What I'm Learning from Reviewing the First Written Assignment

The first (and only) individual student assignment in this class is due today. Here's a summary of the assignment: 

The theories and concepts taught in this course will only contribute to your professional success if you apply what you have learned in the classroom to your everyday experiences. To that end, the objective of the individual diagnosis paper is to give you some practice in looking at your life through an OB lens. For this assignment, you will reflect on an organizational problem that you experienced. The term “organizational” is used here quite broadly. You can write about an experience in the military, at a summer job, on a sports team, a school or work group, or any other situation in which you worked with other people for the purposes of completing a collective task (in other words, you’re not limited to writing about your military experience although most students do). Once you have selected a work or organizational challenge from your past, describe and diagnose the situation using concepts from the course, outline the factors that contributed to the situation, and discuss how the concepts could have helped you and/or others deal with the situation more effectively if you faced it again. 

Here's what I've learned so far from reviewing student essays:

• The assignment offers the opportunity to look at significant experiences. These are mostly difficult or negative ones, now considered from new perspectives based on what students learn in the class. As unpleasant as some experiences are, I'm comforted by the fact that they've chosen to use this assignment to reconsider them in a new light. 
• The quality of student writing is high. I provide feedback on writing. My comments thus far have focused on the following: overly long paragraphs, misuse of semicolons, and a need to elaborate on key points that connect student experiences with course material.
• Many students have skillfully applied course material to their personal experiences. In-class case studies and articles are frequently referenced. There's been very little by way of long, direct quotes from the readings (which I urged them not to do) 
• Other students refer to course material in a very limited way, if at all. They will receive feedback along these lines. Their grades will reflect that. And I can be even clearer and more direct in the assignment instructions that they need to be explicit in referencing course material. 

As I review additional student submissions and gain new insight, I'll share my impressions here.