Faculty Members: What should group project dissenters do?

[Anonymous]

My son, who’s doing well in college and in a sociology class, called to complain that the other members of his sociology class group have agreed on what he feels is a dumb, somewhat offensive approach to a group project. (The project is a video about an issue in Spain, the team members picked the topic, none of the group members is Spanish, and the video includes humor based on stereotypical ideas about Spain.)

My son doesn’t know if he’ll get to do a post-project assessment.

I didn’t know what to tell him. I never felt good about how I handled a group project.

In cases like this, would faculty members prefer that:

A. Students keep their mouths shut and be loyal to the group, even if the group is displeasing.

B. Ask for the chance to do a post-project assessment.

C. Submit the project, along with a separate note about their concerns.

[Anonymous]

I would advise C, if he was not able to persuade his group to do something else. That way, at least his contribution can impact the overall tone of the project.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son, who’s doing well in college and in a sociology class, called to complain that the other members of his sociology class group have agreed on what he feels is a dumb, somewhat offensive approach to a group project. (The project is a video about an issue in Spain, the team members picked the topic, none of the group members is Spanish, and the video includes humor based on stereotypical ideas about Spain.)

My son doesn’t know if he’ll get to do a post-project assessment.

I didn’t know what to tell him. I never felt good about how I handled a group project.

In cases like this, would faculty members prefer that:

A. Students keep their mouths shut and be loyal to the group, even if the group is displeasing.

B. Ask for the chance to do a post-project assessment.

C. Submit the project, along with a separate note about their concerns.

Depending on how offensive, it may not be something that they want to be associated with, especially if it's on video

[Anonymous]

This is great practice on how to persuade a group, or at least ensure that your views are somehow represented in the final product.

Can he argue to somehow include the alternative interpretation, perhaps as a post-script/counterpoint?

Step back and see that this could turn into a valuable experience, on how to manage a situation that will he will likely encounter at some point in a future workplace.

He can certainly communicate privately with the instructor to share his concerns, but that should perhaps happen once he has tried his best to work with his peers.

[Anonymous]

He needs to find out if there is a post-assignment assessment. Make a decision based on that information. It's too early to decide.

[Anonymous]

Enough with all the stupid group projects. It is not kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

This is what office hours are for. He needs to go to office hours and ask for more clarification and guidance. Here it would also be good to suggest that everyone in the group go to office hours together. Alternately, drop a note with a summary of the group project to the professor, and if there's something offensive, the prof can have a generic discussion about what makes a good project and a not so good one in class without naming names. Believe me, we have seen everything! This problem is only new to you, not us!

[Anonymous]

I'm a prof and I would say a) talk to the group first and try to get them to change their minds and if that doesn't work after a number of attempts--including directly saying "I do not feel comfortable including this video, what are we going to do about that" b) talk to the prof about the issue but in a diplomatic way--e.g., I'm not really comfortable with the direction my group is going because of x, how do you suggest I handle that.

As a prof, I usually have a pre-assignment talk where everybody raises issues they have had with group work in the past and then we collectively discuss how to respectfully handle challenges. That way the issues are noted before they become personalized. I also do an post-reflection where everyone writes down the role they took on, the roles others took on and reflect on their collaboration. 99% of the time this seems to eliminate issues with group work, and then I handle the remaining 1% on a case-by-case basis. I do not make the assumption that if 3 of the 4 group members complain about the other one that they are in the wrong--because sometimes the lone voice is just raising reasonable concerns.

Even with all that, I try to make the group project not a major part of the grade and something they can make up in other ways just to lower the stakes of it all. But learning to work in a group is critical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Enough with all the stupid group projects. It is not kindergarten.

I disagree--in most work environments you have to work in groups and teams. It's important to learn how to manage this.

[Anonymous]

He needs to go to office hours and talk to the professor, especially about what he thinks may be offensive. The professor may have some.hints on how to handle the situation.

[Anonymous]

I'd go to office hours and ask the instructor for advice on how to navigate

[Anonymous]

I’m the OP. Thank you for all the answers.

[Anonymous]

Yep. Tell the faculty member. We would always rather hear about problems early so that we can troubleshoot and help. Most of my students whose course experiences go south discover far too late that I would have been able to help them if they had let me know they were struggling. It is in my interest, too: it is far easier to fix any kind of issue when it is identified up front.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd go to office hours and ask the instructor for advice on how to navigate

That only works if the professor agrees the other students' direction is ill-advised and deals with it discretely. If the professor agrees with the majority or "outs" the student who asks for advice, it could make for a very uncomfortable situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd go to office hours and ask the instructor for advice on how to navigate

That only works if the professor agrees the other students' direction is ill-advised and deals with it discretely. If the professor agrees with the majority or "outs" the student who asks for advice, it could make for a very uncomfortable situation.

That would be an unusual professor to do that. If the student is diplomatic--asking how should I handle an issue like this, not complaining about group members--it's not really a problem.

It's an uncomfortable situation already--I don't think there's a downside to going to the prof as long as it doesn't seem like explicit complaining about group members.