Opinion | Group work doesn’t work

We’ve all been there — the group chat is going off because your group members are trying to figure out why a member hasn’t touched the shared assignment document that’s due in three hours. They are fuming because that person didn’t hold up their end of the commitment and now you all need to scramble to finish the unfulfilled sections or risk losing points. 

I wish I had the luxury of never being in that position, but I usually find myself losing sleep to finish the work that was left undone. 

Group projects are a rip-off. Most institutions argue the same way to convince you otherwise — saying they promote collaborative learning, that they help you find friends in your classes and that they portray a realistic scenario of what working in a company is like. I don’t completely disagree with these justifications, but group project dynamics need improvement. 

Collaborative learning is an essential tool to break down complex problems and allow each member to process a topic themselves, then share their knowledge with the group to build a complete understanding. Collaboration even allows for people to share their opinions and bounce ideas off of one another, which can show group members a perspective they possibly never considered or help them refine their own stance. In settings where new content is introduced to a class, group learning can be a powerful tool to help students keep up with the pace of learning.

Problems arise when group members are all new to the subject and are expected to create a project or presentation on it. If nobody in the group is able to grasp the concept well enough to teach the other members, the group is worse off, and this will reflect poorly on their grades.

Aside from the learning aspect, there is a useful social aspect of group work too. The academic pressures of a college curriculum can push students to focus more on their grades, leaving less mental space and time to focus on forming meaningful social relationships. Many students are in a new, uncomfortable environment away from home and must adapt to a stark cultural shift. Not everyone wants to make friends at parties with loud music and copious amounts of alcohol — it’s a popular way to do so, but not enjoyed by everyone. 

Having preset groups in classes can promote social interaction. Group work provides a platform for students to interact with their group members and bond over shared challenges, help one another and share their personal experiences — but it can become transactional once the work is over. 

Not everyone remains friends with their group members after the project is over, as they no longer have much in common to bond over. Another consideration is that having friends in a group project may hinder progress, as the friendships can be used as a bias to allow members to get away with not doing the work. Social loafing can become rampant as members don’t pull their weight and expect other members to fill in the gaps for them.

Group work supposedly reflects real working life. Communication and teamwork rank highly on skills required by employers in every industry. Companies engage in large scale projects that require a team, hence the need for employees who are able to complete their segment of the project and efficiently collaborate with their peers. Group work — when conducted right — can prepare students by exposing them to similar expectations and encourages them to develop their own work ethic, leadership and communication skills for teamwork. 

But group work in college isn’t an accurate reflection of real work life. A team working on a project in the professional world is curated based on their skill sets, availability and are all — hopefully — motivated to getting the job done. This isn’t the case in college groups that are usually randomly assigned. Group members vary in their commitment to the class — some may be taking the class as a requisite and have little interest in it, some may have fully packed schedules and not much time to give to a collaborative project and some may not process a topic enough to effectively contribute. 

Group work in college is imperfect, and when grades are tied to it, the members who want a good grade inevitably have to work much harder than other members in order to pull the grade up for the entire group. 

One way to reduce the burden on students and create a more realistic work experience is by allowing instructors to assign groups by considering several metrics instead of randomizing or allowing students to choose their groups. Instructors could employ a self-reported survey where students establish how much time they are able to dedicate to group work outside of class, what days they are available and what their interest in the subject is or reason for taking the class. 

These metrics serve to partner members with similar commitment levels into the same group, where everyone agrees on how they would like to complete the group project. This may lead to the creation of groups who all have very little commitment to the class — however, they can be supported in completing the project by the instructor or teaching assistants. This can prevent groups from lagging behind in the class.

Another consideration is to remove shared grading for group work in introductory classes and reserve it for higher-level classes. Students choosing to take higher-level classes have shown their interest, ability and commitment to the subject. They are better suited to work on group projects as they would have similar skill levels and possibly better individual understanding of topics related to the subject. I believe that this can effectively promote collaborative learning and allow students to teach one another the right things. This can also allow students in introductory classes to learn the content at a pace they’re comfortable with instead of having to constantly worry about group work negatively affecting their grades.

Group work is important and a crucial college experience. Students need to learn the content and the skills to work with other students before they are employable in their industries. Problems will inevitably arise when working in teams, but to reduce conflict and maintain the learning experience, instructors can implement minor tweaks that make working in groups meaningful instead of burdensome.

Harsh Hiwase writes about ethics and healthcare. Write to him at hah143@pitt.edu.