So glad this is my last term!!!

Troy university appears to have adopted the idea that team projects are better than individual assignments. I actually got to see the switch in thinking as my first 4 classes were all individual assignments and a friend of mine that graduated from the same program I am in now had only 1 team project through his entire program. Yet starting in my 3rd term team projects suddenly appeared. Both classes in my third term, my 4th term, and now my 5th and final term have team projects. One example I have right now is I was nominated as the "writer" for an assignment we have due currently. My team stated they would have their input/information to me not later than Sunday, which they then changed to Monday evening, the Tuesday evening, and finally today at lunch they submitted their inputs. This would not be a big deal if it wasn't for the fact that the paper is due TOMORROW!!! I have never understood the "procrastination" mentality and it infuriates me even more considering my grade is dependent on the participation of my "team mates." I am so fed up with my grades being dependent on the work of others. I went as far as to ask one teacher if I would be allowed to simply "quit" my team and work on the project on my own but that answer was no because she said it would put me in an unfair position of not having help :thinking:

Oh well. Just wanted to vent a bit I will live, learn, and carry on smartly haha.

 

Just carry on, I know group projects suck big time, however, they are part of the graduate "experience". :crying: Again I completely understand, on the bright side you are almost done, and group projects will be a thing of the past. That is unless you have group projects at work, and that is a whole different issue...:yup:

Again congrats on finishing your program, I think dancing bananas are in order. :banana::banana:

 

5 weeks to go and I will post a crap ton of dancing bananas lol

 

Sounds like my life in grad school. Professional programs love group assignments because it "teaches you to work with people that are different" and all that other garbage, never mind the fact that I had multiple assignments I could have finished in 2 hours that took 10-12 because we always had some twit with a degree in the "social sciences" chiming in with their opinions (that were often than not irrelevant to the project). The worst were when you got a Women's Studies major on a finance project. They thought you somehow had to factor in the theory that women get paid less than men into your financial model on a project revolving around debt financing for a new MLB stadium.

 

I fully empathyze with your position. One of my team mates likes to constantly bring up that she has a Masters in Behavioral studies so she automatically knows better than the rest of us on how things should run in the group but she could not write her way out of a straw hat and is likely one of the worst communicators I have ever met. Oh well 39 days to go with 4 more team projects and 3 finals and I am officially done and can move on to the next step in my life, which sadly will not include the Navy because they are in the process of medically discharging me. Hopefully this degree will give me that one extra step towards finding gainful employment that does not require me and my wife to go back to eating ramen noodles and hot dogs haha.

 

Do you plan to stay in NOLA? I assume you want to work in HR, any preferred regions? Happy to share any contacts I may have that could help.

 

Once the Navy finally tells me to go home (looks like that may be around October November time unless the VA has a hiccupp) I plan to move myself and my wife to the Atlanta, GA area. There seems to be a plethora of HR positions in that area. Hopefully I will actually have a job prior to moving there. I should have around 90 days notification prior to separation date and will be able to take leave prior to that to go to interviews. I can only hope for the best. The only real "contact" I have currently is a friend and mentor of mine that is a Regional HR Director with The Home Depot who says he would love to do everything he could to get me there. Oddly enough Home Depot has some amazing HR jobs but I am not "locked" into that. Considering how long I have till separation I can't even really apply for jobs at this point, though I am attempting to make contacts.

:smoker:

 

Hey jerkface, I have a Social Sciences degree and I'll have you know that all of my comments are irrelevant. Wait, that was not right, Social Sciences are irrelevant and I'm a....you're a jerkface Women Studies major? **shudder**.

Good job on finishing the degree shipmate, hope you find a good gig once you hit the "real" world.

 

I don't see why having a degree in a social science or behavioral science is even relevant to why an individual was a pest, but maybe I'm biased. I have a degree in social science and I've never had a high opinion of business majors and HR professionals. LOL. I don't like group projects in online courses (or even ground classes) and I normally knock out large papers in a few hours at the last minute. I just finished my graduate program with a high GPA and I am so glad there was not one group project.

 

Group projects suck. Coming to the realization that your degree is pretty worthless in most all ways sucks as well, but you get used to it. At least I did. Now I make fun of myself, because well....who the hell am I?

C

 

As with Cory (03310151) and AUTiger00 group study /project experiences … I recall a strategic management course which was entirely group-study oriented (taught by a reputable, successful industry management consultant and PhD). Talk about frustrating. It was incredible some of the draft /finished case segments (i.e. case study projects) some students would remit in good conscience. And don’t take me wrong … I too recognize the value and the graduate school’s /professor’s purpose of an effective team /group —twelve years military service taught that long ago. Nevertheless and regrettably, some so-called graduate students can /do misuse the team model to ride the coattails of a few others through habitual procrastination, poor communication /coordination effort/s, presenting little to no academic exertion, delay etc., resulting in substandard work and ethic—as is too often much the same in industry.

What was Bill Clinton’s infamous adage … “…I feel your pain?”

P.S. The course and students was /is, btw, from an AACSB B-school.

 

Yeah, I don't get how this is even relevant. They got into and through the same programs as every other major. Human resources does use social science concepts even though they often use them improperly. People with industrial psychology degrees are hired to do the same jobs and more. My goal is not to defend social science degrees; I just don't see how any of this is relevant.

 

It is perhaps ironic that in the programs I facilitate, course revisions are moving away from group projects - perhaps because of this sort of feedback.

 

I hope you are right! I teach online and I designed some online courses where I was encouraged if not required to include some "team assignments." Oh, how I hate doing that to my students.

When seeking my own distance learning options, I very specifically chose options where I believed team and group work would be minimal. One reason I chose NCU was because of their "independent learner" model. Cohorts don't always mean group work, but I tried to avoid cohorts "just in case."

As an instructor, I do not care if it is "easier to grade" group work, I care more about being fair and reasonable with students. I just hope it is true that group assignments are becoming less popular. Group discussions are fine, but having your grade depend on what someone else does or does not do is just not fair in my opinion. There are a few ways to improve these experiences and make them more fair, and I do my best to incorporate my own ideas to promote fairness but I still don't like group projects, as either a professor, or as a student.

 

LOL Me Too. I finish my undergrad in May! Congrats bpreachers!!!

 

Congrats. See you there. I'll be getting a hood.

 

1 paper, 2 discussion boards, and 3 finals left till I am completely finished. Not sure what I am going to do with myself after I finish this Grad program. I am going to have more free time than I know what to do with haha. Maybe I will take trail riding back up, I haven't touched my mountain bike in probably a year what with school and the two neck surgeries I had at the end of 2012. I can't believe it is almost over. :biggrin: