As I receive a notification, telling me the syllabus has been posted, an intense wave of anxiety passes through me.
“Please don’t let there be group work, please … please …”
“Ugh! There is group work. A lot of group work.”
I know, I know … group work is inevitable in any work environment. Yes, there are always going to be difficult people to work with at any job; therefore, collaborative projects in school will only help me in the future. I get that.
It’s not that I don’t like working with other people. Sure, I like to be in control of my own grades, and I like to know that the grade I receive is directly correlated to my personal efforts. However, I also understand the benefits of having multiple perspectives and appreciate the input of other people.
Coming into my first year of university this past fall, I heard horror stories of students having to do entire projects the night before the deadline as others were unresponsive. As someone who always aims to get things done days, or even weeks, in advance, I was worried. But I quickly realized that I didn’t have to worry about that terrible scenario happening at all. So far, with every group experience, I have found that the majority of other students will put in their best efforts just as I do. However, along with this realization, I have found a negative factor that made me hate group work more than ever before.
The issue isn’t working with other people. The issue is working with other people virtually.
Choosing Groups
As a first-year student, anytime a professor instructs the class to choose their own groups, I sink into my chair. I know maybe about two people who go to this school, and those two people are most definitely not in the exact same classes as me. Without a classroom environment, I can’t just turn to the person beside me. The act of having to message someone I have never spoken to, or an entire chat of a hundred people, hoping to find an open spot, stresses me out. A lot.
Time Differences
Setting up a time during which everyone is available is hard enough. With the added factor of time differences, I’m not surprised that students are waking up at 5 AM for a group assignment or regularly staying up past midnight. And then there’s the element of miscommunication as half the group joins the call three hours late, thinking they are on time because they live in Vancouver.
Zoom Burnout
I wake up in the morning for a three-hour lecture. Then, I attend another one in the afternoon. After a quick lunch break, I go through a few asynchronous slides from another class. Oh, and at night I attend a weekly team meeting for one of my extra-curricular clubs. To add on a few group meetings in between all that isn’t uncommon. As students struggle to match their schedules with all their different courses going on, it’s no big deal to have to settle for four calls within a single day. But, it should be a big deal. Zoom burnout is real, and the added calls sure don’t help to mitigate its effects.
Sheer Awkwardness
Everyone seems to be just slightly more awkward in a virtual environment than in reality. Maybe it’s the fact that all microphones are muted unless someone actually has a question. Or, maybe it’s the fact that nonverbal communication can’t exist through a black screen and a name printed in Arial font. I can’t even whisper a few sentences to one individual person without having to proclaim it to the entire group to hear, so it’s much easier to just sit in silence. And finishing an entire project without even knowing the faces of other peers has been completely normalized by now. It’s not anyone’s fault … it’s just really awkward.
Overall, I understand that some forms of group work are inevitable. Marking hundreds of papers is near-impossible so having each person deliver their own presentation is simply unfeasible. However, in a time of uncertainty where teaching methods have been altered to suit the frame of my Macbook screen, I believe group assignments should also be adjusted to ease any added stress. Hopefully, things will go back to normal soon, but in the meantime, there are ways to mitigate student struggles, such as preparing an option for pre-assigned groups, allocating class time for collaborative sessions, or just simply assigning fewer team projects.
Sincerely,
Jessica