{"id":21425,"date":"2024-10-10T23:41:44","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T12:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au\/teaching@sydney\/?p=21425"},"modified":"2024-10-10T23:41:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T12:41:44","slug":"padlet-and-cogniti-a-scaffolded-approach-to-writing-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au\/teaching@sydney\/padlet-and-cogniti-a-scaffolded-approach-to-writing-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Padlet and Cogniti: A scaffolded approach to writing practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Semester 1, 2024, I coordinated FRNC2603 French 3, a core language unit in the Introductory and Intermediate French and Francophone Studies major and minor. The current iteration of the unit is based around a student-centred, task-based pedagogical approach called global simulation. Developed by Francis Debeyser<\/a> in the 1970s, the approach is best understood as an extended role play in which the classroom becomes a specific place<\/strong> \u2013 in this case an apartment building in present-day Paris – and the students create an avatar who is a resident of the building. Students remain in character for the entire semester, interacting with other residents and learning about Paris in the leadup to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. The unit\u2019s objectives are to develop students\u2019 French skills across four competencies: listening, speaking, reading and writing.<\/p>\n

The dilemma<\/h2>\n

With student use of generative AI being inevitable and ubiquitous<\/a>, I had two objectives. Firstly, I wanted to take advantage of the introduction of generative AI, through Cogniti, as a tool available to all students by embracing and authorising its use in the unit\u2019s learning activities in a controlled<\/em> way. Secondly I wanted to help students familiarise themselves with generative AI and critically evaluate its benefits and pitfalls<\/strong>. How could I encourage students to use AI ethically and responsibly, and at the same time facilitate improvement in writing style and accuracy throughout the semester? How could students receive regular, personalised feedback on their writing in a time-efficient manner? How could I ensure that learning was taking place and that students\u2019 writing skills and grammar application were improving? How could I be sure to adhere to the University\u2019s guidelines on the use of generative AI tools for marking and feedback<\/a>?<\/p>\n

A scaffolded solution<\/h2>\n

The four-step process I developed incorporated both lane 1 and lane 2<\/a> formative and summative tasks and used Padlet<\/a> and Cogniti<\/a>. Although developed for a specific language and a specific unit, the approach is easily transferable to writing activities across a range of disciplines. <\/strong>It builds on a pre-generative-AI learning activity that involved formative peer evaluation of classmates\u2019 writing.<\/p>\n

The scaffolded approach aimed to provide students with regular writing practice and personalised feedback on demand about their grammatical accuracy, syntax, and vocabulary use. This process was used weekly throughout the semester and in the final oral summative assessment task.<\/p>\n