Cogniti Champions & Conversations

Capability, confidence & community for AI-enabled teaching

 

Domain 4: Capability

The Cogniti Champions and Conversations Project is a university-wide initiative designed to build capability in AI-enabled teaching through experimentation, exploration and collaboration using Cogniti in real teaching contexts.

Dr Christopher Moore

Academic Lead - Cogniti Champions & Conversations

Contact:  renaissance-program@uow.edu.au

Project Overview

Through an open expression-of-interest process, UOW will appoint 10-12 Cogniti Champions per Faculty (from UOW Australia campuses) and from across UOW College Australia (30–36 in total). These academics will explore AI-enabled learning design, student support, assessment scaffolding, and other pedagogical applications. Their work will be amplified through cross-institution communities of practice and open Cogniti Conversations that inspire new approaches and build confidence in AI-enhanced teaching.

Why this matters

Generic tools offer limited control and introduce accuracy, privacy, and integrity risks. Cogniti will provide an educator-designed alternative that enables contextualised, pedagogically grounded experimentation. As AI reshapes learning and teaching, educators will need hands-on opportunities to explore how these technologies can enhance pedagogy in their own subjects and disciplines.

What Cogniti Champions and Conversations Project delivers

• 30–36 trained Cogniti Champions
• At least one Cogniti agent deployed by each Champion
• A university-wide Cogniti Conversations series
• A shared repository of case studies and exemplars

How it works

Cogniti Champions will receive structured training delivered by Professor Danny Liu and supported by UoW Educational Excellence. Throughout the year, they will receive ongoing pedagogical and technical support as they design, test, and refine Cogniti agents in authentic teaching environments. Their work will be shared through communities of practice and Cogniti Conversations, fostering institution-wide engagement.

Strategic outcome

Cogniti Champions and Conversations will build a confident, connected educator community leading responsible, discipline-aligned AI adoption. The project will translate innovation into everyday teaching practice at scale.

Project timeline

Get involved

This project will involve staff and students from across the university throughout 2026. There are several ways to contribute to the project, depending on your interests and availability.

Academic Cogniti Champions

What is involved? 

As an Academic Cogniti Champion, throughout the year you will: 

• Participate in initial Cogniti training 

• Use Cogniti to explore and experiment with various L&T use cases for agents in your practice 

• Engage in a community of practice  (with approximately 35 other Cogniti Champions from across UOW) 

• Share reflections or examples through Cogniti Conversations 

Access a one page Cogniti Champions and Conversations Project Brief

More information: 

Each Champion will work towards the design, deployment, and/or iterative refinement of at least one Cogniti agent within a unit or course of their choosing. These agents may support learning through assessment scaffolding, concept clarification, feedback prompts, or other pedagogically grounded applications. Champions will be encouraged to involve students, particularly former students, in co-design activities and to adapt their agents in response to real classroom use, feedback, and reflection. 

This work is intentionally framed as a safe, developmental space for professional learning. The aim is not perfection or uniformity, but experimentation, curiosity, and shared sense-making. Champions will learn by doing, learn from one another, and help surface what responsible, human-centred AI use looks like in practice across diverse disciplines. 

Collectively, the Champions form the engine room for AI-enabled teaching innovation at UOW, experimenting in practice, learning through experience, and leading cultural change from within the academic community. 

Submit your Expression of Interest to become a Cogniti ChampionThe Expression of Interest (EOI) form will request you log-in using your UOW details. This allows you to resume or edit your responses as needed. 

The following 5 questions comprise the form, with additional detail available within the form itself:

1. What draws you to the Cogniti Champions initiative?
2. How would you like to engage as a Cogniti Champion?
3. What experience do you have with using AI in your teaching (if any)?
4. How do you anticipate sharing what you learn with colleagues in your school or discipline?
5. What support would be most valuable to you as a Cogniti Champion?

To submit your responses, scan the QR code to the right or use the Cogniti Champions Expression of Interest form

Deadline for Submitting an EOI: 

• Expressions of Interest will close 11.59 pm Wednesday 25 March. Responses will be reviewed after the closing date, and an outcome regarding the Cogniti Champions membership will be communicated as soon as possible thereafter (with Cogniti training expected to commence early April)

Cogniti Conversations

The Conversations will run as a curated four-part lunchtime series from July to October, commencing once Champions have had time to design, deploy, and iterate on their Cogniti agents in real teaching contexts. This sequencing ensures that discussions are grounded in lived experience rather than anticipation, focused on what educators are actually learning as they work with AI in practice. 

Each session will be open to all UOW staff and delivered primarily online to enable broad participation across faculties, campuses, and roles. Sessions will be informal, practice-led, and reflective in nature. Cogniti Champions will share short demonstrations of their agents, discuss pedagogical design choices, and reflect candidly on what has worked, what has not, and what they have learned along the way. By foregrounding experimentation, uncertainty, and iteration, the series aims to normalise learning with AI and reduce the perceived risk of engagement. 

More about how UOW can participate in the Conversations will be shared in the near future.