Group Projects (at school)

[911paramedic]

Communications 5 - Group Dynamics

First presentation, I did everything, nobody helped.

Second presentation, one guy thought he knew everything and went on forever, we even got a time warning. (was supposed to be 25 min, went 38 min)

Not to mention he left out so much of the actual major content it ruined the presentation. (well, not ruined, but really weakened it.)

Question is, how in the hell do you deal with these people? My first group was a bunch of lemmings and my second group had a headstrong ass that thought his shit didn't stink.

I will say I learned a lot about group dynamics, but in the real world I would have fired most of them in a matter of minutes.

Cliffs: What do you guys do when your grade depends on others? This is new to me, I usually do my own work and suffer the consequences or reap the benefits.

P.S. I am 42 and going back for either my clinical scientist or nursing degree. (so I am much older than my "team")

 

[Anubis]

I did it all myself, and tell the prof the jackasses you had to work with didnt do shit. happened to me more then once in college, it sucks. TELL THE PROF

 

[vshah]

if they don't pull their weight, i tell my professor. i'm not going to let someone else fuck up my grade.

 

[darkxshade]

Originally posted by: 911paramedic
Communications 5 - Group Dynamics

First presentation, I did everything, nobody helped.

Second presentation, one guy thought he knew everything and went on forever, we even got a time warning. (was supposed to be 25 min, went 38 min)

Not to mention he left out so much of the actual major content it ruined the presentation. (well, not ruined, but really weakened it.)

Question is, how in the hell do you deal with these people? My first group was a bunch of lemmings and my second group had a headstrong ass that thought his shit didn't stink.

I will say I learned a lot about group dynamics, but in the real world I would have fired most of them in a matter of minutes.

Cliffs: What do you guys do when your grade depends on others? This is new to me, I usually do my own work and suffer the consequences or reap the benefits.

P.S. I am 42 and going back for either my clinical scientist or nursing degree. (so I am much older than my "team")

There's some kind of ironing there

 

[CRXican]

I feel your pain. I cannot understand how professors think it's fair to assign group projects to a buch of people who have different jobs, live in different places and have who knows what else going on.

I tended to be a leader and made sure things got done for the sake of my grade. I guess I was lucky in that I never had to deal with a major slacker but I would not have hesitated to rat out someone who made no effort.

 

[Vehemence]

Light them on fire

 

[Baked]

It's called a group project, you're suppose to talk to people in your group, and distribute work assignments. It's really not that hard.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Baked
It's called a group project, you're suppose to talk to people in your group, and distribute work assignments. It's really not that hard.

you know sometimes that does not work, you can distribute work assignments all you want, that does not mean people do them.

 

[KeithTalent]

How can you possibly rely on people??

You can't. Welcome to life.

KT

 

[ric1287]

Had almost this exact situation in 2 of my classes.

-1 group was all Asian FOB's, and me, the white guy. So I am the only person of 4 that can speak English which means I get to do the coherent part of the presentation + all editing of the paper. Then to top it off, the one guy who actually spoke acceptable English would talk for almost the entire presentation. 20 min presentation = retard spoke for 14 minutes.

-Other group checked/responded to emails maybe 1 time every 3 days, so there wasn't much "teamwork" to be had in that stupid group.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: Baked
It's called a group project, you're suppose to talk to people in your group, and distribute work assignments. It's really not that hard.

this.

when the teachers assign these kinds of projects it is to both see how well the people work in groups as well as giving them ways to enrich their skillz in a group atmosphere. there will always be one or two that emerge as the leader, some will be followers. it is up to the leaders to get the followers to do the tasks given to them. if they dont, talk with the prof and he will give advice on how to proceed. if there is no leader, the team pretty much fails to perform.

 

[acheron]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

How can you possibly rely on people??

You can't. Welcome to life.

KT

Heh. This.

 

[lyssword]

Lol usually when I'm doing group project at least 1 or 2 ppl permanently disappear even when they are supposed to do important stuff..

 

[Leros]

Part of the project is working as a group. If you let people slack off they will. You also have to be willing to criticize each other or people will do stupid things (like talk forever). If somebody is refusing to work and you harass them enough, you should have enough evidence to talk to the professor.

 

[TallBill]

I will say I learned a lot about group dynamics, but in the real world I would have fired most of them in a matter of minutes.

So you admit that you learned a practical application? You know, teachers don't assign this type of work just for the hell of it. In the real world you can't fire the idiot co-workers that are working on the same project as you.

 

[Electric Amish]

You can't they're horrible.

The only non-A I received was because of group projects.

 

[daveshel]

You have to work with and rely on people in the real world. You can't depend on them there, either. So part of the academic exercise is knowing when you can get the people to do their part and knowing when to cut your losses and talk to the prof (boss).

 

[HardcoreRobot]

very clearly distribute the workload, and when it comes time to present it will be VERY clear who is prepared and who is not
the teacher's usually this into consideration, but not always. regardless i would rather do well in my part of an otherwise terrible project, than let others mooch off of my labor

 

[ruu]

Originally posted by: TallBill

I will say I learned a lot about group dynamics, but in the real world I would have fired most of them in a matter of minutes.

So you admit that you learned a practical application? You know, teachers don't assign this type of work just for the hell of it. In the real world you can't fire the idiot co-workers that are working on the same project as you.

Oh ho, no way are teachers that noble. I would say that most of them assign group projects because they are too lazy to read through a paper written by every student in the class and would rather grade something in class and not have homework themselves.

...not that most teachers actually grade the papers they assign. Not in college, anyway.

 

[Leros]

I've personally found older people to be the worst group partners. They always seem to have some kind of excuse of why they can't come to the meetings. I had this one 30ish year old woman who skipped every single group meeting because she had to go take care of her kids. She ended up doing 0% of the project. Very frustrating.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
very clearly distribute the workload, and when it comes time to present it will be VERY clear who is prepared and who is not
the teacher's usually this into consideration, but not always. regardless i would rather do well in my part of an otherwise terrible project, than let others mooch off of my labor

Yeah, and if possible define roles in an outline. I just did a group project like this. Each of us prepared in unique ways but as a whole we all did good because if there was something lacking it would be very clear who's fault it was.

 

[Savij]

Meet early, meet often, assign tasks to be completed at each meeting. Everyone presents their work at each meeting and gets feedback from the group. You get a grade you expect or you you bring problems to the professor early so you don't show up at the end of the semester with very little done.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: ruu

Originally posted by: TallBill

I will say I learned a lot about group dynamics, but in the real world I would have fired most of them in a matter of minutes.

So you admit that you learned a practical application? You know, teachers don't assign this type of work just for the hell of it. In the real world you can't fire the idiot co-workers that are working on the same project as you.

Oh ho, no way are teachers that noble. I would say that most of them assign group projects because they are too lazy to read through a paper written by every student in the class and would rather grade something in class and not have homework themselves.

...not that most teachers actually grade the papers they assign. Not in college, anyway.

Er, 90% of my teachers so far in my college experience have but considerable effort into grading what is assigned.

 

[Platypus]

The only lesson that group projects are meant to teach you is that if you want something done right (or at all) then you have to do it yourself.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: Platypus
The only lesson that group projects are meant to teach you is that if you want something done right (or at all) then you have to do it yourself.

Or hope that you get put into a group with someone that has that mentality