Blog #6- Group Projects

Blog #6- Group Projects
So here we are almost five weeks into classes; group projects should have already been assigned to those who are going to get them. Some classes will assign these kinds of projects, where others will just expect for you to do your own work. There are also some professors who would just like for you to work with phone-bridge (like a group assignment due during class.)The hard thing about working in groups is that you sometimes really don’t have any choice on your group members. Sometimes we have new students arrive, and as new students we as students who have been here a while don’t know if you are as dedicated to your work as we are. It could also be the other way around, as new students you probably don’t know too many people in your class room so you don’t know if they are as dedicated as you are. Well in more instances then not this is the occasion, which makes it extremely hard on us students.
I need to say that some people that work in groups will use their kids as a cop out to not being there. It is one thing when there really is an emergency with your children, or when you children are sick. But I have found with previous experience that people like using this as an excuse to not be there. This also makes a hard impact on the group. Most of the time I am elected as the group president, and most of the time it is against my better judgment. I have had group members tell me they like it when I am in charge because I am persistent in making sure the jobs get done in a timely fashion. When working in groups it is not only your GPA you are working towards but the rest of the groups as well. Within the first couple of weeks, you are assigned a group, and your group usually starts to make a list of what needs to be done and who will be doing what. When making this list, I include the WHOLE group; I also take side notes on who does this and their reaction to this, and even who is there. By the forth week you should already know who is basically going to be there to help you. If they were going to be a person who calls in for class they probably have already done so by this time. In cases like such, I work around them. We still assign them tasks for the groups, but we make them do long before we actually need them there so if we feel as though the student is procrastinating we can begin to do the assignment ourselves as well as bring it to our professors attention. While working in groups during class, professors do watch and see who participates more often. They have the attendance sheets so they know who is there compared to who is not. So don’t stress so much, but never be unprepared for a student to not show up. I had a group in one of my Professional writing classes, it worked out awesome. There were originally four people in the group. One never showed up, so what the girls and I did was split the tasks evenly. We asked who we thought would be the better to write certain aspects and we assigned those tasks to them. Then before the next class we would email them to the other two members in the group to go over in class. If by chance there was an emergency, we still had this part of the group assignment to go over, and make changes where we felt were needed to be made. Then at the following class we would really quickly go over it again to see if the missing student agreed or disagreed. We called each other frequently and exchanged emails at least once a week.
In working with groups it is important to write down all meetings so you don’t forget, have emails and possible telephone numbers as well. Communication is the key to have a good group. Good luck to you all. Remember you are not the only person in the group and that your grade matters just as much as theirs. Put in an effort, and don’t be afraid to speak out if you feel like certain team members are not participating as often as they should be. Thank you for reading this week’s blog and I will be back next week with more.