One phrase during your degree you will never want to hear – group assignments. It can send some students into a small rage. However, these unavoidable projects are designed to help you prepare for the working world.
It can be tricky to know where to start, or how to plan out a group project if you have never done one before. So here are some tips on how to plan out and complete a successful group assignment.
As soon as the assignment is set, choose a specific day to meet every week and plan in a certain amount of time, every Tuesday afternoon for example. This is deadline dependant so make it work for your group. Meeting regularly will give you time to complete the assignment, and time away from it gives you a chance to think about what you have already done, as well as giving you time for other work outside of this specific assignment. Breaking an assignment into chunks and starting right away gives you a lot of time to complete the work, and you might even finish early!
During your meetings there might be tasks to complete that do not require the entire group. Maybe split into pairs or groups of three to complete these tasks and then regroup to show what you have done. This is a real time saver, avoids ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’ and is a good way of working to people’s strengths.
You could use the meetings as planning sessions, deciding which person will do which task before the next meeting. Assuming everyone has done their part, you can now, as a group, edit all of the parts together and plan what you will each do until the next meeting. This process can be repeated until you have no tasks left and you’re done!
Following these tips will make planning out your assignment so much easier and hopefully make group assignments a little less daunting.
