Teaching Students Agency in the Age of AI

Students have little opportunity to practice agency when an LMS tracks their assignments, they’re not encouraged to explore different majors and colleges shrink general education requirements, according to writer and educator John Warner.

In the latest episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast, Warner tells IHE’s editor in chief, Sara Custer, that colleges should refocus on teaching students how to learn and grow.

“Agency writ large is the thing we need to survive as people … but it’s also a fundamental part of learning, particularly writing.”

Warner argues that with the arrival of AI, helping students develop agency is even more of an imperative for higher education institutions.

“AI is a homework machine … Our response cannot be ‘you’re just going to make this thing using AI now,’” Warner said. “More importantly than this is not learning anything, it is a failure to confront [the question]: What do we, as humans, do now with this technology?”

Warner also shares what he’s learned from consulting and speaking about teaching and AI at campuses across the country. Ultimately, he says, faculty can work with AI in a way that still aligns with their institutional values.

Listen to the full episode.