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[BluRayHiDef]

I've always found group projects to be unethical and the reason is that the grade that each member of the group receives as an individual student may not be representative of their individual contribution to a group project.

For example, Student A and Student B are assigned to work on a project together that will comprise 50% of each student's overall grade in the course for which the project must be completed. Student A is intelligent and hardworking while Student B is unintelligent and lazy. Hence, Student A contributes 85% of the material that comprises the project while Student B contributes only 15%, and the grade that the pair earns for the project is 88%, which is a "B+."

Hence, 50% of Student A's overall grade in the course is affected by a grade that is lower than what it would have been if Student A had a better partner or were allowed to work on the project alone.

On the other hand, 50% of Student B's overall grade in the course is affected by a grade that is far higher than what it would have been if Student B had a worse partner or had to work on the project alone.

This example demonstrates the unfairness of group projects; a student's individual grade for a course may wind up being artificially inflated or artificially deflated by another student's performance.

What do you guys think?

 

[and 3 others]

Blu Ray was founded on a group project. So...moral? I guess.

 

[BluRayHiDef]

Blu Ray was founded on a group project. So...moral? I guess.

I'm talking about group projects in academia, where a grade on a group project could affect a student's overall grade in a course and thus their grade point average and thus their prospects for college or a career.

 

[TheUsual]

They simply prepare you for the real world when working in teams in a professional environment. Not everyone will always pull their weight. Up to you and the team to figure it out or just get by and then just be done with it.

 

[BluRayHiDef]

They simply prepare you for the real world when working in teams in a professional environment. Not everyone will always pull their weight. Up to you and the team to figure it out or just get by and then just be done with it.

That's the real world, where people can report underperforming coworkers and where an employee's pay isn't decreased or increased based on how they do on a particular project. In academia, you can't just report a poorly performing student with whom you've been assigned to work; you're stuck with them.

 

[Amory]

The last time I did academic group projects when I was getting my master's degree, everyone on the team had to rate one another at the end and the average rating weighed heavily on your final grade. So you really couldn't just slack and get a good grade on the backs of everyone else

 

[BluRayHiDef]

The last time I did academic group projects when I was getting my master's degree, everyone on the team had to rate one another at the end and the average rating weighed heavily on your final grade. So you really couldn't just slack and get a good grade on the backs of everyone else

That sounds effective.

 

[robo_qwop]

Completely unethical. I've been taking a masters course conducted online and there're STILL group projects every semester. Imagine trying to coordinate a team via forum/email. Every decision is delayed by at least 24 hours. Nobody does their fair share and there's less accountability due to lack of face-to-face communication. I don't like/want to do it, but every time I just steamroll everyone else in the group to ensure the project is a success.

 

[Grinchy]

"It prepares you for the real world" is the translated justification for "we only want to grade so many projects or only have enough lab units to do this in groups."

 

[TheMan]

Lol, yes I remember getting FUCKED over by a graduating senior in a group project at college. This dude was in a frat, didn't give a fuck (not that I really did, tbf) and only turned in like 2 pages out of a required 10 page project.

Now I'm the slacker so I guess it evened out?

 

[triplestation]

absolute garbage

encourage group work but don't force that shit and GRADE it

 

[neobiz]

My wife teaches at a university and I hear about this shit all the time

The dysfunctional groups always seem to have a slacker and dictator feeding off each other

 

[bender]

Working with others is a valuable skill. Not everyone has the same competency level. This is as true in academia as it is the workplace.

 

[Grinchy]

Working with others is a valuable skill. Not everyone has the same competency level. This is as true in academia as it is the workplace.

Yeah, but in the workplace, the slacker gets fired. In a group project at school, the slacker piggybacks off you and gets rewarded. So it teaches both parties the wrong lesson.

 

[BluRayHiDef]

Completely unethical. I've been taking a masters course conducted online and there're STILL group projects every semester. Imagine trying to coordinate a team via forum/email. Every decision is delayed by at least 24 hours. Nobody does their fair share and there's less accountability due to lack of face-to-face communication. I don't like/want to do it, but every time I just steamroll everyone else in the group to ensure the project is a success.

"It prepares you for the real world" is the translated justification for "we only want to grade so many projects or only have enough lab units to do this in groups."

Lol, yes I remember getting FUCKED over by a graduating senior in a group project at college. This dude was in a frat, didn't give a fuck (not that I really did, tbf) and only turned in like 2 pages out of a required 10 page project.

Now I'm the slacker so I guess it evened out?

absolute garbage

encourage group work but don't force that shit and GRADE it

My wife teaches at a university and I hear about this shit all the time

The dysfunctional groups always seem to have a slacker and dictator feeding off each other

Yeah, but in the workplace, the slacker gets fired. In a group project at school, the slacker piggybacks off you and gets rewarded. So it teaches both parties the wrong lesson.

Wow, it's great to know that I'm not the only one who thinks group projects are unethical.

 

[Grinchy]

Wow, it's great to know that I'm not the only one who thinks group projects are unethical.

I fucking HATE them.

My last semester in college I was in this instrumental analysis lab. The prep for each lab took a few hours, the labwork itself was two 4 hour days, then it took like 12 hours to analyze the data and write up the report and make all the graphs and tables and stuff to be due the following week.

For the first half of the semester, I worked in a group. I would do all the prep and have a damn near perfect plan of execution. One group member didn't, and would sit there questioning everything despite understanding nothing. You were wrong even if she didn't know why. She just had to say it was wrong.

I talked to the professor at one point about splitting off to do the labs solo. This was never done because the labs were rigorous and all 3 lab members were usually kept busy the whole time. I finally convinced her to let me do it with the agreement that anything I didn't finish was my fault.

For the rest of the semester, I was the first person done with lab work in the entire class and was walking out early almost every time. My grades on reports went up, my results improved, and I was so much happier. And the 2 lab members I left behind had smoke coming out of their ears, asking the TAs a million simple questions, sometimes not even finishing.

What lesson should I have learned? That everything should come to a halt for people who are lazy?

 

[BluRayHiDef]

I fucking HATE them.

My last semester in college I was in this instrumental analysis lab. The prep for each lab took a few hours, the labwork itself was two 4 hour days, then it took like 12 hours to analyze the data and write up the report and make all the graphs and tables and stuff to be due the following week.

For the first half of the semester, I worked in a group. I would do all the prep and have a damn near perfect plan of execution. One group member didn't, and would sit there questioning everything despite understanding nothing. You were wrong even if she didn't know why. She just had to say it was wrong.

I talked to the professor at one point about splitting off to do the labs solo. This was never done because the labs were rigorous and all 3 lab members were usually kept busy the whole time. I finally convinced her to let me do it with the agreement that anything I didn't finish was my fault.

For the rest of the semester, I was the first person done with lab work in the entire class and was walking out early almost every time. My grades on reports went up, my results improved, and I was so much happier. And the 2 lab members I left behind had smoke coming out of their ears, asking the TAs a million simple questions, sometimes not even finishing.

What lesson should I have learned? That everything should come to a halt for people who are lazy?

Sounds terrible. I remember working on a group project for a course during my freshman year of college. I kid you not, but one member withdrew from the college and the other two simply stopped contributing to the work. I had to do everything on my own and wound up earning a B+, because I didn't have enough time to get everything done on my own.

 

[dorkimoe]

Working with others is a valuable skill. Not everyone has the same competency level. This is as true in academia as it is the workplace.

And you learn that in the real world that some people do NOT work well with others. So get used to it now

 

[Grinchy]

Sounds terrible. I remember working on a group project for a course during my freshman year of college. I kid you not, but one member withdrew from the college and the other two simply stopped contributing to the work. I had to do everything on my own and wound up earning a B+, because I didn't have enough time to get everything done on my own.

Yeah, they are horrible. I love when I see people post screenshots of text conversations where one group member starts texting everyone the day a project is due about how they can't do their part because they have some family event or something

In all years of college, I never once had a group project or group lab that worked well together. There was always at least one horrible person in each.

 

[bender]

Yeah, but in the workplace, the slacker gets fired. In a group project at school, the slacker piggybacks off you and gets rewarded. So it teaches both parties the wrong lesson.

In my experience there is plenty of piggybacking in the workforce.

 

[Tesseract]

i do not work with others

it can be done but i invariably take on the leadership role and try to do everything myself

do that a few times and you'll burn out, so lone wolf life is what it be for me

 

[Grinchy]

In my experience there is plenty of piggybacking in the workforce.

From my experience, it's more just that less capable people are trying but aren't capable of performing as well as the higher performers. But anyone who legitimately was trying to skate by with doing nothing would be booted the hell out of there. I'm sure it's not like that everywhere, but that's why I don't think group projects are some one size fits all preparation for "the real world."

 

[Tesseract]

the square law applies to groups

take a group of 100 --> 10 will be useful, produce up to or over half the product, rest are absolutely useless

 

[Tesseract]

groups are also inherently corruptible in ways individuals are not, at least to the detriment of production

so yeah, i'll never work with anyone ever again

 

[shoplifter]

groups are also inherently corruptible in ways individuals are not, at least to the detriment of production

this also works as a critque of communism

 

[Tesseract]

this also works as a critque of communism

absolutely, i stay far away from types who wanna seize capital

 

[Happosai]

I've always found group projects to be unethical and the reason is that the grade that each member of the group receives as an individual student may not be representative of their individual contribution to a group project.

For example, Student A and Student B are assigned to work on a project together that will comprise 50% of each student's overall grade in the course for which the project must be completed. Student A is intelligent and hardworking while Student B is unintelligent and lazy. Hence, Student A contributes 85% of the material that comprises the project while Student B contributes only 15%, and the grade that the pair earns for the project is 88%, which is a "B+."

Hence, 50% of Student A's overall grade in the course is affected by a grade that is lower than what it would have been if Student A had a better partner or were allowed to work on the project alone.

On the other hand, 50% of Student B's overall grade in the course is affected by a grade that is far higher than what it would have been if Student B had a worse partner or had to work on the project alone.

This example demonstrates the unfairness of group projects; a student's individual grade for a course may wind up being artificially inflated or artificially deflated by another student's performance.

What do you guys think?

I feel group projects get dangerous in Hollywood regarding producers. For example: Kathleen Kennedy, Stephen Spielberg, and Ron Howard decide to all produce (rather than direct)...usually this doesn't turn out well. They've been doing this like non-stop since the mid-70's. Formula #3 for a good film...Producer communicates well with > Director makes creative decisions and listen well to the > Screenwriters who communicate well with the director as should the < Actors who are overpaid and replaceable yet needed to make the film. The goal for a project is communication and flexibility if it has to be a group project. I hate it when a film like Twister comes out and the Director/Producers/Actors get most of the credit; whereas the bulk of writing for that movie came from Michael Crichton and his wife.

 

[nikolino840]

Are we talking about professionial guys or teen students?

Becouse yeah..some students they just copy or play the Playstation and the nerdy do all the stuff...but becouse they haven't reach an adult mentality

 

[ThatStupidLion]

unethical, unless a group of people want to do the project as a group.