Article: Learning Technologies
Onboarding Students to Custom Chatbots
Teaching@Sydney
Derek’s
Recommendation
In the fall of 2025, I worked with a small group of UVA faculty who tested Cogniti. Many of the lessons they learned about working with students to use these tools well are reflected in this post by Sydney faculty. Modeling how to interact with an agent is surprisingly important!
- Live demo: Ask the agent a question relevant to the week’s topic and show how it responds. Highlight useful features, like asking follow-up questions or requesting examples.
- Model its use during live classes: One of the best ways to demonstrate how students can best engage with Cogniti is to perform a live demonstration during classes that relate to its purpose.
- Pre-tutorial practice: Encourage students to try the agent before a tutorial, then bring their questions or outputs into class discussion.
- Good vs. poor prompts: Compare a vague prompt (“Explain this topic”) with a specific one (“Can you give me a step-by-step explanation of how X relates to Y in this week’s case study?”).
- Active learning: Encourage students to use the agent for practice rather than answers, e.g., generating quiz questions, testing draft ideas, or checking their reasoning.
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