The Embodiment of Unhelpfulness and Injustices of Great Stupidity

[same_difference]

I handed in my answers to a maths problem sheet this morning, on the end of which was a note which in summary said 'I don't understand, I'm merely copying the methods in the examples and guessing blindly when I can't. Please help, or recommend some sources of help or at least tell me what I'm doing wrong.' This is the answer I got back:

Ok. Please, continue to work, read Lecture Notes, and solutions provided, and solve problems by yourself. We will have enough revision to remember and recall everything.[Signature deleted]

Right. That helps. Keep doing what I'm doing and just learn it all in the revision period. Thanks a lot.

And the injustice:

P is doing group work in her computer science second year. If any group does not work well together, or shows any signs of having not worked well together, they will lose marks. This means that if theoretically someone doesn't do any work for the group, they will lose marks for not working well together unless everyone else does the work for that person and then states at the end that it was that persons work. They couldn't even ask for advice on how to get the person to work, let alone make a complaint about it without getting marked down. In effect it benefits anyone who does no work, as they are guaranteed to get given the credit for other people's work at the end (unless the whole group doesn't care or put any work into the coursework).

People in the lecture tried to explain this to the lecturer, he didn't understand. Does anyone know any way or anyone who I could talk to that could rectify the problem? Just in case there was any way I could help, though I'm not actually allowed to.

Disclaimer: This in no way suggests that anyone in P's group isn't working, or that they're group is working in anyway except as a perfect team. I have no evidence the previous line is anything other than the absolute truth.

Comments

[doribore.livejournal.com]

You have my sympathies. That actually happened to me my first year of uni, when I was doing a chemistry degree. I asked a professor (someone with an actual Ph.D believe it or not) about something, and he told me to read the book and figure it out.

I dropped the course. At least you're almost done.

As for Perdita, she also has my sympathy, but I've heard of that too often to say much more about it.

[almosthonest.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had a similar computing project. And you know what? It was fantastic experience in teaching me how to get other people's butts in gear. In fact, I suspect that's why they include it. Think of almost any computing career - it involves teamwork, and lots of it. I suspect, in this project, that being able to make a team function is the lesson, or at least what's being tested.

If it's any help, I believe that everyone at the end gets to do a confidential questionaire on the rest of the group. If anybody slacked, the rest can finger them. But, most likely, some of them will end up doing the work of others. I certainly did - good intro to real life. Injustice and all.... ;-)

[same-difference.livejournal.com]

I can kind of see you point, but how do your test if people can work as a team if you reward people for not doing so. The point is they do have to a questionnaire break down thing at the end, but if they actually say someone didn't do any work, then EVERYONE would get marked down. So it's in everyones best interest to lie and do the other persons share of the work.

[almosthonest.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether they're bluffing when they say they'll mark down a dyfunctional team or not. Though it occurs to me that that's the challenge - don't let someone get away with doing no work. Make them! Although, "make" in terms of persuation and gentle motivation, naturally.

Again, though, that strikes me as a strong nod towards reality. With real deadlines, no customer is impressed if you try telling them that you would have been on time if not for Fred...

[prosepina.livejournal.com]

Yeah they did the group work thing to us to on psych, and psych you out it does. I think there must be some tome of lecturers tricks out there that they all dig from.

I learnt several things from the experience:
(1) If someone isn't pulling their weight, there is usually a good reason, assume nothing, find your compassionate side, switch your work-anxiety side off for a while, and learn something about the slacker. Whatever is going on, its not usually what you think. You can find yourself with a new best friend for life this way. You can find yourself in a whole year's worth of mess if you don't.
(2) There is always another group that has it far worse than you.
(3) At the end of the day, the lecturers know. They figure it out. All you have to do to get through it once you've employed (1) and figured out (2), is have one long evening with a lot of take away food, a bottle of wine for the super anxious, and just hammer away at it. When it's gone its gone, and its never going to affect the rest of your degree in the way that you imagine at the time.

[prosepina.livejournal.com]

As for your first point. Its frustrating I appreciate, but we are the factory farmed degree fodder, churned out for whatever the fad industry of our decade will be, and all the lecturer's are paid for at the the end of the day, is training the recruits. Long gone are the days when a degree was a privilige and could be lived as one, and the failing support from teaching staff reflects this sorry state. You are supposed to love your degree really, love the opportunity it affords, the insights it brings you, the way it changes your patterns of thinking, and for the first time in your lifelong career as student, draws you apart from your siblings and peers and gives you the tools to do something for you.

Your lecturer probably isn't lying to you about the revision thing, but when the time comes, be his new best friend, sit on the man's doorstep until you know it all backwards. At first he will be bemused and slightly bored, a few weeks in he'll start to get sick of the sight of you, but when you finally crack it, you might actually remind him why he went into teaching in the first place.

[indigogecko.livejournal.com]

see, for our group projects it's a similar concept but the other way round - everyone in the group submits an individual report, with an "evidence of industry"appendix, showing what each member of the group basically did. So the point then is, if people obviously haven't pulled their weight, thy get marked down.