Chapter 3: Post-Secondary Learning
23 Group Work
Group work: you may hate it, you may love it, but at some point, you will be required to work in a group. Group work and working with others can be challenging for all sorts of reasons. However, it is a valuable tool for learning, sharing and reinforcing knowledge and a necessary skill for the workplace. Many college courses include mandatory group work, and there are many additional benefits from engaging in optional group work – such as working together to tackle assignments or studying together in groups before exams.
One of the biggest issues with group work as reported by students, is the lack of communication.
“Susan said she was going to organize a meeting. I waited to hear from her and never did.”
“I haven’t heard from Pershiya since the beginning of the project.”
“Haniel was supposed to finish the presentation, but now we have nothing done.”
Communication is incredibly important to the success of your group. This includes meeting with your group in and outside of class, sending and responding to messages, dividing responsibilities, setting deadlines for having portions of the assignment complete, and doing the work you committed to or letting them know you won’t meet your deadline. A successful group project requires taking the initiative to initiate and maintain consistent communication via group chats, email chains, and in-person meetings.
Even if you and your classmates are not able to meet in person, you can still connect online and collaborate on group projects or review course material in study groups. There are many different online platforms available to share resources, collaborate on projects, and work together with your classmates.
| Microsoft One Drive | Please read Microsoft OneDrive’s tutorial on sharing files and folders with other users |
| Google Drive | Please read 5 ways your team can start collaborating with Google Drive and watch all of the embedded videos |
| Skype | Watch this video on how to use Skype for collaboration |
| Google Meet | Watch this video on Google Meet the video conferencing tool. |
| Zoom | Watch this video on Zoom the web conferencing tool |
| MS Teams | Please navigate through Microsoft Teams’ video training website. |
Making Virtual Teams Work: Though this article was written in the context of business teams, many of the principles discussed are also relevant for college group work.
