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The Battalion
Page 3
Monday, September 29, 2003
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Mob mentality
Students and faculty stress importance of group work’s place in academics
By Lauren Romero
THE BATTALION
When Rae Lynn Mitchell was hiring potential employees during
her career in public relations, one thing she always asked references
was, “Is he/she a team player?”
To Mitchell, an assistant lecturer at Texas A&M, knowing how to
work in teams is one of the most important skills a student can have.
think it is important for students to learn how much more can
be accomplished by teamwork rather than working independently of
others,” she said.
During their college careers, students are often assigned group
of the blackout. Ut projects. While some students may find these projects frustrating.
Klauke said.
The type of group project can also affects students’ attitudes
toward group work.
Klauke and Woller agree that doing group papers is one type of
group work they don’t like to do.
“Everyone has different writing styles and abilities. Either the
paper doesn’t seem consistent at the end, or one person is stuck fix
ing it before it’s finished,” Woller said.
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others feel that group projects prepare them for professional life
after graduation.
Abby Woller, a senior journalism major, said that since the pro
fessional setting often involves teamwork, it’s a good idea to learn
how to successfully cooperate with people in college.
“That way, you can tell potential employers, ’Yes, I have expe
rience working in teams,”’ she said.
Mitchell said she realized the importance of group work when
she got into the professional world.
think it would have been helpful for me to have done
more group work in college,” she said.
Woller said the concept of group work is a good idea,
because everyone shares the work. However, she said that
groups can become a problem when the work is not evenly
divided.
“If one person doesn’t pull his weight, then the
whole group will suffer,” Woller said. “You have
to trust that the other people — who you may or
may not know well — will have the same work
ethic that you do and will want to do the best job
possible.”
Katie Klauke, a senior psychology major, is
glad that professors can compensate for slackers by
having peer evaluations. That way students can let the professors
know who was doing their work and who wasn’t.
“Ifeveryone knows you’ll be grading each other, they’ll want to
do their work,” she said. “It gives you assurance for your own mind
because in the end you will have a say in their grade.”
Mitchell said she always provides a means for students to notify
her of any problems and gives students instructions on how to han
dle a situation where they may not be working well together.
One of the other typical problems with group work arises when
students must find time to get together.
. ’’It’shardto find schedules that fit, so it’s just really frustrating,”
Ivan Flores • THE BATTALION
Despite group papers,
she thinks group work is positive since there are several people’s
ideas and involved, rather than just her own since several people can
contribute to the project and different perspectives can be imple
mented.
She also said each person in the group can bring skills that not
everyone else has.
“In one of my journalism classes, one of the guys'in our group
was very good with graphics,” she said. “Individually, the rest of us
would have had trouble with that part of the project, but instead we
all got to benefit from his skills.”
Mitchell summed it up when she said, “Iron sharpens iron.”
Klauke said she doesn’t like having to give presentations in front
of the class, but she said the presentations aren’t as bad if she has a
group with her to back her up.
“It takes a lot of the pres
sure off of you when
you’re up there,” she
said. “Also, if you can’t
explain something well,
then the other group
members will have anoth
er way of saying the infor
mation to clarify it.”
Klauke said group proj
ects have usually positively
affected her grade.
“If you have other people
depending on you, you’ll
work harder because you
don’t want to let them
down,” she said.
Klauke said she doesn’t
do any more work than if
she was working individ
ually, but she pays more
attention to deadlines.
Mitchell said
she has not seen a
negative effect on
students grade-wise
in regard to group
I work. In general,
she said the grade
ppippp 8 ” - """"" would either be the
same or improved as a
result of the group work.
The amount and type of group work depends on the classes a stu
dent is taking.
Woller said that when was a biomedical sciences major, she
rarely had to do group work.
“In journalism, working in teams is more practical,” she said.
Mitchell said that regardless of what discipline a student goes
into, or what career he chooses, working in teams is an important
skill.
“Employers are looking for that,” she said. “It’s all about team
work in the professional world—you just accomplish more.”
:f
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