Ughh...the dreaded group project.
UNM students are frequently asked by professors to participate in collaborative projects designed to be educational, but many students say they are more of a burden than anything.
"I hate them," said UNM business student Aaron Orosco. "With a full load of classes, it is difficult to manage time."
Orosco said 75 percent of his classes require group work.
"It is difficult to meet with groups throughout the week, especially when I have group projects going on at the same time in more than one class," he said.
Orosco also said with work and school commitments, he is not able to meet on a weekly basis as expected with many group projects that can last for the entire semester.
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Olaf Werder, an assistant professor in the Communications and Journalism Department, said group work is inevitable in his advertising campaign classes, where he breaks his students into mock advertising firms to work on a campaign for the semester.
His class allows students to mimic the business world and the simulation prepares students for life after graduation.
"If you are trying to advertise your product, it is all about who is the best agency," he said.
Werder said he grades group activities based on factors including weekly call reports and through peer evaluations. He said through the reports and evaluations, he gets a pretty good sense for who is doing the work.
"With the peer evaluations, you can tell who is participating," Werder said.
Grades in his class are based on the work individual students do, and the entire group does not receive the same grade, a common concern of students.
Deanna Dietz, said she hates group projects for that reason.
"They aren't fair," she said. "If someone doesn't pull their weight, the grade for the whole group can suffer."
Daniel Sanford, a teaching assistant, said he does not agree with that type of grading in his English classes.
"I feel that group projects which assign a single grade to a group of people don't work, especially in the context of an introductory class," Sanford said. "They inevitably lead to a situation in which one or two people assume the brunt of the workload."
He also said students should "never be held accountable, grade-wise, for the work of others."
Sanford uses group work in the form of peer editing and said it is successful because it "allows students to collaborate in a helpful way without having their own grade attached to the performance of other people."
Werder said collaboration is a big part of the projects in his class.
"The business world is about communication," he said. "Developing social skills are just as important as developing professional skills. Saying 'We did it' is so much more satisfying than saying 'I did it.'"
