Group work - yay or nay?

[cereja]

I hate group work. There are 4 possible scenarios:

1) I get stuck with slackers - so I do all the work

2) I get stuck with people willing to work but do a crappy job - so I do all the work

3) I get stuck with other perfectionists just like me and we argue all the way through because we have different ideas on how to get it done - so I do all the work

4) I get stuck with regular IB people who do a good job but they forget stuff and ask me to do it - so I do all the work.

So I would much rather save the stress and time and just do everything by myself.

Edited August 11, 2008 by cereja

[adriandg89]

I also have a love/hate view of group work. Although it is far less complex to find a common time for high school students than university students, each IB student is in very involved in very different classes and clubs, making it a little challenging for us to come up with a common time to meet up. However, I find it very helpful to get feedback from other people while I work. Another negative aspect about group work is that the pace is slower (as slow as the slowest person in the group), so a group project will often require twice as much time commitment than regular assignments (although a helpful tip for this downside is to agree with everyone to have done some work prior to the meeting, so as to lessen the amount of work that has to be done together and focus on bringing the parts together and reviewing them)

[moneyfaery]

Depends on whom I'm working with. With certain people (usually friends), everyone works diligently and everything moves along nicely. Then there are also times when there's a slacker in the group and I end up 99% stepping up to do the work. (No thanks to working with them again after that)

Edited August 25, 2008 by moneyfaery

[djshah]

I would have to say nay because I always end up dping the work. No one can actually take initiative and decide what to do. And when I end up assigning people to do work either they dont do it properly or dont do it at all. This is for most of the people. There are few people who are useful.

[~Lc~]

NAY! everyone I work with are a bunch of leeches! I hate doing group work! it was the most part in IB I disliked, and guess what? all my negative comments while working camp was because of having to work in groups! I am my own Island I say!

[Xerox]

No to group work for me, just not my thing. Some people in the group might excell and some people will suck so it just doesn't give a fair accement on anything, and the lazy people won't learn anything either. It works to work in groups if the project is big or so, but there should be clear instructions and stuff for everyone on what to do and so on.

[Cami]

Well, I have a few people in my class that i really like doing groupwork with, but the rest kinda "draggs me down" and doesn't works at my speed...

Groupwork -> Mostly NAY!

[meganeloise]

Am I the only one here that LOVES groupwork?

I usually take charge and yes, I do end up doing all the work but I don't mind, I like work and I like people handing me scissors and glitter.

[djshah]

I like people handing me scissors and glitter.

LOL!! Yes i like that too. Coz thats how i get good grades. But I am not too happy that the hard work i put in helps them get higher grades. But then again if they would contribute we would end up getting a lower grade. But if I am with some people it works out well. But very few people like that.

[TeeBlake]

I currently really hate group work because

In my Biology SL lab experiments there are mostly slackers who either

a ) don't work

b ) copy your work

c ) rush through everything

d ) mess up

(Note: my teacher and I are worried about the upcoming Group 4 project, since half the people in Biology SL are still below IGCSE level)

In my History HL there are people who

a ) don't understand/don't want to understand the assignment

b ) don't work

c ) rush through everything

d ) mess up

In Maths SL there is a mix of people who

a ) actually help you understand

b ) show you easier ways of grasping topics (which are not revealed by the teacher)

c ) don't work

d ) rush through everything

e ) mess up

In French B SL there are only 2 others in my group who

a ) can't help since they aren't perfect in French themselves

b ) teach you their mistakes

c ) won't bother

d ) stress you out

e ) mess up

In English A1 there are people who

a ) absolutely confuse you

b ) won't help you because they are trying to compete with you

c ) teach you their mistakes

d ) can't help since they aren't perfect in English literature themselves

e ) rush through everything

f ) bore you with their rambling

g ) mess up

In Economics HL there are people who

a ) don't know anything

b ) rush through everything

c ) don't bother

d ) lead the group into the completely wrong direction

e ) confuse you

f ) go off topic

g ) mess up

My class ***** so group work is pointless. I did however work very efficiently in a group before IB when I worked with different people who actually cared about the work and I found that in a motivated group there is the sense of positive competition (everyone naturally puts in a lot of effort so to not let the group down). If you find such people; stick to them. If you have something similar to my current class - don't bother

same things happening to me..

G4, i'm always the one breaking the ice, i emailed the people, no reply...so when experiment comes, i do the who design and they go "omg i feel bad though"

guess what? you should be, and i doubt you do because if you did feel bad, you would be working instead of talking....

venting is done

in IB, i like group discussions, but not group IAs...like for geo field study, i just wanna collect the data alone, not with a whole bunch of people..

[Solarstorm]

There should be Group Lab report writing and in case of other IAs like Field case study, it should be alone.

[greg112358]

Before IB, I hated group projects. I pulled all the weight, or I got an F.

Now though, group projects are my favorite. IB kids actually help. There are no arguments and we usually find a way to make it fun.

[Solaris]

I would say yay. Sharing the pain is the best way to decrease it.

[TerioN.]

It depends for me.

If I'm say, the "smartest" and most "hard-working" person in the group, and there's a slacker, I hate it. I have to do extra work.

But, if I'm just average of I'm the slacker, I love it.

[Vicdashit]

Yay for me and like some of you guys mentioned, i hated group work before i got into the full ib program cause i was mainly stuck with the slackers and incooperable people. But now that i'm in ib, i find that most of my classmates are very capable of working together and contributing the ideas

[sraja90]

i dont like group work because i really do not want to have to carry the weight of others, especially if they do not want to work. Now if they are good and hard workers and wil put the same effort into the work as me, then i dont mind.

[humingyay]

Have to say "nay" cause I usually have different opinions than the one's I'm put in a group with. Plus, I like to share the load rather than doing the most bymyself and then giving the credit to the entire group.

[cereja]

We were just assigned a group project in TOK and there's 4 people in my group. 3 of us are extremely hard workers, usually the ones that do everything in the group. Somehow we still can't get things done well.... we can't focus enough - maybe it's because we're good friends, maybe because group projects are despised by all of us

[Referos]

Nay, I tend to do all the work alone, since I get crappy grades when I let other people collaborate.

[IB Prodigy]

I love group work when we get to choose our own groups... that way, I can work with people who I know will pull their own weight in the group AND who are my friends.

It's more of a toss up when the teacher chooses groups... I've had teachers group the brighter students together, which works fine even if the people I'm working with aren't particularly close friends of mine. But I've also had teachers who match brighter students up with students who are... shall we say, "not quite as bright"... which is always horrible since I end up doing most of the work.