
The Key with Inside Higher Ed Ep. 187: AI, Writing and Student Agency with John Warner
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Jan 23, 2026 AI Snips
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Keys As A Teaching Artifact
- John Warner never lost his college keychain charm and used pictures of keys as a classroom exercise to teach observation and inference.
- He used keys to show students how artifacts reveal personal history and invite interpretation.
Objectivity Is A Misguided Goal
- Warner argues objectivity is impossible and misleading in education; strive for fairness, accuracy, and transparency instead.
- He says instructors should state their positions clearly while representing opposing views sympathetically.
Students Aren't Averages
- Warner warns treating students as averages erodes individual agency and misuses LMS data.
- He says education should resist reducing learners to demographic-based predictions.





