Informed Pedagogy: Brass
2026Resurfacing · now I teach it

Grad Research & Bibliography(MUSX 5110)

Handed to me this summer, to teach in the fall. Here the arc turns: from survival to innovation, and from running the loop privately to teaching the loop itself. The thesis of this whole talk becomes the curriculum.

What makes it different

A narrower gap — and a status flip

  • The gap is smaller. The expertise I bring now includes being an active researcher (research-via-performance — the spine of my promotion case), not just a performer. I’ve also taken this course as a student.
  • From catching up to leading.Rather than barely staying a day ahead, I’m adding what the PhD-taught version never had: “it’s time the class is brought into the 21st century by adding a significant AI module.”

What students actually do — the mini-seminar

I don't hand them the machine. I teach them the loop.

The first weeks are a mini-seminar on running the loop on their own work — before AI touches their research:

  • The Unit-1 AI failure-mode lab — see where the machine confidently fails, firsthand.
  • The AI-use policy + disclosure — an origination line they write to: AI may refine, organize, or critique your thinking, not originate it.
  • The THOMAS audit protocol— the habit of checking the machine the way you’d check a colleague’s note.

And the rule for where AI belongs: think & learn = no AI · organize & manage = all in · practice & drill = AI with you.

“I figured it out — now I teach them to.”

The artifact

The built course is the proof

The module, policy, and protocol already exist as working materials in the course spoke:

johnstonhorn/musx-5110