Teaching Grant writing in the Age of AI: A Practical, Ethical Approach

To state the obvious: AI is a hot topic in higher education.

On one side, there’s concern that students will let AI do all the work and learn nothing. On the other, there’s the worry that if universities don’t teach students how to use AI, they’ll be at a disadvantage in the workforce.

Here’s how I’m approaching this tension in my Arts Management course, specifically when it comes to teaching grant writing—a skill that’s both technical and essential in our field.

Grant writing and AI: A Natural Fit?

I see grant writing for nonprofit arts organizations as a form of technical writing. It’s not about poetic flair or personal voice—it’s about being clear, structured, and persuasive, with strong logic and supporting evidence. In other words, exactly the kind of writing where generative AI excels.

At the same time, students still need to learn how to write grant proposals for programs that they actually designed and are invested in —not just submit proposals that read well. That’s why I’m teaching them to use AI as a tool to improve their writing, not to replace it.

Teaching AI as a Writing Coach, Not a Ghostwriter

My students’ formal writing skills vary widely. For some, AI will help them catch up to baseline: spelling, grammar, clarity, and flow. And honestly? I’m fine with that.

Let’s not beat around the bush—AI can show students exactly where their writing is weak in these areas and how to fix it. Why make busy students overcome the social barrier of asking for help from a writing center or faculty member on these parts of their writing when there’s a tool available 24/7, that they see as judgment-free? This is especially helpful for students who are hesitant to use writing centers or office hours, even when they know they need support. As much as we try to tell students that staff and faculty actually LOVE to help them and don’t judge them, many are still hesitant.

For stronger writers, AI becomes more of a polish—or even a foil. They may reject its suggestions entirely, but in doing so, they sharpen their own voice and reasoning.

Idea Generation Is a Different Matter

The grant writing assignment in my course is based on a fictitious arts organization and program that students develop themselves. This is where AI doesn’t belong—not as the source of the idea, anyway.

After all, in the real world, if you’re going to spend 40+ hours writing and revising a grant proposal, you should care about the project it supports. You can’t advocate for a program you’re not invested in. And ideas plucked from AI aren’t exactly inspiring.

We may use AI for brainstorming or stress-testing ideas later in the course, but the creative work of building a mission and program needs to come from the student. That’s not just pedagogical—it’s practical.

What I’m Doing Differently This Year

I got a grant last year for professional development around AI (thanks again, University Teaching and Learning Commons at UNC Greensboro), and I did start incorporating AI into my courses last year. This fall, I’m building AI into the course in a more explicit and structured way now that I’ve learned more and I have been using the tools more myself. Here’s what that looks like:

Show Where AI Works—and Where It Doesn’t

I’ll demonstrate how AI can help with grammar, clarity, and tone, and why it struggles with original program ideas. I’ll provide example approved uses and disallowed uses to make the distinction clear.

Set Clear Boundaries with Prompts

Last year, I saw that students largely avoided using AI at all—except for Grammarly—because they were afraid of accidentally cheating. This year, I’ll provide specific, example prompts to help them get started and show them how to stay within the boundaries of ethical and wise use.

Appeal to Internal Motivation

I’ll say the quiet part out loud: yes, AI could do most of the writing for them. But then they wouldn’t learn anything. I’ve found that my students genuinely want to learn—they care about the material we’re learning and know that they have to build skills themselves. By integrating AI into the course, I hope to reduce the temptation to misuse it and increase their comfort in using it in ways that will be applicable in their early careers.

Make AI Use Optional

I also respect that some students may have ethical objections to AI—whether it’s the environmental cost or how these tools were trained. That’s valid. So while I’ll teach AI usage directly, students won’t be required to use it.

Building Trust Around AI Use

Students need to trust that I won’t slap them with an academic integrity charge without warning. So I tell them clearly: if I think something’s off, we’ll have a conversation. No surprises. I also encourage them to ask questions about AI use before or during an assignment, and I model a respectful, honest approach in how I respond.

That trust pays off. When students feel safe to ask, we can actually talk about how they’re using AI—and how it’s helping (or not helping) their learning.

Staying Equitable and Transparent

• Though I use other tools regularly, I will only use Microsoft Copilot in my instruction, because all UNC Greensboro students have access to it and it’s covered by the university’s data protections.
• I’m also transparent about my own AI use. I’ll tell students that I’ve used it to help generate course materials and how I’ve used it. I’ll also assure them that I never use AI for grading. Full stop.
• I emphasize that my ideas, analysis, and judgment are mine. I don’t just blindly cut and paste AI material. AI may help me brainstorm or clean up a draft, but it never takes the wheel.

Where I Want to Land

My goal is to help students learn how to use AI effectively and ethically—not just for this class, but for their professional lives. I want them to graduate with the skills to write clearly, advocate confidently, and use the best tools available to do their work well.

And most of all, I want them to know that they can trust me to teach them with integrity—and to treat them with the same.

To close out this series, tomorrow I’ll write about how I’m thinking about career guidance during this time of difficulty in the nonprofit arts sector.

If you’d like to read more about teaching arts management in higher education, read the Teaching Notes section of the American Journal of Arts Management, which I edit. It’s free to read, check it out! 

Here are earlier posts in this series about how I teach:

Backward Design Changed My Teaching—for the Better

Making Learning Stick: How I Structure Class Time So Students Really Get It

Universal Design for Learning: Making My Classroom Work for Everyone