Does this drive anyone else nuts?
 

Group projects: in college! I hate them! I really don't think other people's grades should rest on you and vice versa. I think it's great for high school, but once it ventures into college, it just gets ridiculously complicated: think conflicting schedules, jobs, where people live (not near campus) and all that.
Reason I need to rant: the girl in my group decided she wanted to plagiarize. we started off with a failing grade.
Opinions?
Horror stories?
Anything that drives you up the wall crazy? makes you wanna slap peeps around?
Discuss? :3 I like to hear other's horror stories :)

No, I hate ALL group projects.

I commute to college and so, no time but between or during class is convenient.

I hate when I do some work and it isn't used. It really makes me want to be that person in the group that everyone hates. The one mooching, but if my work isn't going to be used, why should I do anything.

And you should never trust people in your group. I know that.

And in highschool-it has to be in class. I didn't have a car and my parents? My dad would drive me if he could, but my mother? I'm just screwed.

I remember a high school project...I came up with most of the survey. We printed the survey. I got people to fill out over 80% of the survey since my group wouldn't do shit. I did the ENTIRE powerpoint. I wasn't going to be there to present and there was something wrong with the powerpoint and I couldn't figure it out. I told them how to open it so it would work correctly. No one listened and so we failed when I DID ALL THE WORK!

When I was in school for construction technology, I actually enjoyed having a group to work with, because I rather hated the physical aspect of the projects, so I would work out a deal with my group that I would do all their paperwork (which was a *lot* of work) if they could do most of my hands-on stuff.

Now that I switched to an English major, though, I loathe any kind of group work, especially in creative writing. Sitting down with three or four complete strangers and trying to put a story together inside of an hour is just... not happening with me.

I thoroughly despise group work. In my Mythology class this past term, we had to perform a Norse myth. The myths were in our textbook, but we had to write our own scripts and provide our own props and costumes. I had been given the task of writing our script.

I had been getting sick right before our groups were assigned, yet I still rocked out the script, and everyone liked it. I set up a rehearsal date outside class on a date when everyone said they'd be able to make it, yet nobody showed up. Two of our people never even showed up for the in-class rehearsals. I set up another out-of-class rehearsal, and almost everyone showed up. I ended up having to take over an acting job for one of the people that never showed up, and I did most of the directing as well since I was the only one with theatre experience. We didn't get our costumes until the day of the performance, and we had to change a couple of lines in the script because of it. It pissed me off to zero end that we'd had to improv lines when we'd had a working script- MY script -nearly memorized.

I hate group stuff because I've always been a loner since as long as I can remember, and it follows the same pattern as well as I get better grades when I do myself than with a group. What happens is that I get introduced (which is pointless) they argue who's going to be the leader in the group, then after 20 minutes of that, then they "divide" the work up, they don't do jack shit, then when the due date comes around the corner I pick up the pieces because I WANT a passing grade.

I remember 2 projects I did that had two totally different results. My first one was an interior design class that I didn't even choose (my counselor thought me being in an interior design class is a good idea) I got assigned to a group of friends that try to talk their way out of any lesson that ends up wasting everyone else's time and energy.

The major project was that we were going to a couple of model homes around the school take pictures of the rooms and design and then re-design the whole house. I knew I was in deep shit when they took the fake bread from the kitchen and positioning it as a penis and then they took pictures of themselves doing stupid shit in the model homes.

Then when the due was around the corner and they didn't even developed the pictures I decided to stay after school, took the pictures all by myself with the help of my mom taking me home from that, bought me the supplies to make the projects. I took the majority of the class' magazines and wasted my study hall for it. I felt like I did a half ass job, but it was better than nothing.

When due date came along, I presented it. During the presentation, I told my teacher the bullshit I had to go through to at least get some sort of grade. I told her how my partner took nothing but penis pictures out of the plastic bread, taking pictures of themselves as if they were in a club (mostly duck faces) and how I did the whole as much as my power and time constricting I had to do and to pick up the pieces of their laziness, I would of not do it, but then I would of suffered the consequence. (I did it all in one week, the project was assigned a month ago) And all they can say is "Well, sorry." and I replied, not accepting the apologies "Well, if you guys were sorry then you guys should of taken responsibility and not to take advantage of the situation given." then back to telling my teacher "This is why I work alone :) Thank you for your time."'

I was the only one in the group that got the higher grade.

Then the second one was in Psychology class, there was a brain project that everyone had a group of 3, I was the odd one out so I did the whole thing by myself, I had the responsibility of 3-4 people done in a couple of days. Presented it on a tri-fold project board. Everyone was surprised at the fact that I did it in a couple of days and all by myself. Most people did a powerpoint and using fruit as a brain but the majority of them rotted away by the time the presentation came along XD. I did it old school (took a brain diagram pasted it on the board then cut the shapes out of construction paper of each part of the brain and glued it on top of it), so that way my teacher can keep it for future use.

I had the highest score in the whole class of 110/100. :) and he kept the project for examples of future use.

Sorry for the 50+ au rant, but that's my experience in High school in the same year. oTL

Echo, you just reminded of a project I had for American Wars class back in highschool on the Battle of Gettysburg. I was really sick for a week and a half, was assigned to a group without knowing it, and I just so happened to get back to school on the day of the presentation.

And the teacher demanded that my "group" make me give part of the presentation, even though I had no idea this project even existed. Then, she had the nerve to hold me after class and tell me how "disappointed" she was in me. :|

Wow, that sad. well sorry for being severely sick for a week, and no one updated me on the project as well as my who is my group. Why not you try to be severely sick for a week and neglect you of your duties then we'll say that you "disappointed" us. *sarcasm*

I had that in all of the classes when I was in a mental hospital for a week on 2 separate occasions. Where I asked my nurses/"teachers" if I had any work and they said no over and over again (I think it was because I wasn't allowed my spiral notebook; choking reasons). And I asked that to all of my subjects I got and they all said no. Then when I got back. My teachers said that I missed a couple assignments and a project. I was pissed because the nurses lied that I had no work when in fact I did. I told my teachers that the nurses/Teachers said that i don't have any, they were pissed and decided to drop all of the assignments I had during that week.

@yokuutsu: that's basically what happened with me, i did most of the writing and the powerpoint and were STILL barely going to make a D. but i totally get what your saying, and when i'm in a group i always try to incorporate everybody's work into it if they do the work.

@suzerain of sheol: well, that worked out well with you! :D but i do get the total and complete stranger thing.
but the teacher! man, i would have told her she could kiss my sick a$$ and talk to the dean (if you're in college)

@Reyoki: man that sucks! you put in all that effort and it still didn't go smoothly. But that sounds like a really cool assignment. what myth did you guys perform?

@echo chan: wow! that's kind of like me, i'm really shy, but i put a big emphasis on grades. that's how i get my scholarships and stuff. so i usually get to do most of the work. but wow, impressive work! and that's sad about the nurses not giving you your work, but at least the teachers dropped it :\ teachers need to realize that students do get sick, and it is really nice that they acknowledged that you were. :)

but anyway, this teacher (my sociology teacher) is kind of a nutcase. one day she'll be reasonable, the next she'll be like over-enunciating things like we're stupid. If you don't mind me asking, what are you all in school for? in college or high school?
for myself, i'm in my 2nd year of college, going to get my associates in nursing at a community college then get my bachelor's at a state uni hopefully :D

Group projects are almost as stupid as essay exams for history classes. With a group project, you end up with like one person doing all the work and the others only showing up or not even trying. It's horrid. I can't even remember how many times I've had a group project and ended up doing all the work just so I could at least get a passing grade. I'm just glad that as a history major, we don't have group projects, or else I would probably have to hurt someone.

So true. that one person doing all the work usually ends up being me, and it seems like the teachers can sense it. they always, always group me w/ people who could seriously not give a flying f*ck if they pass or not...
that's cool that your a history major! is there one time period that you like the most?

The professors probably group you up like that out of pity for the dumb fucks with crappy grades. I was an education major for a while, but all the political red tape scared me off. I'm working on a Theatre Arts degree now.

I don't go to school anymore

Yeah, I agree with the general sentiment that group projects in college (hell, in school in general) are pointless. Well, with few exceptions. With my experience it is generally that one person or a small part of the group does the majority of the work, but is then either rewarded with a good grade (with the "lazy" majority of the group getting the grade as well) or punished with a bad grade for the other group members lack of contribution/poor work.

@ Alpha: that's how it was with our group, two ended up dropping the class, so we were stuck with 1/2 the group members as the rest of class. but one good thing i liked about the class though is that we had a peer review. so i could review everybody about their participation and stuff, and vice versa. but usually, it is just like you said, get a good grade b/c one or 2 people do the work or bad grade b/c no one participated :\

I'm not In college yet or I don't know If I'm going to be, but all I know Is this. PROJECTS are really ridiculous,(or other things I can say which I'm not going to name)...In college. I accept that Its okay for highschool and middleschool and elementary schools to have projects. People got lives In college like having classes where you have to do your homework,study and on top of that you have work. You need time on your own and relax you know. I think that's not right, I don't think there should be projects In college at all Its a waste of time..

I'm a management major in uni and I see group work as absolutely essential. 90% of my courses involve group work of some kind taking up 15%-40% of our total mark.

Management of people's time, integrating technology to make everyone's schedule fit it (I've met people who take 5 minutes to 3 hours to get to uni), communication, overcoming the issues with working with other people, and just solving any other problems that come with group work actually build necessary skills for later on.

I don't like them but I don't hate them either. You'll eventually get used to it. And if you find a group that has a great dynamic or create one with a great dynamic, then you can produce something amazing.

Also for the part concerning issues with other teammates not pulling their weight, I've gone through compromising, just letting the situation go, booting a member from the team and discussing it with them. Also a good insurance is to discuss the situation with your instructor so they are aware of the situation and can alter the marks accordingly. I don't know what everyone has but we have an evaluation system where we can mark every other teammates' performance and their grades will be adjusted accordingly.

I do get tired of doing group projects. I had one where it was 15 minutes for us all to present. That would be five minutes each. The guy took up all but three minutes in which the other in our group and I had to present our findings in a short amount of time. He barely contacted us. We had to harass him and he sent his thing ahead before compiling with us.

Once you hit college, it should be dropped. It's bad enough that I have to do presentations to start with.

I agree, except for those classes/majors where communication and coordination are a big part. Then you should be required to still do it. Otherwise, get rid of or minimize to maybe one project of that sort.

I only hate group projects when one member never shows up to the meetings and skips out on things and then expects us to help him prepare on the day the presentation is supposed to be done.

Yeah....that does suck. My policy is the following: NMFP (Not My Flipping Problem)....and yes, I substituted words so as to make it appropriate. Very rarely do I make exceptions unless it will critically impact my grade or they have a GENUINE reason.

Most times they give us a chance to write a paper where we can express those kind of things. Boy do I ever do that.

Yeah, I do as well. So far been lucky and not had any outside of class, but with my luck I will have several next semester. Though i've seen my girlfriend go through it and dealt with her during that.

We didn't it was along the lines of "do what your suppose to do and suck it up" and I rebel against that every step of the way

I did it as, "if you don't contribute I am marking you way down on your grade because I had to do all the work."

Yeah.....she was frustrated with group....

I had to pull out a speech which wasn't part of the presentation but I had to get my point across. So I told her what my group was like (read the giant essay/rant I did in this thread about my group experience) during the presentation because it's a lot more effective than to spell it out to her personally

Yeah....although be careful with that since some teachers might dock your grade for doing that. Or that could take it as offensive/insubordinate...for lack of better words.

unless it's an in class assignment like in a literature class or lab for science
I don't really like group projects... and I tend to do the whole project anyway because someone either doesn't show up or doesn't come up with their part... however, it was nice one time we traded email addresses and all contacted each other and one person put it all together making sure there wasn't any problems with anyone's work, really appreciate how she made sure it was good
other times I've had to do the whole thing myself...

This project was ok b/c she gave us peer review sheets, which really helped. but as far as communicating went, one of my members gave me her home phone number even though i'd seen her use her cell phone. I was like, that'd be very awkward if i had to talk to your family about a sociology project. but i suppose i can understand if she didn't want to give her number to me without knowing me very well.
anyway, we mostly used facebook for communication. we started out with 5 people and ended with 3 including me.
the teacher on the other hand was insane. she publicly berated other groups and their work while they were up in front of the class. i thought that was a bit immature/inconsiderate for a teacher. and for an entry level class too.

I hate that, because there's always at least one person who doesn't do their work and then your project sucks and you get a bad grade. It's so freaking annoying. I also hate when couples make out and stick their tongues down each others throats in the middle of the hallway when I'm trying to get to class. Do that nasty shit somewhere else.

I don't like working with a group who can get their act together. I tried to do my part but they think it is dumb and it wouldn't work at all. But in the end I tried to go with the flow and hope to get a good grade once it is all over.

I'm with Zerook on this in that, as annoying as they can be, they are relevant to life after college and one may as well get the practice in, especially in collge before one's livelihood might be risked by doing a crummy job.

In high school I recall that they were a paint except when I worked alone, which was often since my shcedual and out of school obligations were so wonky it made it hard for me. In college though I had a much easier time of it since most people actually care about getting good grades seeing as one needs to pay to be there.

We've usually just delegated and used email rather than actually meeting up, beyond perhaps some in class meeting times. It usually amounted to "you, do this. You, do that, I can do this. Job done." I could make a powerpoint presentation in my sleep so often I would take the info people would send me and put it together, or in some cases, put actual slides together. It worked out well because at one point I overslept on the day of the presentation and ran into class just as my group was presenting. Because they already had my slides and info they could keep going without me and I squeaked in at the end for questions. My prof was forgiving about that (possibly because I was noticably out of breath and coughing when I arrived), and my group didn't seem to mind too much since my slides were easy to read with enough (and yes, I appologized profusely).

I hate them unless I'm in a group with people I know
//too shy

Ohhh yeah group projects, ugh. The thing I always hated the most about them in high school was 1. being paired with people I loathed (or who loathed me in return lol - I was a bit of an outcast in high school. Shocker, right?) and basically being shunned but even more 2. when everyone would just sit there like '...yeah and what are we going to do' and nobody would take charge and direct the project, nobody would brainstorm, everyone would just -sit there-. I so often would -have- to be the one to take charge so we could even get started and then people wouldn't listen to me and just do whatever they wanted anyway cos I wasn't in the popular clique with them. xD

I think group projects are only important for certain classes but I think they're ridiculous for others (in college I mean, I can understand having them for like, education majors or business majors where group work is really common in the job field anyway but otherwise -- pointless and a paaaain)

i had a case where someone in a group project plagiarized so we failed, we had to submit appeals to get our stuff graded separately. Yeah you always end up with a lazy person who coasts through :s

Just reading what you guys have written makes me mad!
I've had mixed experiences actually. I be a good leader if I choose to take the role however doing so works against my personality. I hate doing so to such an extent I'd rather pick up the pieces to get a passing grade than take charge.

In creative writing all group projects actually went great! =)
In Environmental science though...we were a group of overachievers but that meant nearly everyone wanted to lead. But since all of us were nice folks there was a sort of agreement to take turns making decisions or something. But since everyone but me had a full plate of AP classes and extracurricular activities we really only discussed the project without information gathering. Only one girl actually got me information cause I was in charge of the Powerpoint and presentation. It was the day before it was due though so although it was rushed but i think i won my teacher over with the adorable artwork. I probably spent an hour just on the coverpage finding source images for finding nemo. lol

It drives me absolutely bonkers. I had a project that I had to do with 6 other people in April. SIX other people. Me and another girl wound up doing all of it because they said that they wouldn't have time to do it. Two of them were telling the truth, cause it was close to finals week, but the other two I would see wandering around occasionally, not doing a thing. It's very frustrating, because college is way more extensive than High school and the grades mean more. :/ It's so annoying.

I wasn't a fan of group projects myself, it usually consist of I doing the work and another doing the work, the rest figuring out how they can get credited for it. My wife is currently in college so she's feeling that pressure, but I've shown her some tricks so she's in good hands.