Using the RAFT as a Collaborative Teaching Technique

Working collaboratively within the college classroom setting may be helpful with the retention, understanding, and engagement of academic materials. Often in college classrooms, lessons are based purely on lecture without much space for inquiry, collaboration, and creativity. The RAFT technique, which stands for role, audience, format, and task, can serve as an interactive and cooperative teaching technique.

RAFT is a system for making sure that students understand their role as a writer, their audience, the format of their work, and the expected content. These key ingredients are included in every writing assignment: R: Role of a writer, A: Audience, F: Format, T: Topic and strong verb. (Santa, 1988, p.120).

The RAFT technique can be adapted to fit the needs of any subject area to encourage discussion about subject matter, while providing an opportunity for students to view the subject from various perspectives. The RAFT technique works especially well with controversial topics. Students gain communication, public speaking, and listening...