Perhaps you know that feeling, when you read through the syllabus for the first time, see the “group project” section, and immediately cringe. Online group projects sound great; they give you practice learning from and working with others. Your professor insists that experiences like this will prepare you for your career because having team work experience is essential. Working effectively with others, especially those who may not be easy, is an excellent skill to have. Group projects may be an effective teaching technique in the classroom. However, the circumstances of online learning are different than a traditional classroom, so the same techniques may not have the same impact.
Are online group projects really mimicking real-life work settings? This has not been my experience, as many of my peers have varying degrees of commitment and goals in college courses. Yes, everyone in the class would like to pass the class, but not everyone cares about the subject or are motivated by the same factors. In my experience, this leaves one or two students carrying the rest of the group and doing most of the work. A recent study found that in most projects students admitted that most of the project was completed by one student rather than the entire group contributing equal work (Theobald, J., Eddy, S. L., Grunspan, D. Z., Wiggins, B. L., & Crowe, A. J., 2017). Online groups require organization and communication. Therefore the group spends a significant amount of time being polite and figuring out how to communicate online effectively that the project often becomes secondary.
I curiously searched the internet for any research supporting my feelings, and I found endless blogs and articles from students complaining about group projects. But of course, just because you do not enjoy doing something, does not mean that you did not learn from that experience. A Washington University study found that the “social dynamics of a group, such as whether one person dominates the conversation or whether students work with a friend, affect academic performance” (Eckart, 2017). I have never worked on a group project where group members were not assigned to me. Eckart also discusses findings that support that students’ who can choose their group members tend to do better in groups (Eckart, 2017). Though, a problem is that students choose group-mates that are most like them (Freeman, S., Theobald, R., & Crowe, A. J., 2017). This makes the project run smoother and more efficiently, but what is the point of group projects if you are not learning to work with people who are different than yourself? This also is not very manageable in online settings, where you do not know your classmates.
With distance learning becoming more accessible and widespread, there are more opportunities to incorporate and understand more effective group processes. There are certainly positive aspects of group projects, especially in the classroom. Though, not every aspect that is effective in a traditional classroom will have the same impact in an online setting. There must be more effective ways for online students to experience the benefits of a group project that considers the online setting and the barriers associated with it.
References
Eckart, Kim (2017). Group project? Taking turns, working with friends may improve grades. University of Washington News. Retrieved from washington.edu/news/2017/09/25/group-project-taking-turns-working-with-friends-may-improve-grades/
Freeman, Scott, Theobald, Roddy, & Crowe, Alison J. (2017). Likes attract: Students self-sort in a classroom by gender, demography, and academic characteristics. Sage Journal. Retrieved from journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1469787417707614
Theobald, Eli J., Eddy, Sarah L., Grunspan, Daniel Z., Wiggins, Benjamin L., & Crowe, Alison J. (2017). Student perception of group dynamics predicts individual performance: Comfort and equity matter. Retrieved from: journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0181336
This is a great post, because almost everyone can relate to the “dread” of group projects. I’ve now experienced them both in-person and online, both equally frustrating. Despite the fact that no one really likes to complete these projects, you are completely right by arguing that they are important for workplace skills. There is definitely a degree of relying on everyone else to do the work in any group, whether in school or the workplace. I’ve even experienced this “phenomena” in extra curricular groups.
For example, before transferring to World Campus, I was apart of a sorority. This sorority had very poor leadership, and several people in charge that expected everyone else to do the work that was needed to keep us up and running. Unfortunately, I was one of the people who really wanted to see us succeed, and as a result, I had to complete an unfair amount of work. While it was a bad experience, I walked away from it learning that no matter what form, most groups will have people who want work done and people who want everyone else to complete it.
This new era of technology does force us to know how to complete group tasks online. I think it is important for people to realize that this most likely will not change the dynamics of group projects, but they will still learn from them, just as before. Group projects teach us more about teamwork and tolerance more than the actual “project concept” itself.