group-work over - the RELIEF

[Snowbeetle]

just finished a 4 month group project (compulsory module of final uni year - 10%) and the stress involved in hauling along the sorry carcasses of a bunch of badly organised, semi-literate self-saboteurs was so vast I just needed to give a hooge exhalation of relief.

I think group-work is virtually just a way for uni to make their poor students look better as the stronger students give them a lift - never mind whether that nearly gives said person a breakdown!!

I have never heard a good word said about group-work.

What are your thoughts?

Well done on surviving the torture that is group-work!

My thoughts are that I try to get a dispensation to do it alone whenever I can :)

So far this year (2nd year) I've managed it for two pieces and have every intention of asking the same for the third piece when it's given out next month!

One tutor said no but I felt so strongly I went to the head of year and asked for their intervention and it was then allowed... module tutor will loathe me a little more than before but I really don't care. It's not about the mark but as you say the stress of working with others who have totally different working methods/schedules/organisational skills etc.

I can do team work, for example in seminars we regularly have to, but that's because we're all there and have to get on with it.

Good for you! I would certainly have gone for that option if possible, I am impressed you pushed for that and do not question for one nano-second the wisdom of it!
Luckily for me it was the only piece of group work to be done, so I don't have to do it again.
It is sold as a good way to mimic the world of work, but every job I have had has either had people who are capable assigned to a project, or people were developed or managed, if they weren't pulling their weight.
In the world of work there is someone with the power to exert authority. In the group project you are at the sole mercy of peoples inclination/ability to do it - in the case of my group 3 were inclined and 3 were SO not!

Of course the person who cares the most or is able the most ends up carrying the can - moi!

I am trying for dc2 at the moment and no joy as yet - it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if it was the stress of that project.

I ended up doing the work of 6 just so I could make sure the mark was decent - it counts as it is final year.

Nice to know I am not alone, and agree with you that it isn't lack of team spirit it is the imbalanced nature of the task which causes the stress.

Well, I can hear choirs of angels singing so it must be all in the past now! ;-)

Could not agree with you more!!! Hated, hated, hated group work. In my second year (a few years ago) we had five assignments due within the last week of term and three of those were group ones: a presentation; a poster; and an extended essay/project type of thing. The assignment marks all counted towards the final degree classification. I still get dark, panicky, anxious feelings when I think back to that time. It was absolutely shitty.

Students had different timetables and were in different lecture/tutorial/subject specialism groups. Then there were people with different commitments - families, children, jobs etc, not to mention those who had to travel some distance to uni. There were huge arguments and stresses over finding time to get together and that was before all the problems caused by group imbalances etc. The uni's attitude was that group assignments reflect the workplace and to just get on with it. And, no, nobody was allowed to submit as an individual. The implication seemed to be that if you weren't happy with group work then you were not a team player and would be a liability in the workplace.

I can honestly say that I got absolutely nothing from group work and it caused more problems and ill feeling between students than anything else.

Why are group assignments so prevalent in college/uni now? Is there some sound reasoning behind them that I am too thick and anti-social to grasp?

... and breathe

I've decided that the only 'sound reasoning' is that with group-work there are lots less assignments to be marked... :o

Ha! Could be on to something there Joan .

My best friend is doing a PHD at the moment and although I'm WILDLY jealous most of the time, her accounts of working with others have made me thank my lucky stars I didn't go back to uni after all

I'm not a team player and I would NOT be able to play nice with a group who didn't conform to my standards!

i took temporary withdrawal after my group work finished. our group started as four. one died. one withdrew from the course due to pg complications. that left me with one. she was phobic about public speaking and terrified of our subject. i nursed her through the research, did all the transcription, collated the data we wanted to use, did the write up. had to then write out word for word what she had to say for our 'group' presentation (highlighted) and collect her from her room on the morning of the presentation and feed her (prescribed) valium. she literally spent four months trying to persuade the tutor that she shouldn't have to take part but i was damned certain i was going to drag her through it kicking and screaming.

should add that in the last couple of weeks prior, i had to travel o'seas and had agreed to do some of the remaining analysis and write up whilst i was away (we needed a link from the tutor). she was so late emailing me the links that i had to finish the write up on the plane back to the uk. we got back at 6am and i had to be in uni at 3pm for our final rehearsal prior to presenting the damn thing the following day at the conference. i swear hand on heart that the only thing she did was accompany me throughout the data collection, and e-mail a link from the tutor. oh, i lie. early on she made phone call to a participant who then dropped out. and read from the highlighted presentation verbatim.

she got through it. but given that she was slugging vodka out of a coke bottle for the entire thing, i have no idea how.

she was very grateful. and not a bit leathered.

i still haven't finished the course.

group work. my fecking arse.

Bloody hell outofbodyexperience! That is awful . God knows how you managed to come through that; I'd have left the course in a straitjacket. Feeling quite angry on your behalf.

i had six weeks counselling. my 'temporary' withdrawal has so far lasted two years. and now i'm re-starting to finish the damn thing. i still haven't handed in my research diary for the group project. how on earth do i write it up???!!!! all ideas welcome. it is of course supposed to be entirely anonymous.

actually the presentation itself was quite funny. because she was partly leathered and spaced on valium (and frankly was unfamiliar with the material) she was mispronouncing some of the words in the presentation, with me doing my very best not to wince visibly from my side of the podium.

what it looked like from the audience i can't imagine. fortunately most people were fascinated by the research itself rather than the presentation, so we got a reasonable grade (nowhere near what i wanted, natch ) but i've studied presentation skills ffs!!! and it was graded on the group performance. well, that element was anyway. i haven't got an overall mark yet because my heart sinks every time i try and dust the damn thing off to send it in.

group work. ya gotta love it.

Tartan Joan Grumpla and Outofbody

What can I say - my hat is off to you all and I embrace you as fellow haters of group work.

Tartan I thought there was no sound reasoning too but reckon Joan has out her finger on it!

Outofbody I thought my experience was bad (abusive emails/texts/calls from one who smokes way too much pot throwing awful insults and accusing me of all sorts of conspiracies; everyone refusing to do the presentation despite huge help from me and then getting marked down for lack of group effort etc etc Yawn ) But yours takes the biscuit!!!!
I can fully understand why you have yet to finish it off, my group work has affected me hugely and am still feeling the effects now as I try to knuckle down to my dissertation.

The knock-on effect of being drained by the monkeys on your back is massive. I think there should be a law against group-work - nad that is not me being anti-social as Joan says it would in fact be more social to outlaw it as many peoples relationships would be the better for it! In the real world group scenario you would have management tools to be able to discipline or develop the weaker team members in group work you are entirely reliant on good will and inclination. Pah! and a 1000 Pahs!

good to know I am not alone.