The following does not represent the views of Loyola University Maryland, The Greyhound, or Loyola University’s Department of Communication.
Group projects have been assigned to students ever since elementary school to get classmates engaged with one another when completing a task. While many teachers love to assign group tasks, students do not often reciprocate the love.
Group projects showed me what trust issues are. I hate to hear the classic line, “I’ll get to it by tonight,” only for no work to be done. I work for hours on my part of the assignment, only to have completed my groupmates portion of the work myself to help the team’s grade. Come presentation day, we propose our topic– only for the person that did no work receive the most applause. We all get the same grade and irritation uprises among the team, this does not feel fair.
Dr. Joseph Farrell, a Philosophy professor at Loyola University Maryland, understands the frustration group tasks can bring first-hand.
“In my younger days, I thought of group projects as a burden. It was mainly about learning to trust in other people to get sound work done. Generally, people are trustworthy, but one can get soured to the process by running into someone who does not hold up their end,” Farrell said.
This also resembles the poor time management skills that a lot of classmates show during group tasks. Nearly all students struggle with procrastination or waiting until the last minute to complete assignments. In fact, enough students have difficulty reaching the time-management skill that Loyola still feels obligated to cover the topic during a Messina workshop.
Chelsea Lapp ’27 shares an experience with a group project.
“For one of my classes, I was assigned a group project with four other people and one of the members did not show up for the final presentation. This cost me and the other classmates to scramble at the last minute and figure out a solution,” Lapp said.
“In the end, the entire group experienced unnecessary stress, frustration, and anxiety over grades and overall performance,” Lapp said.
Having this issue of holding certain people accountable creates more responsibilities for those high-achieving students as they feel they are stuck with more work than those who have no desire for a passing grade. This creation of an unequal workload while also balancing accountability makes group assignments more difficult and stressful than it is helpful and educational.
Other times, group work can become a social hour more than a study hour; my friends have made it so difficult to partake in our designated reading projects because of our desire to talk about outside ideas, such as ‘what are we doing this weekend?’ Or ‘who is dating who?’ Hardly any work is done, but drama is definitely spilled.
As group projects can be seen as dreadful for students, teachers enjoy assigning them for the life-long benefits classmates receive. Teamwork, for example, is one of the most essential skills needed in the workforce and is something all students are guaranteed to take part in when participating in a group project. Teamwork helps to get tasks done efficiently and to contribute to a positive outcome, both needed for group projects and in a career.
Eliana Pearce ‘28 shares her opinion on group projects.
“I think it is easier to work in a group because you get to solve problems with different people and get a new perspective than if you were to work by yourself. In a future profession, you are going to need to work with a variety of people, which these group projects can give you a head start with,” Pearce said.
While I agree with this statement, there are many ways people can use and develop teamwork and collaboration skills. Group projects do not have to be the answer. Being on a sports team or volunteering with other people are just some examples of ways to sharpen these skills.
Group projects are often glossed over by professors who only see the final product. If professors genuinely enjoy giving out group tasks to students, I believe there should be different ways of assigning it.
“One major key to getting group work correct is to have part of the grade involve peer evaluation. This will often stave off the difficulty of the free-rider problem. In other words, if each member of a group knows that part of their grade will be evaluated by peers, they will be more likely to hold up their end,” Dr. Farrell said.
I agree that this could be a promising idea to implement, because when students know their peers are evaluating contributions from each member, it will encourage greater participation and responsibility toward the project.
Classmates deserve the opportunity to learn and work together without the strain of unfair burdens. Until educators find a way for these assignments to be more efficient and enjoyable, group projects will continue to be dreadful assignments for students.
The Greyhound is committed to publishing a diversity of opinions. We’d like to hear what you think. Our email: greyhoundops@gmail.com.
