Using Padlet to Build Research Foundations in First-Year Sport Management

It’s one thing to tell students to “use credible sources” or “build insight.” It’s another to teach them how.

Many of you may have used Padlet for in-class activities, group brainstorming, or remote interaction. But in our first-year sport management course, we’ve taken it a step further: we use Padlet as an assessment to help students organise their research, connect different source types, and start making sense of insight generation — all before they write a formal report.

I first piloted this approach at Griffith with a live industry case on the Gold Coast Titans. Since then, I’ve refined it further, and it’s become one of my favourite assessment methods.  What follows is the latest version I used in my first-year Sport Management course at AUT, where we partnered with Auckland FC to bring the research to life.

What is Padlet and a Digital Research Board?

Padlet is a free, simple, visual online tool that lets students post content to a shared digital wall. Think of it like a virtual pinboard where students can upload links, images, PDFs, short notes, or videos — all visible in one place.

In our course, Padlet is the first assessment. Students are assessed on their ability to:

• Curate a diverse and relevant set of sources

• Organise information under key topic areas

• Use academic and non-academic material appropriately

• Add short captions that explain why each source matters

We refer to this as a digital research board — a structured space where students demonstrate early insight-building, source analysis, and topic mapping in a format that’s visual and collaborative.

Why does this work for Sport Management?

Sport management doesn’t operate in clean academic silos and neither should our assessments. Our students need to make sense of real-world messiness:

• Headlines about women’s sport

• Sponsorship trends

• Social media reactions

• Community sport data

• Club statements, policies, and reputational challenges

Padlet helps students gather, organise, and make sense of this kind of material. It mirrors how research and strategy actually work in sport, by pulling from different types of sources and connecting them to a bigger picture.

This isn’t about citation drills. It’s about:

• Building practical research skills

• Understanding what matters to sport organisations

• Learning how to connect insight to decision-making

  
  

And it’s flexible. Educators can adapt it to different case studies, professional clubs, national bodies, community sport orgs, or even policy-based challenges. The format holds up no matter the context.

Why does it work for first years?

irst-year students are still figuring out how research works. They often:

• Don’t know what makes a source credible

• Struggle to understand academic articles

• Don’t know how to explain why something matters

This assessment helps by:

• Offering a clear structure to work within

• Reducing the pressure of a formal report

• Giving them a visual, peer-supported space to explore ideas

• Showing a full "picture" of sources responding to a topic

It slows the process down just enough. They’re not rushing to write, they’re learning to think critically, identify useful material, and explain their thinking clearly. That’s the kind of foundational skill that lasts.

And it also gives them something to return to -a research map they’ve built themselves - when they shift into writing and synthesis in Assessment 2. It becomes a tool they use, not just submit.

At its heart, this task reflects something I’ve come to believe strongly in first-year teaching: we need to slow down the thinking process and make it visible. When students learn to organise ideas before they write, they stop treating research as a last-minute formality and start using it to shape their argument. That mindset shift — from task to thinking — is what this assessment is really about.

The Assessment

In my first-year Sport Management course at AUT, students act as junior analysts for Auckland FC. Their job is to investigate a real strategic challenge the club is facing by curating a set of 10 research posts on Padlet.

The board is structured into three sections:

• Auckland FC Overview

• The Challenge

• Market Insights

Students contribute 3–4 posts per section (10 total), using a wide range of sources — from academic articles and industry reports to YouTube clips, podcast excerpts, Reddit threads, and fan Tweets. They must include at least two academic sources.

Each post includes a 100-word caption that:

• Summarises the key point in the source

• Explains why it matters

• Connects it directly to Auckland FC’s situation or strategy

This is where the learning happens. It’s not just “find something interesting.” It’s about applying research thinking to a real club, in real time.

To kick off the task, Auckland FC visited class in Week 1. That session helped frame the club’s context and challenges, which ranged from venue sharing to brand identity and the delay in launching a women’s team. Students then explored those topics through the board.

Padlet also sets up Assessment 2, where students write a Strategic Insight Report using the very material they’ve already collected and thought through. They’re not starting from scratch , they’re building on work that already has purpose and meaning.

How is it assessed?

While the Padlet format is visual and flexible, it’s assessed against structured, transparent criteria, and is weighted slightly lower than Assessment 2. This helps reduce pressure and positions the task as a learning tool that scaffolds into more formal academic writing. By the time students move into the Strategic Insight Report, they’ve already done the thinking and can now focus on structure, voice, and synthesis.

The rubric focuses on:

• Relevance and range of sources – A well-rounded, meaningful mix that supports the chosen challenge

• Organisation and clarity – Posts are placed in the correct section and show logical flow

• Analytical insight – Captions explain why the source matters and how it connects to Auckland FC

• Engagement with academic material – At least two academic sources are used meaningfully

• Professional communication – Each caption (100 words) is clearly written, persuasive, and reflects the tone of an entry-level analyst preparing a case file

Each post acts as a small window into the student’s research process and critical thinking. Together, they demonstrate a foundational ability to gather, interpret, and apply information in a sport management context.

Want to see what it looks like in practice? We’ve included a sample Padlet board here.

What have I Learned from this Assessment?

Running this task across multiple cohorts has shown me just how much targeted teaching it requires and how worthwhile it can be when done well.

One of the biggest advantages is the opportunity to give feedback at the source level. Instead of commenting on a full report after the fact, I can intervene earlier, offering feedback on how a student is interpreting a source, whether it’s relevant, and how clearly they’re making the connection to the club. It helps prevent issues from snowballing later. We can talk about scaffolding, sourcing decisions, and synthesis while they’re still in the research stage — which makes the writing phase smoother and more purposeful.

I had one student who initially dismissed a piece on NRL expansion as irrelevant for Auckland FC until we talked through how trends in one part of the game can reshape expectations in another. That caption became their strongest and helped unlock their challenge entirely.

That said, not every student loves this task. It throws some. The open-ended nature can feel overwhelming, and many struggle most with linking back to the organisation — especially when the source feels indirectly related (e.g. a general sport trend or external stakeholder comment). We have to work on the thinking that bridges that gap. What does this mean for Auckland FC? Why does this insight matter now?

Finding enough sources is another common stress point. When students hear “10 sources,” they worry. So we spend time breaking down what kinds of sources are allowed — and how a mix of formats can actually strengthen their thinking. That classroom conversation also builds their confidence. We talk through the difference between variety and depth, and why both matter in sport research.

This assessment has become a staple because it teaches real skills, but it only works if we commit to walking with students through each step. It’s a process that requires modelling, patience, flexibility, and regular checkpoints.

If you’re thinking of trying something like this, ask yourself:

• What do you want students to understand before they write?

• Where can you give feedback earlier in the process — not just at the end?

Would I Do It Again? Absolutely.

This assessment helps students see research as something active and strategic — not just academic.

They learn to:

• Build a case from different types of sources

• Justify their thinking

• Connect ideas to real organisational problems

But it only works if you teach it well. The structure, support, and in-class activities matter just as much as the tool itself.

That’s why this now sits at the centre of my first-year sport management course and why I’d recommend it to any educator ready to teach the thinking behind insight, not just the format of an essay.