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sdu
Butterfly
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31 Aug 2014, 4:05 pm

I'm about to start my second year of university. Upon reading the syllabus for a course I'll have during the first semester, I found out that one of the assignments must be done in groups of four (ironically, one of the suggested topics for this project is AS). This is kind of stressing me out, since I've never really dealt with a situation like this one. In high school, when we had group projects, I often convinced the teacher to let me work alone; if that wasn't possible, I managed to find a group without much trouble since I knew my classmates. However, working alone won't be possible this time around. This year, I will also be dealing with a much larger class where everyone is a complete stranger, which is something that really scares me. I'm also absolutely horrible when it comes to approaching people in this kind of situation since I have no idea what to say or how to act.

I loathe working in groups, mostly because I don't feel like I'm in control: I always like to do things my way. I have very high expectations when it comes to academic work, and I'm afraid to end up working with people who won't take this project as seriously as I do (slackers). I'm also a perfectionist, so I like to have time to completely review the assignment in order to correct any mistakes before handing it over to the professor. I know that I'll be upset for a long time if we end up with a shoddy project, since I'd really like to keep my average as high as possible (which I've succeeded in doing last year) in order to perhaps pursue a Ph.D. later on. The fact that my final grade depends on other people whom I've never met is quite unnerving.

If anyone has advice on how to find a good work group in a large class full of strangers and on how to manage the group in order to produce good-quality work on time (I want to be part of an efficient group, yet I don't want others to see me as an unpleasant control freak), I'd love to hear it, since I'm currently at a loss as to how I should deal with this situation.

Thanks!



progaspie
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31 Aug 2014, 5:35 pm

At some point in your life after you join the workforce, you will be working with different groups of people who will be relying on you to accept their advice and input. I doubt that you will find a workplace where you work exclusively alone. Some of the best workplaces are team environments where individuals work for the common good.
In your team project at the university, put yourself forward to research any background information needed for the project. I doubt you will be chosen to lead the project so listen to what your team leader wants you to do and take plenty of notes. Don't try to dominate the discussion or put down ideas that other participants might have to contribute to the discussion. Everybody within the group will have a contribution to make so listen intently to their thoughts and look at their ideas with an uncompromised mind to accommodate where those thoughts might fit in with your thoughts and ideas. Your sense of perfectionism may be offended by the end result of the group, but provided your input was recognised and acknowledged by the group, then you will have done your job.



fossil_n
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31 Aug 2014, 9:43 pm

On finding a group: if the professor does not assign groups, I would suggest finding a student or group of students to sit next to during lecture that look like they are pretty studious (taking lots of notes, listening to the prof, etc.). Then, when the time comes to find a group, it will be less awkward asking to be in a group with them because you have a little bit of familiarity from sitting next to them.



MissDorkness
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02 Sep 2014, 2:58 pm

Good luck.

I had the same approach in school, usually got out of it, then knew who I could kinda work with if not.

Uni? Not so much.

My capstone class, we had one of these, it lasted all semester. The teacher grouped us by where we were sitting. I was in the only all-female group. The topic chosen for our project was makeup... because none of them wanted to do too much research. ~blink blink~ I had to do loads of research, because I don't do makeup.
As for the control issues, I've got the same.

I talked my group into using Google Docs. Not a simple task, as a couple were technophobes, but, I convinced everyone it's the only way we could keep current without juggling a half dozen word files every couple days.
Each week, we'd set out tasks for each of us to do. The night before each stage of the assignment was due, I'd log in and examine the editing log (oh yeah, every change, you could see who made it)... and then I'd complete the incomplete portions of the work. I tracked who did what, and who did not (part of the project was grading our cohorts, it became part of their grade).

Since I never said anything to anyone, and nobody else realized there was a log, everyone kept taking me aside and confiding in me that 'so and so just hates me, did you see how she talked to me? she's not doing any work at all.'
Seriously, THAT was exhausting. I can only find so many different polite ways of saying, 'you're being flipping paranoid, stop worrying about it and just do some work.'
Then, when they realized I was filling in the gaps of everything that wasn't being done, they all started taking me aside to make excuses for why they couldn't finish X when it was due.

I got an A in the class, that's all I cared about. But, it was not a cakewalk. Researching and writing about makeup was easier than dealing with all that other bs.
And, yes, I equally complimented those who were organized and those who met deadlines. The rest? They got a completely accurate assessment 'completed 60% of assigned tasks' or 'completed 10% of assigned tasks.' (I like numbers 8) )



sdu
Butterfly
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06 Sep 2014, 4:05 pm

Thanks for the replies. I really appreciate everyone's input!

I ended up finding a group quite easily for this project. I chose a seat in the second row and by the end of the class, I had three partners for the assignment; I simply asked some students sitting right in front of me if I could work with them and they immediately accepted, so I'm glad that worked. It seems that I've joined a group of pretty serious students, which reassures me quite a bit.

I'll have to redo this in another one of my courses, where I didn't manage to find a group due to a lack of time (everyone was out the door before I'd closed my binder). I hope it will be as easy as it was in my first course.



AmethystRose
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07 Sep 2014, 6:54 pm

My strategy for dealing with group assignments that I can't get out of is to mentally break the project up into parts, and then to volunteer to do a part (or parts) of the overall project that I can do alone. :)

Edit: If you can't find a group, the professor can find one for you. :)