Group work- Your thoughts

sunnyhibiscus · #1 05-17-2009, 12:12 AM

Group work is okay, but I hate it when people don't do their jobs. For instance, this past semester, this guy who I was teamed with said to work with your own lines for the scripted while he was correcting it, and it was two days before the skit (and it wasn't a problem for me with the time length because I can get things memorized in two days). However, he e-mailed me the corrected script the day of the skit and told me to memorize that. And he gave directions while people were doing the skits. And I was trying to watch the skit.

Now,I understood that he had to work on the evening before we had to do our skit, but he should have at least finished it up and email it early. And the thing was, he volunteered to write the script. He is the most difficult person that I have ever dealt with. He complains about homework and he gets frustrated easily. I have never seen anyone like this. I've managed to pass the presentation. But I was teed off at him. I didn't say anything negative to him afterwards.

Kevin · #2 05-17-2009, 10:20 AM

Group work's goodness/badness depends on the group. In my fraternity chapter, we were always very driven/ambitious people. I didn't mind group work (because in truth, it is all group work) because everyone did their job. In undergrad, I just stuck with people I knew were dependable (and I did my best to serve a valuable role to them) and we did fine. In law school, you don't really have to worry about it because it's the kiss of death to get the reputation of a lazy person.

33girl · #3 05-17-2009, 11:37 PM

I hate hate hate group work. My brain doesn't work like other people's and I detest having to adjust my train of thought to their tracks.

BetteDavisEyes · #4 05-18-2009, 12:03 AM

I LOATHE working in groups as I have mostly had bad experiences with them. The only good group experience was working on my Masters thesis with my friend b/c we both have the same values & work ethic so we got along fine. She is just as anal-retentive to detail as I am.

AGDee · #5 05-18-2009, 12:43 PM

I was always fine with it if I got to choose my group, but when groups were assigned, ugh, what a mess it could be!

D.rorry · #6 08-27-2009, 08:58 AM

hey just wondering what everyone has to say about TransMarket Group. If that is a good place to work, and maybe what tier they might be in of the prop shops out there. thx in advance.

axoalum · #7 08-27-2009, 09:05 AM

My daughter had a group project in a business management class this summer. She called almost every day to complain about the lazy people she was paired with. The absolute best was the girl who did not attend a work session bacause "it's my birthday and I don't work on my birthday". Really???

BlueCarnation · #8 08-27-2009, 10:15 AM

I'm not a huge fan. I went from law school, where you do everything yourself, to a PhD program where there is a lot of group work. I'm very protective of my work and I usually did not have good groups to work with. I think the purpose and intent of group work is good, but in practice it always seems to be a hassle, and one or two people do all the work.

AOII_LB93 · #9 08-27-2009, 10:49 AM

I hate group work, which is probably why as a teacher I hardly assign any. I was always the student who actually did my part and didn't want my grade to be determined by others.

Group work horror story care of my husband: He took his capstone class for Business while doing his Bachelors. He was in a group with one of his fraternity brothers, and two other students he didn't know but the prof made them a group. They had to do some sort of analysis on a company so they chose the one my mother worked for as it was a huge company and she was able to give them a ton of information. Each group member did their own part and I was proofreading the final product one or two days before it was due (it was summer session) and found that BOTH of the other group members had lifted ENTIRE PAGES of their work from the company website without referencing anything at all.

When my husband and his brother confronted the other two, they said nothing are weren't willing to do anything about it. So both my husband and his bro went to the professor because they didn't want to get accused of plagiarism etc..., and the professor ultimately did nothing.

My husband was pissed...rightfully so, had he failed that class he wouldn't have gotten his degree as it was the last class for him.

Buttonz · #10 08-27-2009, 12:58 PM

Hate it with a passion. In JWU most of your major classes have group work. I've gotten paired with people who do nothing at all, professor gave us a chance to correct it, and I was the only one who did anything to try to salvage a decent grade. I prefer to work alone or with at most 1 other person.

Kappamd · #11 08-27-2009, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AOII_LB93

I hate group work, which is probably why as a teacher I hardly assign any. I was always the student who actually did my part and didn't want my grade to be determined by others.

Group work horror story care of my husband: He took his capstone class for Business while doing his Bachelors. He was in a group with one of his fraternity brothers, and two other students he didn't know but the prof made them a group. They had to do some sort of analysis on a company so they chose the one my mother worked for as it was a huge company and she was able to give them a ton of information. Each group member did their own part and I was proofreading the final product one or two days before it was due (it was summer session) and found that BOTH of the other group members had lifted ENTIRE PAGES of their work from the company website without referencing anything at all.

When my husband and his brother confronted the other two, they said nothing are weren't willing to do anything about it. So both my husband and his bro went to the professor because they didn't want to get accused of plagiarism etc..., and the professor ultimately did nothing.

My husband was pissed...rightfully so, had he failed that class he wouldn't have gotten his degree as it was the last class for him.

Thank you for, as a teacher, realizing everyone hates group work and choosing not to assign it. I hate when teachers are all, "I know you hate group work, but oh well! Let's do it anyways!"

I had to do a presentation in my Spanish class a couple years ago and we were assigned partners. My partner, a. could not speak Spanish to save his life, and b. didn't do shit to contribute to the project. I did the whole thing; his only responsibility was to make the visual aid (he had to do SOMETHING). It was supposed to be a mock commercial for some car, and he showed up with his CAR KEYS as the visual aid. Needless to say, I ripped him a new one, and didn't hold back in my partner evaluation.

KSUViolet06 · #12 08-27-2009, 03:27 PM

I absolutely hate group work/projects.

I'm one of those people who can't stand the fact that my grade depends on other people.

Example: I had a group presentation in my class last semester, and one group member decided not to show up, so we didn't have anything we needed for her portion of the assignment. She received an F on her portion, but the group ended up with a B- on a major project.

I got an A on my INDIVIDUAL portion, but I was pretty upset about the fact that I ended up with a B- for the group grade based on one person's inability to show up.

This is of course just ONE example of why I dislike group work, but this sort of thing has happened many times and explains why I hate it.