CST395: AI-Native Solution Engineering

Building real solutions with AI as your thinking partner

4 Units 16 Weeks Hybrid

What This Course Is About

This is not a course about using AI tools. It's a course about developing the human capabilities that make AI partnership valuable. By the end, you'll be able to answer two questions with evidence:

Superagency

"What problems are now within my reach that I would not have attempted before?"

Human Value Proposition

"What would be worse about my solutions if I had simply handed the problems to AI?"

The Learning Architecture

How everything in this course connects

The Goal

Better Thinkers

Alone and with symbiotic partners (human + AI)

Capabilities You Build

Self-Directed Learner • Integrative Solver • Adaptive Builder

Observable skills that demonstrate growth

Through Practice

Symbiotic Thinking

Working with AI and peers as thinking partners, not just tools

Techniques

Reading • Writing
Talking • Listening

Habits

Slow Down • Know Yourself
Take the Lead

Techniques: How Thinking Is Expressed

Thinking isn't invisible — it shows up in how we read, write, talk, and listen. This course exercises all four.

📖 Reading

Extracting meaning from structured information. Recognizing patterns, following arguments, identifying what matters.

Exercised through: Course content, documentation, AI outputs

✍️ Writing

Articulating your thinking clearly. Structuring arguments, explaining decisions, documenting reasoning.

Exercised through: Reflection notebooks, goal setting, demonstrations

🗣️ Talking

Explaining ideas out loud. Defending positions, articulating value, making the implicit explicit.

Exercised through: Peer conversations, check-ins, presentations

👂 Listening

Understanding others' perspectives. Asking clarifying questions, receiving feedback, finding the real problem.

Exercised through: Peer conversations, stakeholder interviews, thought partnering

Habits: What the AI Age Demands

AI makes speed easy. These habits make speed valuable.

⏸️

Slow Down

Resist the urge to immediately generate. Pause before prompting. Think before asking AI to think.

Built through: Handwritten reflections, wait time, deliberate process

🪞

Know Yourself

Understand your patterns, gaps, and growth edges. Self-awareness enables self-direction.

Built through: Reflection practice, peer feedback, evidence collection

🎯

Take the Lead

You direct the work. AI assists. Maintain agency over goals, quality standards, and decisions.

Built through: Sprint autonomy, self-set goals, portfolio defense

Capabilities: What You're Building

Techniques and habits combine into observable capabilities — the evidence of your growth.

SDL

Self-Directed Learner

Develop meta-learning architecture for rapid expertise acquisition. Know how to learn what you don't yet know.

Built from: Reading + Writing + Know Yourself + Take the Lead

IS

Integrative Solver

Operate at intersections where human value concentrates — connecting domains, stakeholders, and contexts.

Built from: Listening + Talking + Slow Down + Know Yourself

AB

Adaptive Builder

Iterate toward value through cycles of building, testing, and refining. Ship, learn, improve.

Built from: Writing + Talking + Take the Lead + Slow Down

The Journey: Four Sprints

Each sprint expands who you're solving problems for — building the "Take the Lead" habit through progressive autonomy.

SPRINT 1

Weeks 1-4

Foundation: Superagency Over Self

Stakeholder: Yourself. Can I identify and solve my own problem? Establish your baseline.

SPRINT 2

Weeks 5-8

Mirror: Learning Through Others

Stakeholder: Close acquaintance. Can I understand and solve someone else's problem?

SPRINT 3

Weeks 9-12

Complexity: Navigating Ambiguity

Stakeholder: External entity. Can I solve for someone whose context I don't fully know?

SPRINT 4

Weeks 13-16

Mastery: Full Autonomy

Stakeholder: Your choice. Can I independently identify, scope, and deliver real value?

Course Elements: How It All Comes Together

Every element serves the learning architecture. Nothing is busywork.

💬 Peer Conversations

16+ structured conversations across 9+ unique partners. Build a network who genuinely knows your work.

Talking Listening Know Yourself IS
View requirements →

📓 Reflection Notebook

Handwritten reflections at the start and end of each class. A physical artifact of your thinking journey.

Writing Slow Down Know Yourself SDL

🎯 Sprint Demonstrations

Show your work. Defend your decisions. Articulate your value proposition for each sprint's stakeholder.

Talking Writing Take the Lead AB

📍 In-Person Sessions

Wednesdays 2-4pm. First half: facilitated peer conversations. Second half: project work with instructor available.

Talking Listening IS AB

🤖 AI Partnership

AI is your thinking partner throughout. Learn to direct it, calibrate with it, and recognize when to step back.

Reading Writing Take the Lead SDL

📚 Course Content

These pages aren't just information — they're practice in reading structured thinking. Notice the scaffolding.

Reading Slow Down SDL
Learn how peer conversations work →

Grading: Evidence of Growth

Sprints 80%
10%
10%
Sprints: 20% each × 4 sprints
Capstone: Final demonstration of mastery
Reflection: Your documented thinking journey

Note: This grading system rewards iteration and growth, not perfection. Early mistakes are expected. What matters is what you do with feedback.

Ready to Begin?

Start with the Home page to see where you are and what's due this week.

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