I think everyone in this class can agree that ASU classes are heavily group project based. I believe I member one of my Professors informing the class that this order in increased projects has come from President Crow himself. Although all students seem to groan and roll their eyes when they see a group project on the syllabus, I believe it is time to raise our hands in defeat.
Now, these project based classes pose another challenge. Projects are being conducted less thorough then Mr. Crow might have intended. A semester is not long enough to truly conduct thorough research, analyze the data collected, synthesis, and offer meaningful recommendations. I feel like the part missing in all of these is the very beginning of collecting data and analyzing it myself. I have obviously researched issues/challenges, analyzed, and come up with my own solutions.
I think the type of group projects and benefits students gain from them would be better met if projects were a year long. This would also provide students some type of EXPERIENCE to place on their resume. A reoccurring trend for students entering into the workforce complain that they get turned down due to a lock of experience. Having a year long project would provide students actual experience and possibly a network of references from working with the same stakeholders for a year.
President Crow most definitely had good intuitions for the increase in group collaboration on projects. However, this initiative is currently teaching students how to work on GoogleDocs and find shortcuts. Personally, I would love to have a class that was a year long and worked with the same group of students and stakeholders on a common goal. This would allow for a more thorough project with actual learned collaboration, data collection, and analysis.
Maybe I'm crazy? Does anyone else feel like this would be more beneficial?
I agree with your sentiment, if we were given more time for group projects and given the ability to actually conduct in-depth research the quality of the work would be much better. And since it would take more time and likely be more important for your grade I feel that people may care a little more and take it more seriously.
ReplyDeleteIf not this then just get rid of them, because they usually amount to half of the people doing all the work and everyone receiving the same grade anyways.
Group projects are the worst especially when you have the one person in the group who simply does not carry their own weight. Group projects do increase the ability to collaborate and work with teams, however they certainly raise my level of frustration as well.
ReplyDelete