Ground rules for group projects?

[Saysfaa]

I'm trying to make group projects less frustrating. I thought if everyone is on the same page to start with, it would help. Some will have more than one answer... it is just a place to start and then be flexible enough to accommodate everyone.

What is the goal?

Do a good job

Just enough to get an A

Just enough to get a B

Just enough to get a C

What is the prefered timeframe?

Get it done asap

Leave generous time margins

Leave small time margins

Get it done at the wire

How much coordinating?

Do everything together

Do a lot of planning together

Do a lot of meshing together

Do a lot of the work together (actually gather/write/whatever)

Everyone do everything, then mesh (like a study group)

Divide and do individually but do a lot meshing

Divide and do individually and let the chips fall

How much communication?

Meet

Email

Just in class

Leader...

no leader

facilitates, but doesn't make decisions

facilitates and makes decisions

What else might be good to add to (or take off or redo on) this list?

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Having a leader is paramount! That would be my number one. I did both my BSN and MSN online and had many group projects - hated every single one. However, here are my own rules:

1. Rotate leadership if you have more than one project

2. Set very clear guidelines: all submissions have to be in APA format and spell-checked.

3. Have a deadline for the rough draft.

4. As the leader you might not have as much material to gather but its your job to keep things on track, proof the rough draft, have people fix mistakes and put together and submit the final BEFORE the deadline.

5. Have a way to contact people - I was dealing with people all over the world so we communicated by email alone.

6. Have a mechanism by which you bring your instructor into the mix if there are problems. In one class, we had a pregnant student who went into labor early and she just stopped coming to the group! After several attempts to reach her, we wrote her out of the project and submitted the final w/o her name.

7. Procrastinators don't get credit - pure and simple. If you don't meet the deadline for the rough draft or you submit your part w/o being spell checked and in APA format, I will bring it to the instructors attention.

(Can you tell how much I hate group projects?)