Group projects have been a part of any students’ lives probably since middle school. College, however, brings them to a whole new level. Compared to high school group projects, doing multiple group projects in college has enlightened me on many more pros and cons to working on group projects.
Pros:
1. Learning how to work in a group
This is a great skill to have for working in the real world and when you’re not getting a grade for teamwork. Unless you’re self-employed, you will always have co-workers.
2. Getting to meet new people
I have met some great people through group projects and can even call some my friends today! It also helped to have someone to contact even after the project was finished about what was going on in the class.
3. When professors let you pick your groups, then you can work with friends!
Already knowing your group members, their schedule, and how they work is honestly the best way to go about getting a good grade on a project. It also makes me not dread meeting up because I feel as if it becomes fun when friends are involved.
4. Taking some of the workload off of yourself
When all of the members do their equal share, it is so much easier on the individual. Just imagine looking at the rubric for the project and thinking about doing it all yourself. It would definitely be harder than you think.
5. Getting to collaborate and come up with new and creative ideas.
From working in group projects, I have been able to experience the different ways people think and brainstorm. I have honestly used some ideas that I never would have come up with and put them toward individual projects.
Cons:
1. When people in your group won’t do any work
We’ve all been there. It’s 11:50pm and your project is due at midnight and there’s one person who hasn’t done their part yet so you quickly scramble to do it yourself. Or when you have a presentation and you have no idea whether or not people in your group actually know what they are presenting on.
2. Can be hard to communicate.
Having group chats is a great way for the group to keep in touch and updated on what needs to be done for the project. But it can also be hard when people aren’t answering your messages and it feels impossible to contact them.
3. When Professor’s assign groups and you do not know anyone
When everyone is dreading doing a project, no one is exactly thrilled to meet up with one another and work for hours on end in the library with strangers. This can make getting to know people hard and uncomfortable. Working together becomes even harder.
4. When you don’t work well with your group members
Even if you know your group members, some learning and conflict styles just cannot work well together. Especially if there are two people who want to be the “leader” of the group this can cause some heads to butt. Compromise and moving on is key to getting through group projects.
5. When meeting is impossible because of conflicting schedules
When students are put together in groups by their professors, conflicting schedules can be a huge con. Every college student has a hectic and different schedule between classes, extra curricular activities, working, and managing your time to get your other classwork done. I wish professors would take this into consideration when picking our groups for us and assigning multiple group projects a semester.
6. When you are ahead of the game and your group procrastinates
Getting everyone to have their work done by a certain time can be difficult especially because again, everyone has different schedules and works at different paces.
This semester I have multiple group projects for every class happening at the same times throughout the semester. To say it has been hectic is an understatement but I try to keep the positives in mind and work to the best of my ability to create a great project with my group members!
