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For those of you that participated in group work in university share your experiences

Did you enjoy it?

Do you think that doing group work for university assignments, is actually useful for the world of work?

Universities claim that group work actually prepares you for work, do you agree or disagree?

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Reply 1
Original post by MUN123
Did you enjoy it?

Do you think that doing group work for university assignments, is actually useful for the world of work?

Universities claim that group work actually prepares you for work, do you agree or disagree?


Well I haven't experienced full time work yet but I would imagine so as most real work involves team work at some point and its always likely you'll have some people who do more than others.
I suppose whether you enjoy the group work is a result of how much work you actually put in in comparison to the other members of your group :tongue:
Bloody nightmare. At least in full time (skilled) work your colleagues speak English and your boss cares if someone isn't actually pulling their weight.

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Had to do a group project with three overseas students who had never done a project in their life, not even in primary school.
All the engineering experience they had was theoretical, they'd never soldered a circuit or anything.

I pretty much did the whole project myself, I also had to write almost the entire formal report as none of them had a good level of written English.

It was awful.
I think they're fine in theory but I don't think they should count lots towards the degree as you are very dependent on your team
They are pretty horrible because people don't know how to work in groups efficiently and don't trust individuals enough to delegate tasks; so we all have to meet up and go through the whole thing as a group of 5 sitting around one computer.
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Reply 7
Group work is a very valuable experience to have as most workplaces involve working as part of a team, whether that's in McDonalds or a professional job.

Group work can be a nightmare if there are people in your group who don't do their equal share, don't turn up to meetings etc. I have been in some awful groups during uni, including one where I had to go through everyone's work and correct their spelling/grammar mistakes (no, they weren't internationals!) as it was so BAD.

On the other hand, the last group I was in went smoothly - everyone contributed their ideas and nobody slacked off. It was brilliant and we all got high marks.

I think group work prepares you for life in general - sometimes you have to put up with things you'd rather not and you learn to compromise. Useful, but a nightmare at the same time.
Reply 8
Original post by Tpx
They are pretty horrible because people don't know how to work in groups efficiently and don't trust individuals enough to delegate tasks; so we all have to meet up and go through the whole thing as a group of 5 sitting around one computer.


In my group work we did the exact same thing, we have spent ages squeezed in to use one computer it was an awful experience I must say
Oh dear God! I absolutely hate these group projects that we seem to be doing endlessly at uni. I believe it is a waste of time tbh. But so far I have had worked with really nice people! :smile:
Reply 10
My last group project was a right pain, we had one guy who flat out didn't show up (even when he did we couldn't really get him to do anything because he had missed all the planning meetings so had know idea what was happening.) Another guy showed up most of the time but still scraped by by doing the very minimum.

I honestly wouldn't mind if there was a way to make sure everyone pulled there weight. In a company I'm sure it would matter if there was a member of the group slacking, with uni projects no-ones seems to care.
It depends on who you get stuck with. My one and only group project I've done this year went really well. We had to decide a project title and do a presentation on it, it was actually really hard to decide the title because none of us knew what we wanted to do. That was the only hard part though, we got together every week, had each others numbers of course and helped one another out mainly through texting. I'm happy to say the presentation went well.

I think it is pretty useful because it helps you find ways to work with people you would never usually talk to, if everyone puts in the same amount of effort things can get done quickly and easily. Team work is probably the most looked for quality in work environments so it pays to have some experience.

Hmmm, I agree to the extent in which group work is actually used in a job, some jobs don't really have a lot of team work or socialising but in most it is really important to be able to work with anyone and everyone. You don't even have to get along with them you just have to be civil which is easy enough.
Reply 12
Original post by thegodofgod
I suppose whether you enjoy the group work is a result of how much work you actually put in in comparison to the other members of your group :tongue:


But if other members of the team don't even bother to turn up to meetings or anything and you put in the most effort then that's a nightmare.
Reply 13
Original post by bozzers
My last group project was a right pain, we had one guy who flat out didn't show up (even when he did we couldn't really get him to do anything because he had missed all the planning meetings so had know idea what was happening.) Another guy showed up most of the time but still scraped by by doing the very minimum.

I honestly wouldn't mind if there was a way to make sure everyone pulled there weight. In a company I'm sure it would matter if there was a member of the group slacking, with uni projects no-ones seems to care.


But with uni projects there is this peer assessment forms that you can fill in anomalously therefore each member of the group can mark each other up or down and that will in turn effect the slackers performance.
Original post by MUN123
But if other members of the team don't even bother to turn up to meetings or anything and you put in the most effort then that's a nightmare.


And that's exactly my point :wink:
Luckily none of our group work has ever been worth anything, so although not ideal, it's not a big deal if it flops because some people do no work.

We're meant to be doing some group debate Friday, no one in my group did anything in the lecture and it looks like I'll be going it alone on Friday haha, charisma don't fail me now..
Reply 16
Original post by joey11223
Luckily none of our group work has ever been worth anything, so although not ideal, it's not a big deal if it flops because some people do no work.

We're meant to be doing some group debate Friday, no one in my group did anything in the lecture and it looks like I'll be going it alone on Friday haha, charisma don't fail me now..


ah that's bad to hear
I;ve only had to do one, and I broke my ankle the day the groups were announced. Brilliant timing :lol: My group was really good but I don't think it taught me anything i didn't know already, though i have had a part time job since i started uni.

Original post by RibenaRockstar
I think they're fine in theory but I don't think they should count lots towards the degree as you are very dependent on your team


Mine had a system where you'd mark the other people in your group (obviously without them knowing) and if someone didn't score high enough they'd be kicked out of the group and get 0 for the module.
Reply 18
Original post by Randomized
I;ve only had to do one, and I broke my ankle the day the groups were announced. Brilliant timing :lol: My group was really good but I don't think it taught me anything i didn't know already, though i have had a part time job since i started uni.



Mine had a system where you'd mark the other people in your group (obviously without them knowing) and if someone didn't score high enough they'd be kicked out of the group and get 0 for the module.


:eek:
I have just received my grade back for work a presentation, and a report. I pretty much did everything because if i didnt do it, my partner wouldn't have. Anyway, we got our grades back and he got 20% higher than me, I don't know how it was possible....i'm really gutted. I suppose i've learnt my lesson now. But it's at the end of the year so there isn't much chance to speak to the tutor as teaching ended in March. I just hope i pass my exams, but I am stressing now, that I won't.

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