Group projects: The good, or what you need to get done this week.

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Last week and this week groups are being set up in many courses for projects that count toward your grade.

Whether you subscribe to the benefits of group work or would rather have a root canal than work in a group, group projects are almost inevitable over the course of your academic career. Yes, team experience is useful in most careers, yes you gain perspectives beyond your own, and yes it can be possible to get more work done in a shorter period of time.

But yes, bad group experience happens–where your grade is low through no fault of your own, while your stress load and work load on a group project are high enough that you actually would get more done and get it better done if you did the whole project on your own. 

Nonetheless, inevitable is inevitable. So this week I’m sharing my experience as an instructor and coach on what successful groups in my classes have done right from the outset. Next week we’ll address what happens when group work goes sideways, and what you can do about it.

This is a long blog: I have found over and over that with group work attention to detail at the beginning of the term saves tears at the end.

Setting up your group:

  1. Choose your team: 
  • If your group is assigned you may have no choice about who is on your team.
  • If you can choose who is on your team, set up the way you’d choose for a sports team.
  • Observe who arrived on time, appeared organized and engaged, and asked relevant questions. You want these people on your team.

2. Timing:

  • Approach your potential or assigned team mates during or at the end of the first class.
  • Set up a time for your first meeting to take place within one or two days. Sooner is better, especially if the project topics are assigned first come, first served.

3. Preparing for the first group meeting:

  • Email all group members confirming the date and time of this meeting. Confirm meeting particulars (will you be using ZOOM, Discord, D2L breakout rooms, etc.)
  • Gather all of the available information from the syllabus and lecture about what is required for the group project.

4. The agenda:

  • Draw up a meeting agenda and email it to your team
  • Invite additions and revisions.
  • The agenda might look something like this:

-Who we are

-Roles

-Picking the topic (unless it has been assigned)

-The project: Title, value, deadline, requirements

-Next steps

-Next meeting

5. Practice your technology before the first meeting.

The first meeting:

  1. Be prompt. Start on time. Set a target time to end.
  • Have the technology ready for people to sign in at least 10 minutes early.
  • Even though you are starting on time, you might mention that for the first meeting, it is a good idea to wait 5 minutes for everyone to get on. 

2. Follow the agenda.

  • But be flexible for additions.
  • If items off the agenda arise, such as not understanding what the instructor wants, either deal with them quickly or ask someone to look into the issue and get back to everyone.

3. Get to know each other.

  • If you already know each other, move directly on to team roles.
  • If you have new members, introduce yourselves with name, program, and a personal sentence .
  • Have each member state what they hope to get from the group project.

4. Decide roles for the project, based on who feels they are good at what, and who wants to do what. Usual roles include the

  • A leader (optional–ask who has lead groups before and would like to take this on)
  • An Instructor liaison–who will contact the instructor for clarification and reporting and resources
  • A technical expert (optional, unless there is an IT guru in the group)
  • A note taker for the meetings–do this yourself, even if another team member is the official minute taker We’ll talk about why you also do this in the next blog.
  • Key presenter(s)–who is comfortable presenting, presenting online? Will you all take turns presenting different parts of the project?

5. Discuss the project and pick the topic.

  • This may need to take place at the next meeting if more clarification is needed–something for the instructor liaison to email the instructor about
  • Otherwise, discuss each team member’s experience, comfort and preference–then vote a first and second choice.
  • Determine the syllabus deadline for the project, and set your group’s earlier contingency deadline. Just in case.
  • Communicate your choice to the instructor or online immediately, especially if topics are assigned first-come, first served.
  1. Check what needs to be done next, by whom, and by when, and set the next meeting date. Make sure this is in writing in the meeting notes.
  2. High five yourselves–End on a note of congratulation.
  3. Write up your notes; email everyone if you are the group transcriber.

Communication early and often:

  1. With each other:
  • Schedule regular meetings on no more than a weekly basis, with either the transcriber or the leader circulating a draft agenda before each meeting
  • Rule: Everyone copies everyone in emails on questions, glitches, and new information

2. With the instructor:

  • As soon as your group has determined the topic and outlined how you plan to approach it, set up a group meeting with your instructor.
  • This will save your group from spending a lot of time on the project yet missing what the instructor had in mind for the topic.
  • If problems arise with resources the instructor liaison can contact the instructor SOONER rather than later for alternatives.
  • If problems arise with group cohesion, contact the instructor SOONER rather than later for suggestions to resolve conflict.

With this start and ongoing attention to communication you will have maximized your chances for a good gain-to-pain outcome.

This has been “the good.” Next blog, we’ll look at the bad and the ugly.

If you’d like additional pointers, or to discuss your particulars that have made group work challenging for you, let me know. I’d like to help you convert your experience to a success story–that’s what I do! [email protected]