This is kind of a vent, but I really ****ing hate group work.

I don't think I've ever had a group for anything in my entire life that wasn't full of a bunch of deadbeats.

So the reason I'm raging is because for one of my classes this semester, we have to design a big program with proper documentation and everything.

The way my prof chose the groups was he got the registrar to match people up so that the GPA average of the groups were all equal. Not to brag, but I'm pretty much one of the top people in my year for software, so of course, I get paired up with the guys at the very bottom of the program. Great reward for working hard...

So now I'm in charge of emailing everyone with what to do (even though I'm not the group leader) and have already put several hours into this thing while the other guys have maybe put an hour max. Our meetings are long and go no where (because there is always that one guy who has an absolutely retarded idea that he MUST fully explain to the group and see implemented).

I think my teachers logic was "the weak students will learn from the strong students!"

Unfortunately that doesn't work in world where most people have no problem delegating their work to someone else.

God.... this better not be a snapshot of the real world.

/rant

In the real world you will deal with people who don't speak the same language.

:( :( :(

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

This is kind of a vent, but I really ****ing hate group work.

I don't think I've ever had a group for anything in my entire life that wasn't full of a bunch of deadbeats.

So the reason I'm raging is because for one of my classes this semester, we have to design a big program with proper documentation and everything.

The way my prof chose the groups was he got the registrar to match people up so that the GPA average of the groups were all equal. Not to brag, but I'm pretty much one of the top people in my year for software, so of course, I get paired up with the guys at the very bottom of the program. Great reward for working hard...

So now I'm in charge of emailing everyone with what to do (even though I'm not the group leader) and have already put several hours into this thing while the other guys have maybe put an hour max. Our meetings are long and go no where (because there is always that one guy who has an absolutely retarded idea that he MUST fully explain to the group and see implemented).

I think my teachers logic was "the weak students will learn from the strong students!"

Unfortunately that doesn't work in world where most people have no problem delegating their work to someone else.

God.... this better not be a snapshot of the real world.

/rant

That GPA idea is good on paper but horrible in real life...

I'm also not a big fan of group work. Sometimes its useful but most of the times I'd rather do things on my own and then spend like 15-30 minutes checking it over and discussing it with classmates.

Originally Posted by Arrogant

Don't need any trollin' right now brah.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Don't need any trollin' right now brah.

Sorry broski.

How much are these projects worth?

Originally Posted by Arrogant

Sorry broski.

How much are these projects worth?

This one is worth 40%, lul.

I never minded group work that much- even after a PBL project where I had to pull an all nighter to rewrite a lot of the not so great work some of my group did. The extra work sucked a bit, but I figured a better grade was more important than an equal work distribution.

But recently I had a large group project (11 people per group!), with no peer review system. And only a week to prepare. As you can imagine, most people felt safe slacking because they figured with 11 people there would be others to do the extra work. And with only one slacker it would have been fine. Unfortunately, it ended up being me and 2 other members of the group doing all the work. We literally had one member of the group who didn't respond to any messages on Avenue or to emails, didn't show up to any of our meetings, and didn't even attempt to do any of the work. And she'll end up with the same mark as me.

So yeah- I think its safe to say I hate group work right now.

Hate group work more than you could ever know.

I would have rejected Health Sci if I got in because of all the group work (I had no real idea what it was, just applied because it was like Bio-ish)

Originally Posted by Marlowe

But recently I had a large group project (11 people per group!), with no peer review system. And only a week to prepare. As you can imagine, most people felt safe slacking because they figured with 11 people there would be others to do the extra work. And with only one slacker it would have been fine. Unfortunately, it ended up being me and 2 other members of the group doing all the work. We literally had one member of the group who didn't respond to any messages on Avenue or to emails, didn't show up to any of our meetings, and didn't even attempt to do any of the work. And she'll end up with the same mark as me.

The good thing about most of the projects I do is the grading system. Everyone receives a combined grade of what the TA gives you and what everyone else in the group gives you.

I have absolutely no problem giving someone a zero who put in no effort into a project.

Originally Posted by Marlowe

And she'll end up with the same mark as me.

Just hire a professional to go punch her in the face. It could only be one of 10 of you who sent the assault (if she even gets as far as figuring out it was because of her lack of help for the project).

Originally Posted by Arrogant

The good thing about most of the projects I do is the grading system. Everyone receives a combined grade of what the TA gives you and what everyone else in the group gives you.

I have absolutely no problem giving someone a zero who put in no effort into a project.

Yeah, group work with a peer evaluation system is much, much better.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Just hire a professional to go punch her in the face. It could only be one of 10 of you who sent the assault (if she even gets as far as figuring out it was because of her lack of help for the project).

Think her name would be enough to go by? That's all we ever found out about her (I still haven't met her).

Originally Posted by Marlowe

Think her name would be enough to go by? That's all we ever found out about her (I still haven't met her).

Oh, maybe she dropped the course :p.

Is there something in the eval. Where each member has to show what they did to contribute? I mean even if that gets them to cooperate more, there will still be more babysitting then group work but it could help.

edit: I was too lazy to read all the comments so i dont know if it came up.

Haha, we actually emailed the prof to find out if she had dropped the course as a subtle way to complain about the fact that she hadn't done any work. Apparently she was still in it, but it was before the last date to drop. She quite possibly stopped going if she knew she was going to drop it.