Anyone else hate group projects?

[citylights89, BSN, RN]

I know this topic has been posted already in the past, but I just had to rehash it. It seems like they are an unavoidable part of school that everyone has to go through and sometimes it doesn't go smooth. What I hate is when the group decides to wait until the last minute prepare and complete the assignment when I'm asking earlier "Shouldn't we need to meet now?" so it won't be rushed. But they say "No" and I end up forgetting about it until the time gets closer, even though I am thinking "We need to be working on that!". Then they are all like "We need to do this, this, and this by this time! Can you meet at some inconvenient time and place? Blah blah. We don't care about your plans or schedule because this needs to be done! Turn in your stuff as soon as possible, preferably tonight." Its as if my time is less valuable than theirs. I'm tired of this. Next time I need to put my foot down and say "Listen, we better start meeting now and getting our work done because I am not going to have ya'll clog up my weekend because it was decided to wait until the last minute." It never goes well and people get way too agitated. I like to take my time on things, not doing a mad dash to the deadline because other people wanted to and make me look like I'm the bad guy (well girl really). I'm tired of bending over backward to accommodate others time and feel like I still get ****** in the end.

[JROregon, ASN, BSN, RN]

If you have more group stuff coming up, you need to be proactive and pick out some of the people in class that you think will jump on the project right away. I despise group projects as well but it is a necessary evil of nursing school. Gotta play nice with the other kids in the sandbox : )

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Last time I was in a group project, I did exactly what the last poster said: I grabbed the two people who I knew would be dedicated to it and who did not want to be scrambling at the last minute. If your groups are assigned, you have my condolences!

[cheezwhiz]

didnt read much of the original post...but just wanted to say i hate all group projects with a passion!!!

[kgh31386, BSN, MSN, RN]

If I were you, I would have had my part done despite them saying no. That way you would have had your time you need and not been rushed. I've had a bad experience with someone once. story below

I always tried to pick out the people I thought would be good. Sometimes judging a book by its cover is bad. I picked out one of the straight A students who has a dark side. She neeeeeeeever did anything on time. Magically her phone AND computer broke the weekend her part was due. Yet she can update her facebook and ignore any emails, texts, facebook messages? Then when we finally got in touch with her(4 days later), she claimed she had done the wrong part of the paper. I ended up saying screw it, and did her part too. Once she finally turned her stuff in(week and a half late), the paper was already done and I handed her stuff back to her. Also the morning the paper was due, I'm sitting there reviewing it with people just re-reading it and what not(starving by the way because I always notice little last minute things)...she walks into the computer lab, says hey and sits down behind me complaining about how hungry she is and how her friend did this or that to her facebook...then she walks out. Her evaluation by the group was straight 0 out of 5's. Once she found this out, she came crying to us and I put my foot down and said I won't change mine. Other people decided to feel sorry for her and give her fair evaluations?!? So the teacher called us all in( 730 in the morning during Thanksgiving break), to discuss it. I told her everything that happened, she denied it. I showed all the calls and texts attempts, other people were sitting back and kinda said,"yeaa, we tried". I'm not bossy or pushy, but I like to be on top of what gets done. I wanna be the one who sees the end product. I found out AFTER this whole thing that the girl has been this same way with every other group project she's done. She never turns papers in on time(independent or not), never does her part, always has an excuse.

[RN9742]

I am not a fan of group projects either, however I do understand the need for them! It helps you learn to work with others, even if they are difficult. I agree with the advice about trying to find someone to work with who is committed next time in advance if you can! Unfortunately I know a lot of instructors will pick your group for you.

I also think there should be 2 grades that are averaged together for these types of things, so that you can be graded on your work individually, and then the groups work together, making the individual grade worth more than the group grade. Then at least an individual could even out a grade from a less than stellar group of participants.

[Despareux]

Unfortunately, sometime you don't get to pick who's going to be in your group, which has always been the case with me.

And yes, I despise group projects because there is always someone who doesn't do their part--ALWAYS!

[kgh31386, BSN, MSN, RN]

We always got to do evaluations that would affect the person's grade. The person that we all marked down got a much lower grade..not nearly as low as it would have been if people didn't feel sorry and change their eval

[syckRN]

Hate 'em. I have often, and can do this now that I am in a doctoral program...asked to do my project alone. Sometimes I get the nod. Other times I am stuck.

I was interested in a previous post's experience (kgh31386) with the procrastinating co-student/team member. I am that procrastinating person.

I still get good grades, but I, and there are many others like me, work on the "adrenaline" principle...we do the work when the stress level is high enough to motivate us. I am certainly not excusing the person she describes...sounds like she really dropped the ball. However, my procrastination is the reason I don't like being on teams with people who do things in a timely manner. I just know myself!

[Eponine]

YES!! I absolutely hate group work and group activities. In group work, there is always someone who doesn't do their share. And in one of my classes now, 75-80% of class time is dedicated to "group discussions." Which translates to listening to my classmates talk about who they slept with last night instead of the course content. It drives me nuts. What is even worse is the fact that the course content is actually interesting, but since the professors are so into group discussions, I never hear the professor's take on it, only the textbook's.

[mspontiac]

Ugh, hate hate HATE group work. There is *always* some flake that puts it off until the last minute and makes everyone sweat. Or that one person who does sub-par work and makes the group look bad. Some of my experiences:

I once had a group member who was a complete control freak who "assigned" what each member would do. That was fine, until the day of the project came and she had done the portion she had told me to do. By the time my turn came to present, I had nothing to say because she had already presented the information I was going to give. She insisted she hadn't told me to do that portion. Other group members backed me up. Luckily I am good at improvision and pulled off presenting what she was supposed to do originally.

I had another group member who was so nonchalant and uncommunicative that we were pretty certain she wasn't going to do anything. For the sake of the group, we did her portion and sent it to her the day before, just asking her to read it to the class when we did our presentation. She didn't even respond to say "thanks" "ok" or "kiss my butt." We had no idea if she had even gotten the email and info until the day we arrived in class.

Funny thing is, neither student is with the class anymore.

I really think group work is a waste of time, unless the goal is to add additional stress to already stressed-out people. I am 40 years old and I am experienced at working with people by now. Even the young students are all adults - we should all know by this point in our lives how to work as a team.

[pitaya]

I love them if I'm in a good group. I have never been able to pick my members, but luckily, they've all turned out really well! You can do so much more with more people and ideas contributing and working on it than you can do alone!