Distributed Agency in AI‑Enhanced Cybersecurity Education
A Posthuman Instructional Design Framework

Ryan Straight
ryanstraight@arizona.edu

University of Arizona

Josh Herron
jherron@clemson.edu

Clemson University

2025-11-13

Follow along!

ryanstraight.com/research/cisse‑2025

What Does “Posthuman” Mean Here?

NOT “replacing humans” or “post-humans”

INSTEAD: Recognizing that effective action emerges from networks

→ Human + AI + tools working together

Key shift: From “humans using tools” → humans and tools as partners

❌ Eliminating human teachers | ❌ Replacing traditional education | ❌ “AI knows best”

✅ Additive to existing pedagogical approaches

THE PROBLEM

AI‑Enhanced

Practice

≠

Human‑Centered

Education

Why Not Traditional Frameworks?

Traditional instructional design assumes:

  • Individual learners with static content
  • Instructor as primary agent
  • Individual reflection and experimentation
  • Human-only teams using AI as tools

THE FRAMEWORK

  1. Design for the Assemblage
  2. Cultivate Relationality
  3. Embrace Emergence
  4. Assess Distributed Performance

P1: Design for the Assemblage

NOT

Individual Competencies

INSTEAD

Network Capabilities

Technology as embodied integration, not as tool

P2: Cultivate Relationality

NOT

Individual Responsibility

INSTEAD

Ethical Orientation

Response-ability: Quality of relationships between all actants

P3: Embrace Emergence

NOT

Predetermined Being

INSTEAD

Messy Becoming

Indeterminacy as pedagogical feature: Learning emerges from complex assemblages

P4: Assess Distributed Performance

NOT

Individual Performance

INSTEAD

Assemblage Evaluation

Assemblage performance: Evaluate distributed human-AI capabilities

IMPLEMENTATION

Practical Implementation

  1. Reframe scenarios: Make AI systems visible participants
  2. Design for collaboration: Assignments requiring human-AI coordination
  3. Assess the assemblage: Evaluate team performance
  4. Embrace productive messiness: Use ambiguity as a feature

Implementation Evidence

“It’s easy to pick a side, but doing this gave us a better way to approach ethical case studies”

Thank You

Ryan Straight, PhD
ryanstraight@arizona.edu
ORCID: 0000-0002-6251-5662
College of Information Science
University of Arizona

Questions & Discussion

CISSE 2025 | November 13, 2025 | Straight & Herron

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Distributed Agency in AI‑Enhanced Cybersecurity Education A Posthuman Instructional Design Framework Ryan Straight ryanstraight@arizona.edu University of Arizona Josh Herron jherron@clemson.edu Clemson University 2025-11-13

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  • Distributed Agency...
  • Follow Along!
  • What Does Posthuman Mean?
  • The Problem
  • The Misalignment
  • Why Not Traditional Frameworks?
  • The Framework
  • The Four Principles
  • P1: Design for the Assemblage
  • P2: Cultivate Relationality
  • P3: Embrace Emergence
  • P4: Assess Distributed Performance
  • Implementation
  • Practical Implementation
  • Implementation Evidence
  • Thank You Ryan Straight,...
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