I hate group projects

[mariamousie1]

In one of my classes at school, we're assigned to groups of 4 and we each have to do a research assignment on a different country chosen out of a hat. My group's country is Russia. We have to do an outline which is due tomorrow, on Wednesday. Basically a description of what aspects will be covered and who will do what part of the project. Easily a 15-20 minute meeting.

Let's call the people in my group Jenny, Jason and Fred. So anyway, I forgot about the project for a week, and when my teacher reminded the class, I got my team members names from her again, since I don't actually know them. The next day I emailed Jenny. The email was something like "Hi Jenny! I'm in the Russia group with you along with Jason and Fred. We all have to meet and decide who does what. I like to research and and I'm good at spelling and grammar if anybody needs editing. Just let me know!" I never got a reply. On Saturday I emailed Jason and it was along the same lines. By Monday I still had not gotten any reply from anybody and I was getting seriously worried since the outline was due on Wednesday. I considered trying Fred, but I was sick of waiting around for replies and there wasn't much time left. So I emailed my teacher and explained the situation to her.

I have to tell you, the thing that worried me most was my teacher's reply. I'm totally neurotic, and I had the idea it was somehow my fault. Even though my brain knew it wasn't, I just couldn't shake the feeling that the teacher would be mad at me.
My teacher's reply the next day was really nice though...it went like "Thank you for the email, you did the right thing contacting me. Forward the emails you sent to Jenny and Jason to me, and talk to Fred today about the project and what the two of you can do. Write down whatever you can and hand it in to me tomorrow. If you have any more problems email me again."

Anyway, the reason I'm posting is I'm SO RELIEVED. I've been seriously tense and worried about this all weekend. Yesterday I was so depressed about it my mom actually took me out to a restaurant for snacks and drinks, which she never does for no reason. (I have anxiety problems so I don't always deal well with this kind of thing). But my teachers email made me feel so much better, and even now I can feel my muscles relaxing. It's the best feeling I've had all week. Whenever I feel strongly about something I get the urge to post it.

I still don't know why those two wouldn't talk to me. I have the idea they forgot I was in their group and did it already among the three of them, but they could have emailed me back and let me know instead of just hoping I would go away. Then maybe we could meet again and adjust it to include me, or I could talk to the teacher and see if maybe I could join another group. Instead, what am I supposed to do if I don't know? It's my grade too.
Anyway, it's just a theory. :-/

[AdminAssistant]

I have the idea they forgot I was in their group and did it already among the three of them, but they could have emailed me back and let me know instead of just hoping I would go away. Then maybe we could meet again and adjust it to include me, or I could talk to the teacher and see if maybe I could join another group. Instead, what am I supposed to do if I don't know? It's my grade too.
Anyway, it's just a theory. :-/

You're giving them too much credit. Chances are they, individually, just forgot, or were lazy, or hoped you'd just do it all. You've done what you're supposed to do: notified the instructor. If things don't work out with your group, perhaps she'll let you do an individual assignment.

Russia's a really fascinating country to study. The literature alone is just....amazing. Heck, the theatre alone is the best of the 18th to early 20th century. Putin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Gogol, Bulgakov, Ostrovsky, Mayakovsky....just incredible.

[poofy_puff]

I don't like group projects like that either. By "like that", I mean ones that are assigned by a course whose ostensible purpose is to have you learn about a particular SUBJECT (such as Russia) but whose ulterior motive is to "build interpersonal skills" or teach you about "teamwork". What usually ends up happening is a struggle between egotistical and passive-aggressive personalities resulting in one person doing all the work and the others riding that person's coattails for better or for worse.

I realize you are simply venting and not asking for free advice, but I'm gonna give you some anyway. Since the instructor appears to be sympathetic to your plight, my advice is that you proceed with the project as though your "teammates" do not exist. Be responsible for your own grade. If your "teammates" should mysteriously materialize moments before the project is due, offer to share your findings with them if they do the same for you. Document all the time spent "working as a team" and make sure the instructor knows which portion(s) of the "group project" you are personally and/or solely responsible for. You will do just fine.

ETA: you ARE asking for advice. I hope you find something I say here useful. perhaps you will even get lucky and end up with competent teammates who pull their own weight. Good luck!

[Broomjockey]

Ugh. I've been burned by group projects in the worst way twice. Once in a group of three, one of the people dropped out of the class the week before the project was due. We managed to work around that, though it was hard.

Then, a group of 4, one person dropped the class the week after we started the project, but never told us. So we just went ahead, assuming they were just absent, and emailed him the details of what was expected of him. Three weeks later, we get an email saying "sorry guys, I dropped the class. I thought the professor would have told you." The prof cut us a lot of slack on that one.

[mikoyan29]

What do you have to say about Russia? As others have said, it is a fascinating country. The history. the literature (although too long for my tastes). The music (Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, etc). Even their military has some interesting things.

[mariamousie1]

Thank you guys you all have good ideas! I really like the "responsible for my own grade" idea. I also really like the ideas of writing about theatre or literature. I'm going to talk to Fred today, but I'm not holding my breath since he never tried to contact me. Wasn't Tchaikovsky Russian? I could write about music too. He's one of my favourites. Such great ideas. I'm really glad I posted.

[AdminAssistant]

Wasn't Tchaikovsky Russian?

Yes, although I really don't know much about music. :/ But he was Russian. Alot of my friends are grad students studying Russia and/or Eastern Europe, so I hear about it A LOT. The ones who study literature and arts talk a lot about the Russian "soul" and how it's represented by the dark and macabre nature of their art.

[Dave1982]

I took a video production class in college, and ALL of the projects were team projects, though that was due to the simple fact that shooting proper video is complicated and often takes more than one person. Anyway, one of the projects was to do a simple music video, and the guy I was assigned to work with was.....well, he was a moron, and he was lazy. He helped out with the creative side a little and chose what song we'd use, but he barely lifted a finger on the technical side. And since this was more a technical class than a creative one, that meant I ended up doing the lion's share of the work, including ALL the filming (except for ONE shot) and ALL the editing.

I made sure to keep the instructor in the loop about this, and he wasn't surprised; apparently the last person to work with this guy had the same problem. So while I got a good grade on it, he didn't, and he was also called to the carpet in front of the whole class for spending more time in front of the camera than behind it.

[Geek King]

I don't like group projects like that either. By "like that", I mean ones that are assigned by a course whose ostensible purpose is to have you learn about a particular SUBJECT (such as Russia) but whose ulterior motive is to "build interpersonal skills" or teach you about "teamwork". What usually ends up happening is a struggle between egotistical and passive-aggressive personalities resulting in one person doing all the work and the others riding that person's coattails for better or for worse.

This is every computer job I've ever had. I swear, my college should have required a psychology minor with the CS degree program. Learn now, while it is mostly safe, when to push people, and when to kick the problem up to a higher authority (teacher/boss/ect.).

[mariamousie1]

Update: I talked to Fred, the guy I didn't email, in one of my classes and he was really nice. Apparently although they hadn't actually written anything up, they all had what aspect they were going to write about chosen. Fred said he was planning on talking to me in our last class, and asked me what I would like to write about. I said music, and he wrote it down. He said he would write up a mockup of an outline with what we were all doing and email it to me and I could make one from that. So everything seems to be worked out, although Jenny and Jason could have saved me a lot of aggravation if they had just responded and let me know what was going on. So I'm still pretty pissed at them. Oh well. I better email my teacher and tell her this.
I wonder if Fred would have really talked to me in our last class? I have a really strong tendency to give people the benefit of the doubt though, although I come from a huge family of pessimists and cynics. But seriously, it's due tomorrow. Did he think I would just happily wait until the night before to wonder what's happening with the project?

[Talon]

I think I've been pretty lucky in my groups so far at my college. Although last year our group got stuck with one clown without us being informed. He had no idea what was going on, made no effort to find out as he never showed up to classes, meeting (virtual or in-person). In fact the only time he showed up was the day of final presentation. He was so far out of the loop by then we presented without him.

But this year my luck's run out. One of my courses has me stuck with two of the bigger slackers in class. *sigh*

[AdminAssistant]

Honestly, the instructor failed on this one. The class I TA has a group assignment, and we offer plenty of in-class time for the groups to get together, exchange information, and work on the projects.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

*shudders*

I went to a university that prided itself on "interdisciplinary learning" and group studies. It was formed by basically a bunch of hippies who wanted to test out their own theories of learning and what college should be like. Is it any wonder I'm still working retail after graduating from that place?

And I happened to be in a program where there was a lot of group projects. I think I learned the following from doing group projects:

• Life is unfair
• Usually not in your favor
• The slackers will give you more work for less grade
• You are only as good as your other group members; one bad apple will bring your grade crashing down, unless your professor thought to allow everybody to grade their fellow group members on the work and effort they brought to the project

And I had my fair share of asshats, unfortunately. Like the guy who, upon questioning from the professor following our presentation, more or less took it upon himself to argue with the professor and not even try to answer his question, while I imagined my grade plummeting and plummeting as he went and hoped the floor would just open up and swallow me right there.

And the guy who insisted on being part of every presentation, despite the fact he...how do I put this delicately?...couldn't speak in public like that if his life depended on it. He'd just stare straight down at his notes, which had to be copied chapter and verse off some website or out of some book, unless he was just that good with words, and nervously plow through his part of the presentation in a hurried monotone. Watching him up there, you'd think that you'd have to storm the lectern, body-slam him to the floor and force-feed him a bunch of Valiums. And then when the other students would comment that our presentation went south the moment he started talking, he'd get all upset. "I thought I did a good job! This is just how I present!"

And the guy who showed up in blue jeans to a presentation, and the other guy in my same group who showed up in sweatpants to the same presentation. Whenever we did these presentations, we had to be in business dress--suits, ties, the whole thing, and we did get graded on our appearance. Granted, the guy in sweatpants had his foot in a surgical boot, but when everybody in the class is marking you down for that and nobody's making allowances for his recently-operated-on foot, you're kinda in Fucksville as far as your grade goes.

And then there was the very last group presentation I did at that school, a business crisis response as part of a Public Relations class. That totally rocked. My group members were awesome, everybody worked their asses off, nobody panicked even though we were given our crisis like 24 hours before we were supposed to present, our presentation rocked the house. It was then that I realized too late that I should've gone into PR to start with.

[SG15Z]

I hate group projects. For several reasons, but the main one is I'm an introvert. And because of that I prefer to do my school work on my own. Having to rely on people you don't know or care about, on a grade to pass a class, is not a comforting thought.

That and I never really cared for people my age back in High School. Nor college for that matter.

[mariamousie1]

Yesterday I got an email from Jenny. She apologized for not responding early (she's been busy) and she sent me her portion of the project. I wonder if the teacher had a word with her? Or maybe Fred did. Anyway, today the teacher told the class that she had had messages from several people saying they couldn't get in touch with their team members and it was better to check your email more frequently closer to the due date. So hopefully it won't happen again.