Students' love/hate relationship with group projects
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Sandra Chalmers
Issue date: 5/5/09 Section: Faces & Places
The popularity of working in groups is a growing feature to many classes, though students may express that group projects often add more stress to a class, CSUSM professors argue that the benefits outweigh the groans.
Finding time to meet up, sending emails that never get answered, stressing out the day before the project is due and often picking up the slack of that one person that didn't do any work is seen as the common group project scenario, but gaining experience in working with others sooner than later can benefit students in the long run.
"The ability to work well in groups is a highly sought after and prized skill.
Proving you have the experience and skills to do group work will be an asset to students' portfolio of job skills and talents," said Professor Jerry Breckon of the Political Science department.
Breckon most often assigns group projects in his classes and believes that the interpersonal skills, coordination between group members and the diverse ideas presented to meet the project's requirements are skills that students will most likely need in their future careers.
"I can remember group work in my college days. It brings me a great deal of satisfaction to start out in a group where no one knows each other, but by working and striving together the group can produce a quality end product."
Working with strangers can be the hardest part of the projects, especially when teachers decided that the whole group gets one grade.
"I've had a pretty good experience working with groups," said Business major, Kristina Maniquis. "The hardest thing was trying to find a time the whole group could meet, with work and everyone having different schedules and other engagements."
Other problems can make group work difficult.
"Granted, you always run in to those who don't want to do the work, but that is part of the challenge to motivate them to join the team and be productive," continued Breckon.
Working in a group isn't all stress. It offers other perks that just can't be produced in individual work.
"Four minds work better than one. Getting different perspectives and ideas really help in a group environment," said Maniquis.
"I do believe that a successfully run group can produce a superior product over that of a single individual working on a project. The simple fact is in a group you have more than one person contributing ideas, concepts, solutions, time, and effort. Those are all positive aspects of having more than one person work on the project," said Breckon.
Allison Carr, the Social Sciences Librarian at our Kellogg Library, often works with students on group assignments and views group work as a valuable part of school and work.
"Group work in college will help you get used to working with diverse personalities and strengths. I absolutely think that group work is helpful to prepare for future careers," said Carr.
Finding time to meet up, sending emails that never get answered, stressing out the day before the project is due and often picking up the slack of that one person that didn't do any work is seen as the common group project scenario, but gaining experience in working with others sooner than later can benefit students in the long run.
"The ability to work well in groups is a highly sought after and prized skill.
Proving you have the experience and skills to do group work will be an asset to students' portfolio of job skills and talents," said Professor Jerry Breckon of the Political Science department.
Breckon most often assigns group projects in his classes and believes that the interpersonal skills, coordination between group members and the diverse ideas presented to meet the project's requirements are skills that students will most likely need in their future careers.
"I can remember group work in my college days. It brings me a great deal of satisfaction to start out in a group where no one knows each other, but by working and striving together the group can produce a quality end product."
Working with strangers can be the hardest part of the projects, especially when teachers decided that the whole group gets one grade.
"I've had a pretty good experience working with groups," said Business major, Kristina Maniquis. "The hardest thing was trying to find a time the whole group could meet, with work and everyone having different schedules and other engagements."
Other problems can make group work difficult.
"Granted, you always run in to those who don't want to do the work, but that is part of the challenge to motivate them to join the team and be productive," continued Breckon.
Working in a group isn't all stress. It offers other perks that just can't be produced in individual work.
"Four minds work better than one. Getting different perspectives and ideas really help in a group environment," said Maniquis.
"I do believe that a successfully run group can produce a superior product over that of a single individual working on a project. The simple fact is in a group you have more than one person contributing ideas, concepts, solutions, time, and effort. Those are all positive aspects of having more than one person work on the project," said Breckon.
Allison Carr, the Social Sciences Librarian at our Kellogg Library, often works with students on group assignments and views group work as a valuable part of school and work.
"Group work in college will help you get used to working with diverse personalities and strengths. I absolutely think that group work is helpful to prepare for future careers," said Carr.
Be the first to comment on this story