Group Project - Blog Posts

I wish ruining the days of assholes was a job

Group projects be like

I asked you to “sign me the fuck up”, not “assign me the fuck-up,”

Group Projects Suck

Group projects can be so awful sometimes. I had to work with a partner on a big project and we worked really hard on it. Our paper, slides, and video presentation were awesome and my partner said she had submitted our presentation since only one of us had to and I believed her.

Why did I believe her? Now, two days after the deadline I was scrolling through the presentations looking at the other ones and ours isn’t there! Two days after the submission is locked. I have no idea what happened. It was probably a miscommunication but why didn’t I check for myself. This is worth an entire letter grade. Trust but verify.

I don’t know what I’m going to do, probably plead my case to the teacher Monday morning but I have no clue how she’ll react. At least we turned in the paper part of the project separately so that’s on time at least.

Still it’s just so frustrating!

The School, making us do research on the same topic for years : Make an Educated guess as a Hypothesis

Me and the Fam, making research on the same topic for goddamn years : WeLl fRaNkLy LiNdA, We DiDnT tHiNk gLOBaL wArMiNg ExIsTed

11.10.2020

My life as an university student has officially started and it began with online class. I was excited to step into my university campus and make new friends. But everything remained as wishes only. Due the current global pandemic, covid19, no one was allowed to go to higher education institutions. Instead study from home. At first it sounded fun, studying in cozy environment where we're used to. Not panicking waking up and getting ready for class as mom's there to wake us up. But I was wrong.

On my first day, which is today, I was sitting in front of my study table which is just beside my cozy bed. Honestly I felt like just lying down and having a long and sweet nap. On the other hand, the online class was very noise with everyone talking at the same time. Will I listen to lecture or the other kids chattering? To make things worse, the video call of the lecture wasn't smooth at all and was full of lagging in between her words. I really had to concentrate my full and full focus on it to hear what she was saying. To make things even worse my webcam and microphone wasn't working. When lecturer asked to turn on the camera to see our faces I literally panicked without knowing what to do. This was my first ever online class so I had no idea my webcam and microphone was not working. But thankfully she didnt notice among hundreds of us. Because of failure of microphone I couldn't even ask her my questions. Before starting the class the lecture said "since the class is carried out online I can only remember the people who are actively participating in the online class". I was really worried about this. Knowing that how important it is to have to good impression on lecturer and not being a passive student, I made me even more sad.

For afternoon class, things were even more terrible. Among around 200+ students only the 100 students could join the meeting cause that was the limit. So I couldn't join along with the remaining over than hundreds of others and couldn't listen to lecture's briefing regarding the topic. And after the session with only 100 students were over, they are letting us know we have to do assignments and group works all of a sudden. How can we possibly do those in house with limited sources and no guidance. I once more became even more sad.

I'm now very worried about how I'm going to deal with everything. I have no one to guide me. No friends to ask help for. I have seen no one's face before except seeing them on screen. I am really worried now. Why does this covid have to happen? Why does we have to go through such an hard time. Please I hope the world gets well soon.

if your class project group is dysfunctional enough the google docs instance counts as a MOBA

Is being a manager like being in an ongoing group project where you can kick the freeloaders?

How to do group projects? (If you're selected as the leader of the group)

I hate group projects, it's not necessarily the project rather, the people are not cooperative enough so here's some tips I use when I was chosen to do a PPT and a damn play with 13 members.

(Pictures aren't mine!)

Take phone numbers

Even though my teacher discouraged the idea of it, I still took the numbers of all the members and saved it on the same day the project was given even though the deadline was a month later. You should make sure that you have the necessary means of communication to every member.

Plan and outline within 3 days!

Make an outline of what needs to be done, plan out who's going to do what, how they'll do it, when will they complete it etc etc. The reason i do it within 3 days is because you'll get the base of how you'll do it because generally in group projects, by the time everyone completes the work and gives it to you, it would take atleast a week or two, if you start early, you'll complete earlier than everyone else

No group chats!

I personally don't prefer this because one i realised everyone just didn't reply expecting others to reply, especially when your group is big! So... Dms!! Just send the instructions personally, yes, it takes alot of time but it makes up for the energy wasted in group chats that involve unnecessary talks and questions.

Both face to face and text reminders!

When you've assigned work to every member, make sure they actually do it because you'll be the one responsible. Not gonna lie but reminders help especially when the deadlines are closer. Just a message like "Hey, friendly reminder about the XYZ project."

Save your own name!

This is something I'm really careful about. The accusation that you're being biased and assigning easier work to friends and people I'm close with. So, i figured that the best way to avoid it is to write all the work and the names of members in alphabetical order and assign accordingly. If the member can't do it, then I'll discuss and swap. It saves a hell lot of drama and actually results to better outcomes.

Back up

Make sure that there's always a second in command. This was a mistake I did, on the day of the 2nd project (the play), I was in one of the competitions and our teacher had started with our group first... I didn't exactly tell anyone that everything about the characters assigned to members and the narrations were in my bag so they had to scramble alittle but in the end, our group did the best play despite the situation so that's what you're aiming at. Your group needs to manage without you.

Flexibility

Do not, under any circumstances, expect everything to go well! You need to expect hindrances, like gurl, come on. A mistake I made in the PPT project, i made the PPT and told 4-5 people to explain it because that's how it was supposed to be done but in the end, ALL THE 4-5 PEOPLE HAD TO BE IN SPORTS PRACTICE so we ended up changing plans last minute. But nevertheless, we got an A-. Tell everyone to prepare accordingly.

Be a little lenient

Personally, when the teacher asked me to give the list of work everyone had done, i did'nt just write nothing for the members who didn't, i have even the smallest contribution because in the end, even one person's scores matters. It affects the whole damn group so be careful when you take out anger and frustration on the members when giving the list of contributions or even while doing the project. The last thing you need is drama.

Contact!

Make sure your members are comfortable enough to clear any questions or misunderstandings with you. If you don't know what's going in the group, you can't maintain the group. Be very clear that they can reach you any time.

Demo!!!

This is really important! Decide on a day and keep a demonstration of how your project is going to be presented. Do exactly as how you're going to do it infront of the teacher. Exchange some points on how to do better during the demo and discuss! It helps you to correct your mistakes.

Hope this helps! :)