Collaborative and Group Projects Guidelines

In the real world, most projects we undertake are too big for one individual to do everything him or herself. We usually work in collaboration with others. But we don't get much training on how to work with others.

The idea behind collaborative work is not to divide up the work equally. Not everyone will make the same contribution or do the same thing. The right idea is:

This is not about doing 50% the work. It is about giving 100% to get the work done.

1. Make some decisions up front about who is going to do what, and put as much as you can in writing immediately.
2. Make some decisions about your rules for working together.
   1. Do you want to appoint a project manager from your group members to organize how the project gets done? The manager might arrange meetings, divide work, check to make sure work is on track, be the deciding voice in disagreements? (You decide.)
   2. Are you going to have group meetings? When and where? How is this decided?
   3. What happens if a member doesn't show up for a meeting? What if they are sick vs. just blew the meeting off or "forgot"? Can they make it up to the group?
   4. What happens if someone doesn't do the work s/he said s/he'd do? Can they make it up to the group?
   5. Can someone get kicked out of the group?
   6. Different people are better at different things. How can you use everyone's strengths?
   7. Likewise, think about improving each other's weakest areas. Help each other out.
3. Doing your best work will come from multiple perspectives. Put forth your point of view, and listen respectfully to others. Give feedback to each other, kindly, politely, respectfully, and receive feedback with a good attitude.
4. Keep good records of what you are doing/have done.

What you need to hand in to me for group work: Group Work Assessment

Links:

• Does a Bad Apple spoil the barrel? Materials from Jill Zarestky's Math 142 site (at TAMU).
  • Short paper on the Bad Apple study
  • MP3 of the This American Life Episode (30MB file) about the Bad Apple phenomenon -- the part of interest is from 2:05 to 9:20
  • Full paper of the Bad Apple study
• Establishing Ground Rules for Groups from Phil Race, "500 Tips on Group Learning", Chapter 14.
• Coping with Hitchhikers and Couch Potatoes in Teams from Johns Hopkins University.
• Rules for Group Work from William Wresch Professor of Management and Information Systems at the Univ. of Wisconsin in Oshkosh, WI.
• Golden Rules for Good Teamwork by Walter Fritz

(C) 2009/2010/2011 Jean Marie Linhart, all rights reserved.