Warm-Up Project: Clarifying EQ for Teaching

Previously, I wrote about the idea of applying EQ to teaching by an instructor having self-awareness as well as important awareness information about each student, and developing teaching management plans that optimally engaged and educated. I am experimenting with this idea in the Sustainability Design Thinking course. In Summer 2024, I included a warm-up assignment worth 10% of the grade that was functionally about readiness, but was in the form of revealing habits and dynamics. I am about to start the Summer 2025 class tomorrow and there will be a warm-up assignment. Here are some of the main characteristics of the assignment.

• Very short time-line to complete the assignment. This is a background research phase & is more about risk & uncertainty than getting into the teaching groove. The assignment is revealed at the end of the first class meeting and due by the next class meeting.
• Orientation to tools. We use several software platforms in the course. Slack for communication. Notion for our virtual design neighborhood. And Canvas (mainly) for document control. The warm-up assignment includes some interaction with each of these tools.
• Switching mindset. The student mindset I desire is broadly a “fun” mindset where the main expectation is to enjoy the experience. Connected to the fun mindset will be the growth mindset, creative mindset, youth mindset, empathy mindset and more. We start with an icebreaker activity (Sketch Your Neighbor) to establish the “fun” condition then give a “Simple, but not Easy” convergence exercise.
• Simple, but not Easy. My teaching method is modeled after my youth basketball coaching. A small fraction of time is used to describe concepts & give a guided demonstration. The rest of the time is allotted to practice. The warm-up assignment instructions are therefore very simple. There is intentionally much uncertainty in these instructions so that the student needs to manage the risk by calling on their EQ.
• One example is the mini-essay narrative that is required. My not-so-obvious goal is to have them learn to submit the assignment in Canvas…on time. However, in a sleight of hand, I don’t specify a word limit, & tell them to use their own discretion. Uncertainty. Hopefully, they find a comfort zone where they deliver quality work, & use the appropriate quantity.
• Creativity is key to the course. I reward creativity so long as it is relevant to the warm-up assignment…which is human-centered design thinking. There needs to be people in the narrative & an EQ-based explanation why the idea has merit.
• I am somewhat “frank” in the feedback given to the warm-up assignment submissions. This is all for the sake of preparation for success in the main projects in the course. They need to show they have access to and use the tools. They need to share their ideas & focus confidently on the core themes of the course. While this may seem like transparency, I would rather that students are aware of my mindset & reality distortion field that paints my class worldview. A reality distortion field presently dominated by my random & uncertain pottery journey).

To close, best to remind myself that the intention is fun. Fun of learning. And learning of life lessons.