To dislike group work at uni

[2023NEWMUM2023]

I'm a mature student on a degree apprenticeship. This week all our lectures are online combined with students from other courses. We have been split into groups to do seminars and a group task. Only had one group meeting this morning and people are making my blood boil already. Talking over each other. Taking charge of the typing (saves me a job!) but only typing their opinion. Some people not saying anything at all (don't know if this is being shy or sheer laziness) One person actually rolled their eyes when I gave my opinion after they had been talking over people and rabbiting on. I'm being polite so far but I'm sure I will lose my rag takes a deep breath I can team work at work no problem, team working with students seems beyond me!

Yeah I hated it too. I also hated how my grade depended on other people. So unfair!

I guess it helps for collaborative work in the workplace? But I don't really buy that as "group work" at work is nothing like at uni!

I'm sorry you haven't been listened to. I always put my mame/student number on my slides and notes so it was obvious what I contributed. I would also email a brief summary round to everyone with whose doing what, just as evidence for your tutor if it all goes tits up!

But everyone in that group needs to learn teamwork skills. Great if you already have them but if the others don’t then that’s a major part of the learning experience for them. I’m assuming if it’s an apprentice degree it’s linked to a profession such as nursing? So these “students” could potentially be your colleagues soon.

And I’m not been funny but if you can’t teamwork with different groups inc challenging people then your skills also need improvement. How can you improve the situation? You might feel you shouldn’t need to “manage” the situation for uni but learning how to do so will help equip you for work situations better.

The experience is really good for the "How did you deal with a difficult situation" type questions in an interview. Lots of the graduate level candidates I've interviewed have used their group assignments as evidence for that kind of thing (as well as for team working evidence.)

And I’m not been funny but if you can’t teamwork with different groups inc challenging people then your skills also need improvement.

There are some people / teams that are just impossible, though. I’ve heard some horror stories from colleagues that have done apprenticeships and it’s things like not doing any work, open sexism etc. In an actual workplace there would likely be escalation routes / manager or HR could deal with the behaviour.

Completely agree- it was an absolute nightmare!

YANBU. The idea behind it is that everyone will have to work in teams in a work environment. However, as someone who has been a mature student myself, I never found people on my team in the work environment to be quite as workshy/absent/fucking useless (ok so yes maybe the last one) as the ones I had to work with in uni!

If it helps, I know lecturers who say they watch their (18-21) students mature as they go through the 3 years and some of them who are insufferable at the beginning actually turn out to be decent functional humans by the end. Not all of them, mind.

It baffles me that there are people of equivalent age who can go straight out into the workforce successfully...

They are supposed to teach leadership, teamwork and conflict resolution skills but yes, they are so frustrating. If you are in nursing or similar training, use it for reflection for your evidence portfolio. Try to turn it into something useful.

Yes! I’m back at uni for a week next week and dreading it. The team work is terrible, everyone is so lazy and some don’t even enter the team chats to do the work. I’m a mature student too. I’ve been with this lot 3 years and none of them seem to be maturing at all 😂

Teamwork is a valuable skill, but academic grades shouldn't depend on it - that isn't fair. It's not just that able students are dragged down by others, but lazy students get a better mark than they deserve, which misleads future employers.

On a side note, students are definitely more 'eccentric' than older adults. I can remember some bizarre stuff from uni!

I know a mature student about to graduate. The policy he adopted very early in his course was to step up and lead the group every time. That way he can keep it on track, stop people talking over each other and inject some discipline. You don’t have to be passive in this situation.

It baffles me that there are people of equivalent age who can go straight out into the workforce successfully...

If they act like that in the workplace they get sacked. It's comply or die.

My dad used to talk about young employees in the nineties who had a horrible attitude. One put his feet on the desk while being berated by the 'dragon' HR manager. He didn't last long.

Trying to pick my way with dignity and a reasonably acceptable end result in a uni group project was great fodder for a “give an example of how you have managed a difficult teamwork situation” question in a job interview. Got the job. People can be infuriating.

My team work skills aren't perfect but they're good enough for my role and in MDTs. Give me a challenging patient over a loud mouth student any day! At least it will make a good reflection!!

Fair enough. This may be the way I need to go. It seems the younger ones think their opinion is more important, talking over other people who seem more introverted. I'll just start asking people by name their opinion then it gives them space to contribute. It does make me wonder if they act like this in the workplace because if they do it'll be difficult for them

This sounds about right

Spot on! 😂

No one likes group work, not students and not academics. But sometimes it's essential, either because of marking loads or learning objectives (team work is a common learning objective on professional degrees) or sometimes even because it actually suits the task at hand pedagogically.

If this seminar is assessed for your module mark, then there should be some way to award individual marks. If it isn't, then take the learning opportunity. Learn to deal with those difficult personalities. I spend a lot of time explaining to students when they're unhappy about group work/deadlines/presentations that they come to university to learn more than just the material we teach them, and for many these soft skills will ultimately be more useful than the academic knowledge.

As others said, group work is also great interview fodder.

I hated this! I had to do an assignment with two classmates (chosen by lecturer). Immediately discussed when would be the best time to meet up to get organized (we were all on the same schedule, so it was very straight forward). The one girl didn't show up. Sent multiple messages, emails etc nothing. So we organized it between us and sent her messages outlining which part she should do. Again, no reply. Bumped into her in another lecture, reiterated what was happening, what she had to do etc and she happily nodded agreement etc, but we got nothing from her. Eventually we just did the whole thing between us and just put our own names on it. Did the talk with her stood next to us not saying anything. Don't know if she got any grades from it, but we made it clear that she had not contributed.

too late to the thread to vote but YANBU

sounds like a headache!

agree with another poster who suggested taking the lead in these situations. Good luck OP.

I still shudder at the prospect and I left Uni over 20 years ago… best of luck OP!

In the middle of a group project I was hospitalised with a ruptured appendix, and when I returned to Uni the project had ended. I was told by my group members that I had been selfish to go in to hospital and that it was my fault that they did so badly… I’m not often speechless but that one did it!

Let me guess, are you doing clinical masters? Honestly, just do your best to get through it and don't let it get to you. You will have an opportunity to reflect on the experience (assuming you have to write a reflective essay as part of the module) and may find that it fits perfectly with group work theory (storming, norming etc.) as well as wider behavioral theory (e.g. it is common in a group setting for every individual to overestimate their own contribution to the group). I remember one of my colleagues on the course sending shivers down my spine every time I was put to work with her. But I actually thanked her in the acknowledgement of my research project for "teaching me humility" because I realised that just because I don't like her personality or her approach to group work, doesn't mean she is wrong and doesn't have any good ideas.

Wow! 😮

Genuinely wondering what happened to those people in life. Are they the ones blaming the world for all their problems? Or are they in management roles blaming everyone else for all of their problems?

They grew up.

It is driving my dd mad too. Usually one other person in the group who lets everyone else down at the last minute.