THREE KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DEALING WITH THE GROUP PROJECT

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In any survey I’ve read, and with my own students, the most disliked project over and over is the group project. Yes, we all know the benefits–many hands make light work, experience in real world work settings, making lasting connections in a field–but that doesn’t take away the sting, the irritation, the huge chunk of the term on seemingly wasted effort, and the unfairness of having to do more than our share.

What to do? Since almost all of you will have several group projects, the strategy is to plan for the negatives while building the potential for the positives — a good grade and a good experience.

If this is your first group project, you may find the detailed checklist on setting up for success with a group project https://www.stevevogel.net/tips-for-surviving-the-group-project-setting-up-for-success/ 

Whether this is your first or your fiftieth group project, there are three recommendations that are critical: 

Document everything. Be the recorder. Be the one who draws up the agenda, sends it out ahead of time, takes notes on what’s decided and what comes next, and forwards those notes to everyone in the group.

Set group rules for the group at the first meeting. What happens if someone is ill? If there is disagreement about a topic or role, how will decisions be reached? What online tools will you use? What is the group policy on AI, and how does this align with the academy’s policy?

Schedule the project activities. Schedule regular meetings. Allow for unexpected delays. 

And accept that while in the best of all possible group projects, everyone will do their share, you may end up doing more than your fair share, which is not fair at all! These three points are sound strategy for reducing that possibility–let me know how it goes.

Connect with me to brainstorm about your particular group or to generally finetune your academic studentship skills. [email protected]  

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.