I've wrapped up my review of the first written assignment. That includes the initial drafts as well as resubmissions. I offer students who earned less than a full A on the assignment to revise and resubmit their work. Eight (out of 85 students in both classes) chose to do so.
Almost all students wrote about material that had been discussed in class prior to the assignment. I expected that. A handful incorporated material to be covered after the assignment due date.
Students most often wrote about emotional intelligence; conflict; and power and influence. References to the latter two topics were more nuanced than those related to emotional intelligence. That suggests I need to expand my coverage of emotional intelligence and how it might be applied. I can draw on my recent certification to do so. I would love to be able to offer students the opportunity to complete the emotional intelligence assessment. I plan to explore doing so when I again teach this course (Summer 2026).
Kerr's article on the folly of rewarding A while hoping for B was mentioned several times by name. It's a classic, so I was delighted to see students write about it. That said, I was expecting (hoping for?) more consideration of motivating and incentivizing. Applying the theories in class would be worthwhile with this goal in mind. That's another area for me to consider revising when I plan the next version of the course.