Journal article
Designing Epistemic Friction: Architecture and Protocols for Trickster AI in Leadership Education
New directions for student leadership, Vol.First online, pp.1-9
29/08/2026
PMID: 42667261
Appears in Recent Faculty of Education Publications
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Abstract
This article presents a technical architecture and classroom protocols for Trickster AI, an approach to generative AI in leadership education that prioritizes epistemic friction over optimization. Building on a companion paper, it operationalizes trickster pedagogy through a five-layer system: pedagogical policy, cultural logic, contradiction engine, rupture scheduler, and debrief-evidence layers. It presents four protocols: the contradiction clinic, refusal studio, delay device, and relational accountability simulation, guiding interaction, debriefing, accessibility, trauma-informed care, and relational assessment. The central contribution is a bridge between decolonial theory and educational design practice, showing epistemic friction can be specified as a design problem, ethically governed and translated into pedagogical protocols.
Details
- Title
- Designing Epistemic Friction: Architecture and Protocols for Trickster AI in Leadership Education
- Creators
- Yaw Ofosu-Asare - RMIT UniversityRebecca Ailís Nally - RMIT University
- Publication Details
- New directions for student leadership, Vol.First online, pp.1-9
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Grant note
- Open access publishing facilitated by RMIT University, as part of the Wiley - RMIT University agreement via the Council of Australasian University Librarians.
- Identifiers
- 991013396893402368
- Copyright
- © 2026 The Author(s).
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Education
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article