Amber Burg's Blog

Schools teach the lessons that are supposedly the building blocks to making us real world ready. They drill into us that if you can’t work together as a team then you won’t get a job. Team building and teamwork are important aspects of jobs but what exactly do we learn about that during group projects at school? Why do students dread group projects if they are considered important aspects of life?

Answers from students on whether or not they like group projects are reflections of what kind of groups they have had to work with. Students that have had well-rounded groups that pulled their own weight tend to enjoy group projects. Groups that are made up of members who don’t pull their weight or show up to class create negative feelings towards group projects.

“Groups can be very good because they give you a different perspective,” says Zach Schroeder, “but sometimes members do not pull their weight, thinking that the rest of the group will pick up their slack.”

Student finding themselves in groups that are an absolute nightmare to work with learn different team working skills. They learn that not everyone has to work equally on the project. Also, that only one person really has to do the work and everyone in the group gets the same grade. That frustrates students. Hardworking students that put in the time on projects don’t like those who didn’t help piggybacking off their well-earned grade.

“I don’t like group because everything is very unequal,” says Brittany Rupp. “One or two people end up doing all the work to save the grade while everyone else gets to take the grade without credit.”

It’s not because they hate teamwork it’s because they have had experience with groups where nobody helps and one person gets stuck doing the whole project. It creates a stressful, aggravating environment to work with.

However, when students are paired up with collaborative team players that share the work they have a different perspective on group projects. Brittany likes group projects where you get the opportunity to pick your own group members. In that case, you know your other members and that they will pull their own weight. In well working groups, the jobs can be split up evenly and even play off of member’s strengths.

“The work load can be distributed more evenly throughout the group or each member can work on areas that focus on their strengths” says Zach.

Students aren’t the only ones with mixed feelings about group work. Even some teachers hate giving group projects for some of the same reason. Journalism Professor Ross Fugslang dislikes how difficult grading group projects are.

“The logistics are a pain in the ass,” says Professor Fugslang.

Figure out a way to grade students on participation or making sure everyone is helping is hard for them to monitor. Evaluation sheets or monitoring can be done throughout the project but being able to be everywhere and see everything at once is practically impossible for teachers to do.

“For me,” says Professor Fugslang, “they are more trouble then they are worth. For faculty who have been doing them for a long time it is not a problem.”

However, group projects are necessary for certain classes. For instance video production class needs multiple people to create one finished project. The class requires people for the talent roles, a camera operator, audio operator, and final processors. Doing a project in there is practically impossible by one person. Running the camera involves having a person to run audio and the need for talent to film. Classes like these can’t function correctly without groups being formed. Still, regulating who does what is a big problem for most classes that do group projects.

“If you let students pick their groups you get people that pick people who they can work well with together. Others pick their friends and some people pick people who they know will do all of the work,” says Professor Fugslang. “That’s the big problem with group projects is that some people don’t do anything.”

Schools saying group projects will make us ready for the future need to take another look at them.  Yes they are an important part of the job world but what certain groups are learning is not helping them become a team player. Students are coming to the conclusion that you can’t rely on anyone else to get something done. Teamwork doesn’t always make the dream work, especially if you have the wrong group.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 8th, 2014 at 6:23 pm and is filed under Journalism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.