Group Projects SUUUUUUCK!

[bookworm51485]

Why do teachers insist on including this as a part of the learning process? And even worse, when the classes are online. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? Damn it

I'm working in a group right now, that I'll be working with this entire semester, and it is so bloody frustrating. I wanted to meet in person, everybody's too busy. So we chat online, but how much can you really get done on a fricken chat that only lasts about an hour. And we only just started discussing what to do, about a week before the damn project it due. But my group members want to leave days in between chat sessions with only a vague idea of what each person will be doing. And then, of course, I love it when you have one person who volunteers themselves to do the easiest part, while volunteering you to do the hardest part.

Shoot me, shoot me now. Please

[Tribalista]

Group projects can be a really good experience (sometimes - unforgettable cause you had so much fun together) depending on so many factors: the set task and subject, sometimes - number of the participants (the more - doesn't always = the better ) and foremost , motivation.. personalities involved, too etc etc

And deadlines, too. How can you cooperate with complete strangers not having enough time to brainstorm, choose the best idea, discuss and divide the responsibilities and complete the project?.. Impossible and frustrating. Especially if you're motivated by fear of failing it all.. from the very beginning.

I faced the situation when showing much enthusaiasm about the task got me stuck with doing practically everything.. and hating it all.

Group project aren't supposed to 'suck', it's all about teachers' bad time management and unreal expectations.

Wish you luck, though.

[bookworm51485]

The teachers definitely have a lot to do with how they work out. I had another online class where we were forced to work in groups. By the time the class ended, I had to switch groups, and the teacher chose to be an ass about it because I guess I ruined his 'bird course'. But there's only so much I can take of a group leader who 'volunteers' (more like demands) the lead role, just so he can tell people what to do and feel like he gets to make all the final decisions, but doesn't want to bother with any of the difficult parts of being a leader.

We were setting up powerpoints on various topics, and there were certain steps we had to take to get it done. Initial draft, review by the other group members, editing and corrections, putting the final product together and standardizing it, then again review by the group members. I was the only one who actually bothered to review anything or make corrections. And then when I did, they were completely ignored. Mr. Group Leader would just turn in our powerpoints as is, filled with grammatical errors, jibberish, slides that were formatted incorrectly, slides with words that were missing, etc. And we kept getting penalized grade-wise.

And then I got constant attitude from said same ass and one of the other groups members. You know those men who think they're so much smarter than everyone else, especially when that someone else is female. So every topic I suggested was shot down in the most condescending, insulting way they could manage. That was it for me. I went to the professor, but he got an attitude. I think he just wanted to float by in the class, not actually have to do his job as professor and facilitate the process. So when I switched to another group, he penalized me and my group and rewarded the morons I left behind by giving them a higher grade than us, despite our project being FAAAAAAR superior, and grammatically sound. Oh and making a comment insulting the topic I suggested, "Well, this topic is actually quite boring, but I guess you did an okay job".

That was the last straw for me. My experiences prior were never great (group members disappearing, people not completing their work on time, people not taking things seriously, etc), but I can't deal with that level of incompetence.