Abstract
Cognitive autonomy in the age of AI is becoming an urgent concern in higher education. This article argues that first-year writing instruction should recover cognitive autonomy and embodied learning as correctives to technocratic habits shaped by generative AI, digital convenience, and an overreliance on optimization. Drawing on the author’s positionality as a first-year university writing teacher, it examines how students increasingly treat knowledge as detachable information rather than as something formed through disciplined engagement. The article includes examples of handwritten note-taking and annotation as embodied learning that slows thought, deepens synthesis, and supports student agency. It concludes that education should form learners capable of judgment, interpretation, and ownership rather than passive compliance with platform-generated tasks.
Recommended Citation
Terry, Rachel M.
(2026)
"Cognitive Autonomy in the Age of AI: A First-Year University Writing Teacher’s Case for Embodied Learning,"
Essays in Education: Vol. 32:
Iss.
1, Article 16.
Available at:
https://openriver.winona.edu/eie/vol32/iss1/16
Primary Author Bio Sketch
Rachel M. Terry holds an MA in Rhetoric and Composition and is pursuing a graduate degree in Instructional Psychology and Technology. She teaches first-year writing at Brigham Young University.
Included in
Educational Methods Commons, Instructional Media Design Commons, Rhetoric and Composition Commons, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons
