Working in a Group

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Earlier in September, I spoke about one of the key parts of collaborating is working in a group. Sometimes when you work in a group, it all looks good on paper, but doesn't work out the way you wanted it to in real life.

Unfortunately that's the thing with group work.

I for one greatly dislike doing group work at school. I feel that when the motive is just doing it for a grade, it's different than all of you working toward a goal you all want to work toward.

For example, I am a member of the Tucson region organization of Journalism and Women Symposium, an organization that connects female journalists looking to create an equal space for women in news organizations. We came together with that common goal in mind, where we all share that belief.

This makes it very easy for us to work as a group, because we have the same set of goals in mind. We all wanted to create a space for conversation and to educate other students in our department.

A class group project does not always have that shared goal. Not everyone strives for the same grades in a class, and not everyone has the same work ethic. Granted everyone has different strengths and talents, sometimes the traditional project with a presentation does not work for everyone. Where there were faults in our group, it was also evident there were faults in other groups.

It's not one persona's fault per se, it's just that some students are very comfortable speaking in front of their peers and others are not. It's a difference in personal strengths. In a class group project, you often have to work with what you have in the group, for example in our recent group project I had skill in web design and coding. Not everyone has that skill, and it might not have been in every group.

While I might not advocate for working in a group, I do understand the benefit and the learning environment of group work. When the group has challenges, you learn to work out those challenges. I get it, but I don't have to like it, right?