Group Presentations

[Rageaholic]

Why are these always made so much harder than they need to be?

Almost every time, you end up in a group which waits until the very last minute to decide what should be done. You try to get them to decide in advanced who does each part, but they shoot you down or ignore you. The worst are group presentations in online courses because you're trying to communicate via email. Sometimes your partner(s) never get back to you for weeks and you're waiting frantically for a reply.

Or on the other end of the coin, you end up with teammates who get pissy at you because you didn't check your email every day. The one day I didn't check was the day we had class because I figured we'd discuss what needs to be discussed during class. Granted, it's better to have teammates that stay in communication, but jeez.

[TheHuckster]

Group presentations can be bad, but the worst are pair presentations, because at least with group presentations there's a higher proportion of people who won't slack off, at least in my experience. Most groups of 3 or more has their slacker, but the majority for me have at least done their work and made an effort.

Pair presentations, on the other hand, are absolute hell if you are paired with someone who makes you do all the work. Work that, because the teacher assigned it for pairs, is very likely not to be feasible for one person to do. Sometimes it's even "impossible" for one person to do a pair or group project by themselves because the very requirements of the assignment need at least two willing participants.

I've thankfully been lucky back in college. I made good friends in my classes and we usually made a good team. There was only one time when I had a bad partner who was seriously stoned during our meetings and spent most of the time just staring at his arm in lieu of participating.

[Kheldarson]

Group presentations can be bad, but the worst are pair presentations, because at least with group presentations there's a higher proportion of people who won't slack off, at least in my experience. Most groups of 3 or more has their slacker, but the majority for me have at least done their work and made an effort.

That's not been my experience, at least not until I got above the freshman/sophomore level classes. I got stuck with most of the work.

[s_stabeler]

the problem with group presentations is that you can put your best effort into your part, but if the rest of the group half-ass it, or can't be bothered to do it at all, then your mark is affected. As has been pointed out, in each group, there is ALWAYS a slacker who just coasts- getting a higher mark than they deserve.

[Andara Bledin]

So, basically you're all saying that group presentations are like jobs, then?

[insertNameHere]

So, basically you're all saying that group presentations are like jobs, then?

I had a professor who had us do a whole management class as a group, except for tests that were online and to be done individually. It was a 300 level course that most of us were spending more time on than 2-3 of our 400 level courses for our major combined.

Our grade was docked if more than 1 person from the group missed class and he decided to do a head count that day. It was scary that I had to trust my near 4.0 GPA to a randomly assigned group of strangers for a whole semester.

[s_stabeler]

So, basically you're all saying that group presentations are like jobs, then?

the issue is that in a job, you can (usually) recover from the effect of the guy half-assing it- depending on the course, the group presentation could seriosuly affect your future ( in InsertNameHere's case, (I'm presuming it's a degree course) the GPA presumably affects the degree you get at the end ( I'm not talking about pass/fail, but presumably someone graduating with a near-4.00 GPA would have an easier time of it post-college than someone graduating with a 3.00 GPA( I don't think you can graduate with lower)) not even counting the possibility of failing the course- or efforts in completing the assignment causing you to fail other courses.

[Rageaholic]

So things are going well for this particular project, but there's one comment a teammate made which really rubbed me the wrong way. She basically said that I need to remember that my work will affect everyone's grade.

First of all, I highly doubt that one bad team member would affect the whole groups grade that much. Unless the professor is a complete douchebag, they wouldn't flunk an entire group because one team member didn't do so hot.

But more importantly, why even say this? Do I come across as such a moron that I need to be reminded to do a good job?

This wouldn't be so bad if these team didn't come across as a bunch of perfectionists who want the perfect grade. Yes, I'll put the effort in and all that, but I'm not nor have I ever been a straight A student, especially when it comes to speaking in front of a class.

I realize I'm borrowing trouble, but this really rubs me the wrong way and it's the reason I hate group presentations. That feeling that you're responsible for everyone elses grade. Even though I know that I'm probably going to do okay, I always fear that it's not going to be enough for the perfectionist types. You just want to get it done, but they want it to be perfect and think that just because their grade might be affected, they can demand you live up to their standard.

[s_stabeler]

actually, Rageaholic, I've been on the other side of your attitude, and yes, it DOES affect their grades, potentially dramatically. I had a group project, and half the team decided that the project wasn't worth bothering with... the day before we were due to do the presentation. Due to severla communication breakdowns, the presentation completely failed- I had an attack of stage fright, and there was confusion about when to advance the powerpoint we had made. We were allowed to redo, fortunately, with a couple fo people who had been absent when groups were assigned, and did a decent presentation 3 weeks later.

On the other hand, you're right that you don't necessarily need to be a perfectionist, but DO put more effort than "just enough" into your part, please. (also, if your problems are just with public speaking, it might be an idea to mention it to the group- they may be able to change around your role to accommodate that.)

[Rageaholic]

But there's a difference between someone putting absolutely no effort into the project and someone putting the effort into it, but not living up to some standard. Obviously, I'm putting the effort in and am not going to half ass it, but at the same time, I'm not going 'above and beyond', nor am I going to prepare for every possible question that someone might ask. To make a comparison, one of my teammates was going exactly by the book for her part, and was still afraid it wasn't good enough because of one little thing. That's obsessiveness and I've learned that when I obsess, I do absolutely terrible because it's never good enough. So when this same teammate said that thing about my grade affecting everyone else, it rubbed me the wrong way.

Even on the off chance that my part does affect everyone else (which is more likely as this professor has some pretty strict standards), I'm not going to lose any sleep. Again, it's not like I half assed it. I'm just not going to over analyse everything. And if the professor is going to penalize the whole group because of that, then there's not much I can do.

[Rageaholic]

And another thing, I despise professors who ask questions in the middle of the presentation to throw students off. There should be a special place in hell reserved for them.

[Blue Ginger]

And another thing, I despise professors who ask questions in the middle of the presentation to throw students off. There should be a special place in hell reserved for them.

Right next to the people who click their pen the entire time or ask the same question that you just answered.

[Rageaholic]

So this wasn't as bad as I thought it was, but I still think some members of my team are over thinking it. This one was insistent we do things a certain way even though we were already scrambling to fix things up at the last minute. We did eventually convince her that she was going overboard.

The way I see it, as long as everyone does their part and follows the guidelines, the little details are up to each teammate.

[Rageaholic]

And then there's those presentations in which no one knows what the hell they're doing. Kind of like the one I'm doing now for a statistics class. It's bad enough that this professor can't explain things worth a damn, especially when it's such a difficult subject like statistics. But when you add the complications that come with working in a group compounded by everyone confused by the professors teaching style, well... it's a miracle we even got this far.

I was considering just letting the group do things there way while taking credit for their work (a dirty trick that I normally try to avoid, but figured it would be easier for everyone this way). But this professor, being the pain in the ass that he is, is actually making us grade our own teammates for the purpose of preventing that. Which is all the more reason we should be able to do our own project.

So I may end up having to hold off on graduation another 4 months to retake the last class I need. Merry Christmas professor, you twat.