BUT STEVE, IT’S NOT FAIR!

It happens to most of us. We’ve put in a fair effort, made what we feel is a creditable accounting of ourselves . . . and we don’t get a fair grade! If I had a free ticket to a Canucks game for every time I’ve heard, “It’s not fair!” I’d have a lifetime season’s pass.

And most of the time, it’s true–the reward hasn’t matched the effort. The most common cases of unfairness I hear deal with:

• Grading of subjective material–papers, short-answer exam questions, stand-up presentations, and
• Individual effort and individual contribution vs. grade allocation for group work.

Gender, gender identification, ethnicity, racialization or age biases from instructors or classmates are less common, but they can impact mental and physical health as well as GPA and program admissions: This is serious and beyond the scope of this blog. If you are experiencing this type of bias, reach out to support groups, student services, family, and perhaps legal advice. Don’t let it ride just hoping it will get better. 

This week I’m going to address the complaint I hear about most often, and (this probably won’t surprise you) that is the imbalance between effort made and grade received in group work. There are recurring themes to be dealt with, and dealing with each theme involves (a) prevention, (b) intervention, and (c) post facto remedy.

Others are not doing their share of the work, and you all get the same grade.

• Prevention: Choose your group members wisely, if groups are not arbitrarily assigned. Set up group communication–D2L groups, Discord, Messenger–whatever your group uses. Plan at your first group meetings who will do what. Document the plan.
• Intervention: Follow up with emails before and after each meeting. Plan for shortfalls and reassignment in the project. If no one has done anything two weeks into the project, you might see if you can switch groups–but do this rarely and bear in mind that you might get switched into a worse group. Schedule a group meeting with the instructor to review progress. Do this midway through the project. It can be an eye opener for everyone, and is an impartial way of holding everyone accountable.
• Remedy: Take the long view of what is best for your academic career. Deal with the emotions of frustration and do what you need to do to get the project done to gain the grade you need–if others unfairly benefit, file it under the category of collateral benefit.

You are bullied in your group–not notified of meetings, pushed into meaningless dog-work on the project, excluded from informal meetings, excluded from comments within meetings (look up cyberball for the effects this can physically have on your brain.)

• Prevention: Choose your group wisely, if you can. Set a project-oriented culture by sending greetings and possible agenda items before the first meeting. Set up group communication–D2L groups, Discord, Messenger–whatever your group uses. 
• Intervention: Note immediately in a project-oriented tone that you were inadvertently left off notification and request being filled in. Do this every time it happens. Document group decisions and your contributions. 
• Remedy: Take the long view. Be kind to your most important resource–and that is yourself. Deal with the feelings of exclusion and rejection through supports on campus or outside emotional coaching. Determine what you need to do to meet your long-view objectives, both grade wise and health wise. See point 3 below regarding documentation.

Group members evaluate each other for all or a portion of the grade for the project.

• Prevention: Plan at your first group meetings who will do what. Document the plan. Log your activity. Report your logged activity and results at each meeting–take notes at the meetings. This can be done from a “project management” perspective, not a competitive self-aggrandizing perspective.
• Intervention: Midway through the project, have the group do a dummy grading for each other. Determine what each of you will have to do to get full credit. Document this, and follow up with an email. Continue logging your effort and results.
• Remedy: If your final group-assigned grade does not match your contribution, take the long view. How much will this grade count for the course, for your GPA? Here is where your documentation is critical. Without documentation, you are in an “I say”-“They say” situation, and there are more of them than you. Even if there is strong evidence for discrimination bias, your case is stronger with documentation than without it.

With all of that ugliness, you might wonder why so many courses require group projects. First, group work can be rewarding in itself. The pride of presentation at the end of a good group project, the chance to present at a professional convention, the chance to submit a publication–these are all potential immediate pluses. Of greater importance, over the long term, almost every career involves significant team work, and course group work provides early experience in navigating those waters.

And some of the people you work with may end up being rewarding professional and work colleagues throughout your career. 

At the very least, the experience you gain with the less-than-rewarding co-workers can provide you with insight and tools for the inevitable unfair work experiences you will run into down the road. If we had the solution to ensuring that we always have good group at college and in our careers . . . world peace would be a doddle!

Let me know about your group work experience. What was the worst? What worked? What is the project you are on now?

Contact me at [email protected] to tell me about your worst case academic scenario.

The information in this blog cannot take the place of support from your own mental health professional or community health resources. Reach out to them. And IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS PLEASE DIAL 911.