based pedagogy. Anna, Eric, and the entire PAIRR team is doing amazing work. Try it for yourself.

May 24, 2026

New substack post by @markwarschauer.com open.substack.com/pub/digitall... @uci-education.bsky.social

And of course it’s the fifth circuit that decides for women everywhere in the country, Mifepristone no longer available unless you can pick it up in person. Reminder: in Dobbs, the court said this should be up to each state. That’s not what this does. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

1. In a draconian new policy, Texas Tech is banning writing about LGBTQ+ topics. The ban is the first don't say gay or trans policy to apply to students themselves. It applies to any thesis/dissertation moving forward. They are using AI to scan everything. Subscribe to support our journalism.

At the end of 2024, the National Academies put out a report concluding the NIH has woefully underfunded women’s health research, and they suggested $15 B should be invested over the next 5 years. Here’s what’s happened instead. Hard to study women’s health if you can’t say “women.” wapo.st/4euUt1c

The federal government just extended the deadline for enforcement for a full year. No one thought this through. www.federalregister.gov/public-inspe...

jupiter wishes you a very happy trans day of visibility 🏳️‍⚧️

Wanted to share a personal project I've been working on: I love classic literature, and I'm also taking an AI class here at UIUC, so I trained an LLM from scratch on Victorian lit from 1837 to 1899. This is Mr. Chatterbox, the Victorian Gentleman Chatbot: huggingface.co/spaces/tvent...

This moment, post-No Kings, is a great time to talk about the importance of persistence and diverse tactics in social justice work. We can win. But only if we *sustain* the work in a *consistent* way with a *range* of approaches. Many concrete suggestions & resources in my latest:

7. This is the second org to correct the record and announce reaffirmation of support for trans youth. The American Psychological Association has recently done the same. www.erininthemorning.com/p/american-p...

1. The largest medical organization in the United States, the American Medical Association, has reaffirmed that gender affirming care for trans youth is medically necessary. It disavowed the New York Times reporting. Incredible development for trans youth. Subscribe to support our journalism.

If you're curious what the Peer & AI Review + Reflection @pairrfeedback.bsky.social approach consists of, how we got started, what we've learned so far, and how you can view, try, and/or adapt our materials, check out the slides for our recent #4C26 session. Slides: pairr.short.gy/4C26

Love the framing here: Iterative Prompting, AKA "Be the Boss" from @drtate.bsky.social and colleagues at the UC Irvine Digital Learning Lab Wonderful handout on how students can push back against AI writing suggestions and get more out of AI feedback. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

7/10

Fuck this and everyone who helped get things to this point. Trans rights are human rights—full stop.

BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide. This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.

Great nuanced thread on Ai and coding that parallels a lot of what we are finding in our writing research too.

Strategies for reducing AI misuse may involve intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, or a combination, as @leoflores.bsky.social @hollyjhassel.bsky.social, Liz Losh and I have discussed. Here's my recent Southwestern College presentation slide deck: link.annarmills.com/Southwestern

Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti. "Please get the truth out about our son."

The term “law enforcement” should not be used by media, except perhaps in quotations. It has sadly become an Orwellian term that is used to magically sanctify violence. Language matters. Be specific. Describe individuals with names and ranks. Say exactly what they did. Don’t repeat fascist hocum.

We covered pros and cons of a range of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation strategies for reducing AI misuse in today's panel for #MLA26, sponsored by the @modernlanguage.bsky.social Task Force on AI in Research and Teaching. The chat was lively! Slides: mlaai.short.gy/2026 (The polls are open)

Thank you to @ryancordell.org for my new office decor. Gorgeous print.

I just condensed my thoughts in the wake of Renee Nicole Good's murder-- and links to the pieces for taking action, and ways to stay fortified, even now -- into one piece. “The world will not be destroyed by evil people but by good people who do nothing to stop it.” ― Bangambiki Habyarimana

Agentic AI browsers are here: will we let them complete quizzes and homework in online spaces designed for learning? It was great to talk with @jryoung.bsky.social about what educators can do in this strange moment and how AI and ed tech companies can help.

The study analyzes survey responses from 816 verified research paper authors, examining LLM use across research stages, demographic differences, perceived benefits and risks, disclosure norms, and model preferences. (2/6 🧵) 📄 Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2411.05025 #AIResearch #LLMs

When Rebecca Solnit asks you to turn a thread into an essay, you fucking do it. jessica.substack.com/p/cbs-news-f... bsky.app/profile/rebe...

I am not reading that yet. It is still the holidays.

How are researchers actually using large language models today, and who benefits most? In our latest WiAIR episode, we speak with Dr Maria Antoniak (@mariaa.bsky.social) about a large-scale survey on LLM use across academia. 👇 (1/6 🧵) #WiAIR

ICE vs the clergy