Why Group Projects Don't Work

First off, this is a totally biased post, simply because I absolutely hate group projects.  Why you may wonder?  Because in 32 years of life, I have only had one group project that was put together so that everyone had an equal distribution of work.

Let's face it.  When a teacher or a professor gives out a group project, how does it usually go?  You get a topic, some basic instructions, and then you have to figure out how to distribute the work amongst the group.  What inevitably happens?  One or a few of the group does all the work, one or two don't do anything.  Then you get a "group" grade regardless of the quality of individual work or individual effort.  A group project, as it is normally put together, simply is not fair.  It is not graded on how well you all worked together or how well you were able to assign certain tasks, simply the end product, which is normally done by a small portion of the group.

The one that worked--it still sucked, but at least everyone had something specific they were suppose to do, assigned by the professor NOT each group member.  We were to each review two books and together help those reviews to be ready to send to a review board.  Why it still sucked? Because everyone had different ideas of what makes a review good and none of them turned out to be what the professor thought.  Why it worked? The teacher assigned specific parts for each group member, and although we received a group grade, we also received individual grades on our parts.

I understand the premise behind group projects--its suppose to teach us how to work together.  But let's face it, it's not working.  I don't care what grade you are in.  You have the ones that do all the work because they don't want to get a bad grade, you have the ones that don't care and so let everyone else do the work, you have the ones that sit back because they have no idea what to do, and so on and so on.  So please!!!! Teachers and professors, if you are going to insist on group projects, you have to have ones that are clearly defined.  Ones in which rules and guidelines are clearly and completely spelled out, where each person has a particular task to complete, and it is their job to get that section done--if they don't, they pay the consequences, not the group.  Of course, that can cause problems, since if they choose not to do their part, the project is actually incomplete.  Oh what a quandary!!  Solution--cut it out with the stupid group projects!! I've never met a single person who actually enjoys them.

Now, if there are those out there who do enjoy them, could you let me in on the secret? Why do you like group projects? Or do you totally agree? Why do you hate them then?

Some Things that Really Bug Me About Librarianship

So I admit, this is not about a book I read, but rather some of my own thoughts, but since this is a blog about books and myself, I must digress.

1.  Paraprofessionals.  Why?  It has absolutely nothing to do with competence.  The facts are there are many "librarians" who hold no professional degree.  Let's face it, they work for less, and in our world it seems all too often less is more.  However, what bothers me, is that although they can learn the job and do it quite well, they do take jobs away from those who have sought the necessary education.  Now, I'm not saying that they have to have their degree in Library Science yet, but they should be currently enrolled in a program, deliver their degree plan to their employer, and be required to stay on track in order to keep their job.  For me, it's like saying 'ok, we need to shave a few bucks off the budget, so we are going to stop highering teachers with a degree and certification and start replacing them with anyone that has ever taken a class in a particular field, i.e. if you took an English class one semester of college you can teach English.'  Let's face it.  There are enough tools out there that they could learn how to put together an teaching plan, and teach, but they are not truly equipped for the task.

2. The fact that you not only need a Masters in Library Science but also a Teaching License in most states to be a School Librarian.  I guess I just don't understand the logic here.  I know that as a School Librarian you would be teaching children.  However, in a masters program, I have the option of being a Teaching Assistant, which would have me teaching undergraduate courses.  So while I'm only working on my Masters, I can teach college students, but once I actually have my Masters, I can't work in a School Library without an additional teacher's license?  Seriously, if you've figured that logic out, other than it allows school districts to shunt you away from the library and into a teaching position because they want to save money by removing an actual librarian, let me know!!

3. The fact that there is so little help/socialization/networking in an online LIS program.  In this digital world, it is getting far more common to find people attending school online. In my case, I can't move to where I can actually attend grad school, and so I had to find an ALA accredited school that had their program completely online.  While I absolutely LOVE my program, it bugs me that there is no real socialization going on.  We have so much social media out there available, and I wonder why it is not utilized.  Plus it always completely and utterly dumbfounds me that out of a large group of online students, only a small minority use social networks.  I miss the social aspect of actually going to college; it would be nice to at least obtain a virtual representation of that now that I am in an online program.

Okay, that's enough venting for now, and I do apologize if I overly offended someone, but please remember that these things bother me.  Maybe they don't you, but they do me.  I welcome commentary, but be civil.