Hating 'group work' assignments

Bumashes, MSN, APRN, NP · Mar 14, 2006

Oh goodness! I :angryfire HATE :angryfire group work! I'm a control freak myself, and I admit that different people work in different ways. I understand this. But I can't stand it when someone doesn't pull their own weight. I would rather them tell me up front, "Hey, I'm not going to do anything of quality," so that I could do it for them. I would love to do it for them, and I wouldn't be mad at them for telling me. I'm also extremely picky on grammatical issues. I've always been an ace at English, and so I'm just really good at proofreading and very picky because of my experience. I'm not trying to toot my own horn. If it was a math project, then I'd be the one saying that my work probably won't be worth snot. I just feel that if the project is something that I, or another, am in my element with, then I, or they, should take over leadership and have a final say in everything. It's survival of the wits in nursing school, and I'm not about to get a low grade just because someone else can't spell. Well, that's my rant, and I totally agree with you.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Mar 14, 2006

I hate group projects as well.

I remember i posted something about that close to 2 years ago, and someone said that peopel who hate group projects aren't good team players. I'm all for teamwork, if the whole team participates, but it's not that often that's the case. And i have enough work to do, i'm NOT carrying someone else's work to do, too.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Mar 14, 2006

We had one group project and it went o.k. I was the "leader", not everyone had equal strengths, but we got an A. Fortunately in my RN to BSN program so far there hasn't been any group projects.

I hate group projects. I realize this is their way of preparing you for the real world, where you'll have to work in groups, but I still don't see much benefit and it's not fair when someone drags your grade down.

christymwinn · Mar 14, 2006

I can only guess that it is supposed to help you to deal with difficult people in difficult situations, but why would you want to put people in that position on purpose??

I didn't like group projuects either, esp. in the bridge program!! That was when everyone it seemed "had a life" and it was sooo hard to get anyone together!! Plus everyone wanted to go in a different direction.

I feel your pain sister!!!

Christine

Trauma Columnist · Mar 14, 2006

I did my BSN and MSN online and we group projects in every single darn class. I am not a perfectionist. However, I want the best grade I can get related to the effort I put into it. I work very hard when in a group setting because I don't want to bring the group down. That said, I became pretty ruthless. We decided on a deadline and an amount of work to be done by that time. If the info wasn't posted, oh well, we went on with life, put the rest of the project together, turned it in without the noncontributing student's name on it and left it to the instructor. Sounds cold, but it worked and it puts the responsibility right back where it belongs.

rn in 3 years · Mar 14, 2006

I have not had to do any group projects yet but I will not like it much when I do. I can get along with people just fine but will not like someone else's work habits determining MY grade. Has anyone ever had any luck going to the professor and asking if they couold just do the whole darn assignement themselves?

DorkyStudentNurse · Mar 14, 2006

I really really dislike group assignments. We have several on the go right now. They all require extensive meetings outside of class time, which is my problem. Nearly all of us live in different cities and commute to school so it's really hard to get into town outside of class time. I don't have a driver's license yet (taking the test in the summer) so it's especially hard for me to find rides. It's also hard to find a meeting time that agrees with everyone's schedules (some people work, have children, etc). There's also a huge problem of people not pulling their own weight. I've found myself taking on most of the work just so that I know it will get done.

I know that team work skills are essential in this field but so far the group work that I've done has done nothing but use up my money (costs me $50 to get from my house to school in a taxi when I can't get a ride), time, and give me a whooole lot of additional stress. Maybe I'm just really negative about it now that I've had so many pain-in-the-butt group projects this year.

smk1, LPN · Mar 14, 2006

I have griped about group projects on here numerous times. They just suck! No other word for them. I always ALWAYS do a "back-up" project on my own so that WHEN not IF, someone doesn't do their assigned portion of the work, I still have a complete, quality written paper or project to turn in. The teachers say that it teaches you to work as a team the way you will have to in the real world of employment and I have to call bullcrap on that! I have never had a job where someone goofs off, doesn't show up for presentations, doesn't do their work and still are allowed to reap the benefits of the other group members efforts. In the real world most of these folks get fired. At least that has been my experience, and while it may not always hold true, I think it is probably the rule rather than the exception.

bethem · Mar 15, 2006

I hate group projects as well.
I remember i posted something about that close to 2 years ago, and someone said that peopel who hate group projects aren't good team players. I'm all for teamwork, if the whole team participates, but it's not that often that's the case. And i have enough work to do, i'm NOT carrying someone else's work to do, too.

Thankyou! I agree totally. I can be a team player, and in just about any situation but an academic one, I am quite happy to share. As long as the other members of the team are playing too. If you were on a football team and one person said "Oh yeah, I'll play" and then just stood there for the whole game, no one would then tell you you weren't a team player when you said you'd rather play without that person!

bethem · Mar 15, 2006

I have not had to do any group projects yet but I will not like it much when I do. I can get along with people just fine but will not like someone else's work habits determining MY grade. Has anyone ever had any luck going to the professor and asking if they couold just do the whole darn assignement themselves?

My tutors see it as a punishment to have someone do the assignment without the "help" of a group. I don't know how to break it to them that their idea of punishment is my idea of a better assignment!

watchthis22 · Mar 15, 2006

All through my degree, the uni has been insistent on assigning group work. Every single group I have ever been in or heard of has had problems from go to whoa. It's true that I am a bit of a control freak and that I also set the bar very high for myself and others, but I have found in the last two group assignments (both due yesterday) that the groups have been hopeless. We had to pick "group leaders" who were responsible for collating and submitting the work.
I was group leader for one assignment, and another girl was leader for the other.
The group I led was just frustrating. We each had a 200 word limit. Easy enough, I would have thought. Each one of them apart from me decided that this limit didn't apply to them, so we were 800 words over the limit. I had to do some serious editing to get it down to the limit. The submissions were poorly written and badly referenced. People seemed to have no idea about academic writing, for example, not using "eg" or contractions (don't, can't). One of them was from a non-English speaking background, and while I was happy to make allowances for his difficulty with the language, I was not happy that he did not keep the group updated with his progress and that his final submission did not meet the criteria of the assignment. I was annoyed with all of this, but that was nothing in comparison to the other assignment.
The person in charge waited until the day before it was due to collate it and ask for our feedback. It was awful. Again, the style and referencing were atrocious; there was no awareness of proper academic writing. She handed it in about an hour after emailing us with the draft. I was at work, and did not get the email until I got home. By that time it was too late to make any suggestions.
I got an email from the tutor today saying that the group leader had not handed in part of the assignment at all. I was furious! I had to get to uni as fast as possible to hand in a printed copy of the part she had forgotten. It's all under control now, but I was so annoyed that it was not done properly in the first place.
I know, I know, I need to stop judging other people so harshly, and I need to learn to let go of the control.
I believe that learning to work as a team is one thing - for example "Turn on my count. 1, 2, 3" or collaborating on patient care - but doing a group essay is not particularly useful at all. In all honesty, I would rather increase my workload and write 1000 words by myself than to write 200 words as part of a group submission. It makes me so angry!
Luckily, these assignments are the last group pieces I will EVER have to hand in for this degree. Thank goodness for that!
How do you feel about group work? Is it something that is done in your program?
Thanks for reading my rant.

HEAR HEAR, fellow poster! Group work is TERRIBLE!! No one submits their portion when they are suppose to, the writing is horrible, the references are never correct (and they have a book that tells them exactly how to do it!). Since most of the people in my group this semester are not very good with computers, I end up having to post every single case study or fix them. This wouldn't be so bad if they would get the work to me in a reasonable amount of time so that I could review it! We lost points on the last one because on person in our group sent the assisgnment so late that I didn't get a chance to read it. AND BOY WAS IT WRONG!!! The pt. in the study had a Pulmonary Embolism and was experiencing a sense of doom...hmmmm...well this person was going to help them with anticipatory greiving since they felt like they were dying!!!!!! YOU'RE KIDDING! "Well you talk all you want about grief...but the pt will probably not be listening to you as they are trying to breathe...and without you addressing that problem...they will likely DIE!!! Can't wait til next year...all our papers are on our own!!!! :balloons: