Two years ago I decided to go back to school to work on my MA in Adult Education. It seemed like perfect timing as we had just had our second child, I was working and traveling 3 weeks out of every month and we had just bought our new home. I didn't know what to expect or even if I had it in me to finish my program but I couldn't think of a better time to start.
What I found out early on in my program was that professors love to have students work in groups. My unconfirmed theory is that in a class or 20 people, groups of 2 to 3 people means that the professor only has to grade 6 to 10 papers.
My first class and my first group consisted of me and two women. We got together after we were paired by our professor and we agreed to meet together on the next Sunday. Or project was due in three weeks and would be a timeline. It wasn't overly complicated but there would be a lot of research to get the project where we wanted it to be.
On Sunday, I arrived at the library at our arranged time and waited for my team to show. 30 minutes later and no team I started making calls. The first person I called, we'll call her Jennifer, answered the phone and didn't sound well. She explained that she had fallen down early that day and hit her head. I felt bad for her told her I understood why she hadn't shown up. My other partner, we'll call her Andrea, never answered her phone and the following class meeting didn't show up either. The project was now due in two weeks, when Andrea called to explain that she had come home early from work the Saturday before we were to get together and found her boyfriend in bed with another woman. At least that's what I think she said but can't be sure because of the crying. I explained that we still had plenty of time to put something together and that we still could have a great project.
The next weekend we again agreed to meet on Sunday at the library. Jennifer called me 40 minutes before we were to meet and said she had fallen and hit her head again. I was starting to think she either need to wear a helmet around the house or need to move to a new home with better flooring. Andrea did show up but cried for the two hours we were in the library. Her boyfriend had moved out and had taken all of her CDs. I never saw either of them again after that and ended up doing the project alone and turning it in. We got an A. Three weeks after class ended, I got a letter in the mail with $75 in it from Andrea saying thanks for helping her get through the course. My professor insisted I send back.
The following semester I again ended up in a group that the professor put together. This time is was me and 3 women. Half way through the semester one woman accused me of bullying her into pick our team project and reported me to the college dean. The dean went to the professor, the professor to me. I had no idea what she was talking about and luckily neither did anyone else on my team. We later found out that she had history of accusing teammates of various issues because she did not like working on teams. I was starting to understand why.
During my last semester I took a research course and this time was partnered up with a young man who was a graduate assistant for the football team. He insisted that somehow our project be related to football. I wasn't sure how we could relate anything to football but we came up with a study that would measure which would be more effective for football players, courses taught face-to-face or delivered on-line. I would need him to help run the study. We put together our proposal and started doing research. I never saw him again. I completed the research paper and swore to never work in a group again.
What I found out early on in my program was that professors love to have students work in groups. My unconfirmed theory is that in a class or 20 people, groups of 2 to 3 people means that the professor only has to grade 6 to 10 papers.
My first class and my first group consisted of me and two women. We got together after we were paired by our professor and we agreed to meet together on the next Sunday. Or project was due in three weeks and would be a timeline. It wasn't overly complicated but there would be a lot of research to get the project where we wanted it to be.
On Sunday, I arrived at the library at our arranged time and waited for my team to show. 30 minutes later and no team I started making calls. The first person I called, we'll call her Jennifer, answered the phone and didn't sound well. She explained that she had fallen down early that day and hit her head. I felt bad for her told her I understood why she hadn't shown up. My other partner, we'll call her Andrea, never answered her phone and the following class meeting didn't show up either. The project was now due in two weeks, when Andrea called to explain that she had come home early from work the Saturday before we were to get together and found her boyfriend in bed with another woman. At least that's what I think she said but can't be sure because of the crying. I explained that we still had plenty of time to put something together and that we still could have a great project.
The next weekend we again agreed to meet on Sunday at the library. Jennifer called me 40 minutes before we were to meet and said she had fallen and hit her head again. I was starting to think she either need to wear a helmet around the house or need to move to a new home with better flooring. Andrea did show up but cried for the two hours we were in the library. Her boyfriend had moved out and had taken all of her CDs. I never saw either of them again after that and ended up doing the project alone and turning it in. We got an A. Three weeks after class ended, I got a letter in the mail with $75 in it from Andrea saying thanks for helping her get through the course. My professor insisted I send back.
The following semester I again ended up in a group that the professor put together. This time is was me and 3 women. Half way through the semester one woman accused me of bullying her into pick our team project and reported me to the college dean. The dean went to the professor, the professor to me. I had no idea what she was talking about and luckily neither did anyone else on my team. We later found out that she had history of accusing teammates of various issues because she did not like working on teams. I was starting to understand why.
During my last semester I took a research course and this time was partnered up with a young man who was a graduate assistant for the football team. He insisted that somehow our project be related to football. I wasn't sure how we could relate anything to football but we came up with a study that would measure which would be more effective for football players, courses taught face-to-face or delivered on-line. I would need him to help run the study. We put together our proposal and started doing research. I never saw him again. I completed the research paper and swore to never work in a group again.
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