I hate group assignments!

[HckySo]

(I didn't read any of the replies, just the original rant).

The only I like is when teachers let you choose your group because in High School I know the kind of people that will do their share of the project to their best of ability. Like in one of my Tech classes we are always given group long term projects and me and my friend Vincent always work together the best and can work together so well and do awesome. Plus he's in most of my classes so we work together a lot. Although there are douche bags who the teachers always try to put you with for some reason and they sit there and...be douche bags and you do all the work and it offects your grade and makes you look bad.

 

[dornoforpyros]

ahh yes, back in college I typically did 90% of the group assignments because the people I got stuck with were so clueless I gave them busy work to keep out of my hair.

now that I'm in the real world I'm doing the job of about 2-3 people...go figure. Atleast I paid for it now

 

[Timepass]

I have had group projects go both ways on me. I had one where one guy just took it on to do the entire workload himself I didnt like it because I was not learning any thing. I had them where I had to take on the entire project a few times. Those I hated and i lost many hours of sleep over because I was finishing the project on.

Then I have other that just work out great. Everyone pulled there wieght and worked well together. I like it when the teacher trys to balance the groups where they are not going not going to have just the strong students work together and then leave one group with very weak students. And they try to make sure you are with one of your friends but they dont give you complete full power on choosing. That was one of the best groups i been with. The teacher told me after ward for that project he though about breaking up our group because it was almost 2 strong. It saving grace was the fact that we had all gained a reputaion of helping out others so he knew even though the 3 of us where together we would still being spending time helping out other groups. That and me and one of the girls had 2 huge weakness in different areas that the other was strong in to cover it.

That being said my favorit groups are the balanced groups. The ones where they have a full range of people and much more real world because you know there that teams you work with is not going to be the best of everyong where you work. But more a range of people some really strong really weak and you learning how to deal.

I dont mind taking on a larger load than my share in a group project if the person I taking the load of on is trying their best and putting in work. Just they are not strong enough in that area to do a fair share. The ones I have trouble with on one who dont try and dont put in the effort at all which means I am taking on a larger load than I should. Not only am I covering their weakness but I am taking on the work that they could of done.

I know the reason that group projects happen a lot more is some of the big complaints coming back from the industry to the colleges is the students dont know who to work in teams and on group projects. They know their stuff but they can not do team work. So in college they make you learn those skills.

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

Whenever I do group assignments, I'm always doing the work. Always.

I know how you feel, dude. ;(

 

[iSaint]

It's worked both ways for me. I've done a lot of the work. But, then I've kind of acted backup and in a way made sure things went smoothly. I ended up doing the tech work and running the presentation, so it was all good.

I'm surprised how illiterate people are at the college level. The simple task of learning a new word and learning how to pronounce it before you do a presentation should be common. In my masters level courses, as of late, it's apparent people don't go to that trouble.

It's the real world, baby...

 

[Applespider]

The simple task of learning a new word and learning how to pronounce it before you do a presentation should be common. In my masters level courses, as of late, it's apparent people don't go to that trouble.

Doesn't surprise me. I was always taught that if giving an presentation that you didn't write yourself (so presumably knew all the words), it was even more important to make sure that you had a test run or at least read it through first. I've been in countless presentations where the presenter has simply read through every word on the Powerpoint slide. Argh!

 

[jsalzer]

Commuters

Josh hit the nail on the head for me. The students who are working 40+ hours per week, who can afford the extra work load the least, tend to be the most grade-consious and end up doing the work to save their own grades.

On top of that, though, I'd add that there is a HUGE discrepency between the commuters (who are often those people working 40+ hours) and the "traditional" dorm residents.

I was one of those. Give me a group project? Great. Now I have to drive to campus for morning classes - then drive to work - then drive back to campus to meet with three kids who live there, then drive back home? Only to end up doing the work myself because I don't trust kids (my age but much less mature) with my grade? Come on!

Group assignments are only good when they're in-class assignments.

That said, I am guilty of having grad students take group exams! Is there a potential that someone will get a free ride? Yup. But so much learning takes place during the test, as students discuss and argue over their answers, that it's worth it. Of course, when I use those, the exam is worth less than it would otherwise be - with an individual paper taking on more weight.

 

[jdechko]

I tend to like group projects/collaborations for several reasons; and as a management major, I had plenty of opportunities to do group projects each semester (usually one in each class). I've had really good groups and really bad groups, but in the end, we always got 2 grades: a group grade which was worth about 50% of the grade and individual/peer evaluations worth the other half. I always feel like I've pulled my weight in a group except one time.

I had a lot going on both academically and at home and I didn't learn about a group (Spanish) project until the night before it was due. Incedentally, I was working on another group project and ran into some people from my class. I got ahold of my partner and apologized a lot. It was kinda cool because he hadn't done much on it either. Anyway, I created the slides and divided them between us. We rehearsed the next day once and then did our presentation, and we ended up with a "B" on it. That was the only time I really didn't do my partner right, but everything ended up all right.

I agree with the people who say that group projects prepare you for the world. Most jobs require collaboration with others no matter what you do. Except, I think the stakes are a lot higher in the workplace. If you have a bad group in school, you might make a bad grade. But if you have a bad group in the workplace, you may lose your job.

 

[kretzy]

Well, as you've all said, I'm going to take it as a learning experience, regardless of the mark we get.

I think a major problem was that none of us really knew each other. Back in high school I still got stuck doing a lot of the work, but I was at least able to better delegate smaller things for others to do. I didn't really want to take the lead in this case because I was concerned the other people in my group would think that I was some arrogant git.

Hopefully the next experience will be better!

 

[lem0n]

I hate group assignments too... The lastest thing is this girl in my class, we've been doing most group project together [my class only have 13 people and we take every course together] So we were doing this book report in Semiotics and a Colour project together. Sudddenly, she just dissapear... I then have to read and do all the Semiotics thing [I hate Semiotics >_<] and the Colour, the best part is, she dissapear, with all the things we've done so far so I have to started from the beginning all over again [and you can't even contact her, no phone, no email, no IM] Later on [one month ago] she's back and tell me she went back to the US -_- and she'll be back in class from that day on... We never saw her since then...

 

[kretzy]

I hate group assignments too... The lastest thing is this girl in my class, we've been doing most group project together [my class only have 13 people and we take every course together] So we were doing this book report in Semiotics and a Colour project together. Sudddenly, she just dissapear... I then have to read and do all the Semiotics thing [I hate Semiotics >_<] and the Colour, the best part is, she dissapear, with all the things we've done so far so I have to started from the beginning all over again [and you can't even contact her, no phone, no email, no IM] Later on [one month ago] she's back and tell me she went back to the US -_- and she'll be back in class from that day on... We never saw her since then...

That would be very frustrating, but I'm sure your teacher or professor would understand if you explained the situation. Hope it works out!

BTW, I just started doing some semiotics in my media course and I really like it. What do you mean by "colour"?

 

[lem0n]

well, I guess Semiotics can be good if you have the right teacher. It sounds really interesting in the advertising partwhen there was text to read from. Our teacher is absolute horrid, she can't explain anything [now, I'm not saying this because I don't like her ] but if by the end of the course, the whole class don't understand anything at all [including what is Semiotics....] We have complained so many time to the school but they didn't really pay attention until the head of department visit our oral exam and she was shock at how we really didn't know anything AT ALL... I don't know, the teacher was weird, when she explain something, then we don't understand, ask her to repeat, she'd fold her hand in front of her chest and pout "If you listen you'd understand" Erm... we were listening, trying desperatey to understand... Sometimes she even speak French "oops, oh well, that's that" What is THAT? the school here just feel lucky that they find someone who can speak English to teach an English class -_- some of the teachers can't teach at all but some is really good like my Polygraphic teacher [study about printing] who works for Versace [yes, all the versace ads and invitation is designed by him ] And Colour is just a class about different system of colours like Munsell, Pantone...
teacher:" the most accurate colour system is Munsell, pantone is not correct at all"
we [to head of department]: "is it true that Munsell is more correct than Pantone? Why don't people use Munsell then?"
head of department: "What is Munsell?"
....
...and colour theory "this is complementary: blue and orange" -_- I feel like I'm in grade 9...

 

[CompUser]

I hate group projects UNLESS I get to pick my partner(s).

If I don't get to pick my partners I typically end up to ALL of the work, or me and one other person.

Last year we had in english we had to do a "disabilities project" where we had to research a disorder and create a project. My group was assigned "seeing eye dogs" which isn't even a disability. I ended up doing all the work. AND EVERYONES bibliography/fixing their bibliographies because they were too stupid to figure out that there is actually a format to doing them. And they gave me all of there info over the internet at like 10:00 the day before the project was due.

I'm happy though, I got one of the only A's in the class. Everyone in my group got a B or lower.

 

[CubaTBird]

*begins rant*

I always hated doing group assignment in high school, but I thought once I got to uni things might be different. I was wrong.

As a group, we had to give a class presentation accompanied by 500 words each (so 2000 words all up). I offered to do the slides for the presentation, because I've seen some hideous Powerpoint things over the years and I just can't deal with things looking crap. When we were organising everything, I told everyone to send me the info they wanted on their slides, along with any pictures, I even offered to cut out video clips (the presentation was on Desperate Housewives, so it was useful to have video clips).

Nobody sent me anything until very late the night before we had to give the presentation! I didn't end up getting any sleep that night.

Another girl had offered to put the essay together, which I also ended up doing an hour before the presentation because nobody except for me had sent her anything. Another girl thought that we only needed to do 500 words all up so she had like a paragraph to contribute.

When we were giving the presentation (it was supposed to be about about 5 mins each), the other three people in my group went on and on (like 10-15mins) and repeated themselves and each other because they hadn't organised themselves properly. I could the rest of the class and the tutor were getting bored and annoyed.

The thing that really sucks is that the group only gets one mark, so I've done all this work and because of other people being crap I sure we'll get a crappy mark!

*ends rant*

Anyway, I apologise for the longevity. People just annoy me. Has anyone got any ideas on how to prevent this from happening next time?

dude your description was just like a recent project i had to do. how did i handle it? pretty much "meh'ed" the whole drama infested situation and still pulled a good grade out of it