Effective Group Projects

1
Effective Group Projects

• Tips for surviving and succeeding
• with team assignments

2
The Path to Group Success

• Know your group.
• Understand your assignment.
• Organize your process.
• Check your progress.
• Combine your work effectively.

3
Know Your Group

• If you can form your own group
• Get good people for the job. Its not about
  friendship its about teamwork for learning and
  for a grade.
• Think about a group as a collection of skills.
  Do you have someone who can proofread? Who has
  computer skills? Who is a good organizer?
• Consider schedules, locations and lives.
  Understand the challenges if you choose to work
  with someone who does not share the same schedule
  or live in the same city.
• Exchange useful contact info. that actually
  reaches people.

4
Know Your Group

• If your group is formed by your professor
• Get over it if your situation doesnt seem
  perfect to you. The world of work is just like
  this. Spend your energy on figuring out how this
  group can succeed.
• Find out what skills each person has.
• Share information about schedules, location, and
  lives, so that you are aware of any challenges.
• Exchange useful contact information that actually
  reaches people.

5
Understand the Assignment

• Review the assignment together
• You may want one person in the group to be the
  Reader. This person becomes an expert on the
  assignment requirements.
• What is the goal of the project (solve,
  recommend, instruct)?
• Who is the audience for the project (classmates,
  professor, imaginary client)?
• Are there specific content requirements (at least
  3 sub-topics, limited to X field)?
• Are there research documentation requirements
  (at least 3 sources, APA documentation)?

6
Organize Your Process

• Work backwards to create a time line for your
  project and be sure everyone understands it.
• Find out what people are good at.
• Assign specific tasks and deadlines agree on
  detailed expectations
• Example Claudia will bring research results to
  the meeting on Mar. 9th at 10am in E111. She
  will bring a typed list of exact quotations,
  along with their references in APA format, on a
  memory stick in Word format.

7
The Right People for the Job

• Detail People
• Researchers
• Meticulous, speedy readers, and excellent
  Googlers not afraid of learning how to use the
  databases in Mohawks e-Library.
• Can sort through lots of information to find
  relevant, useful, credible data
• Can be counted on to record the references as
  info is found
• NOTE Procrastinators either shouldnt do this
  job or should be aware that their delays will
  hold up the entire project.
• Proofreaders
• Can obsess about spelling and grammar accurately.
  
• NOTE If you dont have one of these in your
  group, GET ONE. (Or remember the Communications
  Centre, room C122 help is available for this!)

8
The Right People for the Job

• Big Picture People
• Information Management
• Sees connections
• Can select useful data from a pile of research
  from different sources
• Can organize data logically with the overall goal
  in mind.
• Editing
• Sees things from the audiences (and professors)
  point of view
• Can see what data needs to be added, cut or
  changed. Whats missing or repetitive?
• Can see the logical flow that the audience will
  experience Is anything confusing? Is this
  argument logical?

9
The Right People for the Job

• Big Picture Detail People
• Leader
• Can organize and motivate people.
• Can see the overall progress and connections, and
  can notice when the details arent right.
• Writing
• Can take organized data and place it into the
  required format paragraph form, PowerPoint
  slides, etc.
• Can create introductions, conclusions and
  transitions between sections of a report so that
  the whole thing flows seamlessly and logically.

10
Check Your Progress

• Set regular meeting times, so that you can assess
  your progress.
• Are you meeting your deadlines?
• Does new information alter the direction of the
  project?
• Is there information you just cant find?
• Refuse to cling to the plan that isnt working or
  to the idea no one else wants.
• Stay open to changing and improving as a team.
  Get help when you need it!

11
Check Your Progress

• Handle problems immediately.
• Contact the professor
• with research problems
• about changes in the direction of the project.
• about what steps you are permitted to take if a
  group member is not doing his/her work.
• Deal with group members directly
• when someone is not meeting deadlines
• when someones work does not meet expectations
• It is not the professors job to manage internal
  problems in your group! However, he/she is often
  a good source of advice.

12
Progress Difficult Situations

• Speak to the person with whom you have the
  problem! Talking to the wrong people will not
  help and will waste precious time.
• Communicate the problem clearly, give the member
  an opportunity to correct the problem, and be
  clear about expectations and deadlines.
• Be clear about what will happen if the problem is
  not corrected.

13
Integrate Your Efforts

• The worst group projects look like individual
  efforts that were slapped together thoughtlessly.
• Your project should look, sound and feel like a
  TEAM effort.
• This requires time. Lots. Leave some.
• Organization of content, fonts, slide
  backgrounds, report headings, documentation
  numbering, page numbering, labels for
  charts/tables ALL of these must be coordinated,
  correct and consistent.

14
RECAP

• Know your group
• Get good people and assign the right jobs for
  their skills.
• Understand your assignment.
• Be clear about the goal/purpose, audience, and
  all other requirements.
• Organize your process.
• Make expectations clear for people, tasks,
  deadlines. Meet early and often.
• Check your progress.
• Know whether you are on track. Handle problems
  immediately. Be willing to change your direction
  if needed.
• Combine your work effectively.
• Be sure that the end product is coordinated,
  cohesive, correct and consistent!