College group project, one just didn't bother - AIBU to tell the lecturer?

[PaniWahine]

I'm at college part time and work full time. The course is IT related and is heavy going. Some of the participants are government funded (long term unemployed retraining). There's been a heavy drop out rate of 60% across the course.
We were put into groups for a project; in our case, five of us. One and Two have dropped out, which I can understand. The issue is one of the remaining three. The project stated four months ago. We had a meeting, split the project into five sections, and myself and one other who would be 'more able' let the other three chose their sections (expecting to end up with the hardest bits, which we did). As the first two dropped out, myself and number Three picked up their sections. We kept asking number Four how she was doing, did she need any help, could we see the progress etc "Everything's fine" etc she didn't turn up to the meetings, cancelling at the last minute, just gave me the impression she was flakey.
So two weeks ago Four just disappeared - ignored emails, texts, phone calls yet we could see her posting on social media. Finally myself and Three scrambled for the last week and did Four's part, not sure if Four had dropped out. We (myself and Three) spent the entire weekend getting it together, I actually stayed at Three's place all weekend, starting Friday night, and we pulled 18 hour days.
Late yesterday afternoon Four sent a text message saying she had broken up with her girlfriend and that it was the anniversary of her grandfathers death. Facebook revealed the relationship was five weeks (less than a quarter of the length of the project!) and the passing was a decade ago.
Today I was exhausted and had to call in sick, costing me a day's pay. The project was worth 100% of that module.
The issue is, when it came to putting the final document, Three wanted to add Four's name on the submission. I felt we shouldn't, but caved in with exhaustion.
After thinking about it today, I want to email the lecturer and say Four didn't make any contribution to the project. Four's a part time retail assistant, no kids, Three works part time and has three kids under ten and I work full time and run a small business as well.
I know it's petty and bitchy but I'm really, really angry. I feel taken advantage of. If Four needed help, didn't feel capable etc she had plenty of opportunity to stand up and say something The personal issues just feels like an excuse.

Never more true...

Please please please report this. Explain to the school that you added threes name in a fit of exhaustion and daftness.

It will be very easy to prove they did no work as they will have no draft work on their computer, no knowledge of the content of the report.

Please report and do it asap.

I personally think lots of courses use group work as less marking for lecturers

This probably isn't strictly true - normally group work is longer than individual. However, for what it's worth, I agree with you that this heavy use of group work doesn't seem like good practice. I don't think it's appropriate to have a whole module assessed by a group project where there's no way to distinguish individual contributions.

Is this a vocational course?

No, it's a part time Masters, not a vocational course, but there is a conversion element to it - quite a few are hoping to transition to IT management style roles. The dropout rate is high because they accepted unsuitable applicants for numbers and that the government is paying for about 60% of the class (not me).

We have to submit the paper copy tomorrow night in class. I'm considering a quiet word but wonder if it would be viewed as devious.

I'm wavering between "It's going to stir up more trouble than it's worth" and "Freeloading inconsiderate b needs a wake up call". The marking scheme is certainly structured badly, but I think it does relate back to the application process.

Could you email Four and tell her that she needs to tell the lecturers that she did none of the project, because it would be unfair for her to claim credit when she did none of it - and that if she doesn't own up, you will have to tell the lecturer?

Report.

I had an almost identical issue with a computing module during my degree. Group of 4.

1 dropped out of uni altogether, but did contribute some ideas first.
2 had health problems
3 became homeless
4 always had the excuse that she had kids., she also had an ex she could phone and say "Can you pick the kids up for an hour" and he always did.

Then when we handed in the completed work for which we had given her credit she reported us to the course leader because she didn't like what had been handed in.

We had collectively got an A grade, but that wasn't good enough for her, she had not have as much input as the two of us who actually did the work so it wasn't fair.

I can't remember what happened in the end - I think we sent copies of all email correspondence to the course leader.

There was definitely a meeting with all four of us and the course leader where she was given the option of

1 - taking the A grade
2 - taking an E grade - meaning she could 'resubmit' her work as an individual
3 - dropping the module
4 - telling us what she wanted

I honestly can't remember what the outcome was but the two of us who did the work retained out A grades.

It will be difficult to have anything done if marking has been completed and the grade has gone through the exam boards. However, I would go to your supervisor and tell him or her about the situation. Bring evidence (e.g. emails, minutes of meetings etc.) and request that you be marked based on your individual contributions. I run a group work module and always encourage my students to be up front about any performance issues. If nothing else it might stop her doing it to another group.

Incidentally, we do groupwork because being able to work in a team is a key skill requested by employers. It is not to lighten the marking load. The student submission is normally a much bigger piece of work in any case.

Speak to Four first, calmly, and say something like, 'We realise you had issues with putting in time on the project. Three and I completed it between us. Will you tell the lecturer or shall I as we feel he/she should know.' If Four then doesn't, you go ahead and do so

Agree with fading - it's a kinder approach.

The problem may be though that the marking structure cannot penalise Four... the lecturer may need to give her the same mark as the two of you. This happened to me on a Masters once - I'd been ill throughout the project and had told the group and the module lead that I needed to withdraw from the assignment as it wasn't fair on the others... and it caused so much procedural hassle that they ended up all begging me simply to accept that grade I hadn't earned. Madness.

Report her and get Three to corroborate it.

This is why I've always hated group work...
I think you shouldn't have put her name on the submission buy agree with other posters that it might be too late now.
I think fading's suggestion is a good one though.

Report it. If you get the opportunity to offer feedback on the course then you could suggest an element of peer review is added to group modules. We had this in university. Each member of the group would anonymously provide a mark for contribution and effort to every other member. This was taken into account for marking and allowed individual grades for each person.

I spoke to another lecturer informally, who said basically there's nothing that can be done. He phrased it that if we say anything, we could lose our own marks for making a false declaration!

That's a pity, but hardly surprising. You named her as a collaborater, then announced she didn't actually do anything. I'd be wondering what possessed you as well, to be honest.