Fix 5 Common Complaints About Team Projects
Team projects are increasingly common on today’s campuses. Faculty view these projects as a valuable tool for authentic learning. Students, however, see a number of drawbacks. TeamSpot addresses some of students’ primary concerns.
“I end up doing all the work.”
TeamSpot encourages a better collaboration dynamic that leaves less room for “slacking.” It allows greater transparency of parallel work and group editing so everyone is encouraged to contribute equally.
“I don’t learn any better by working in a team.”
Students have more opportunity to share supporting data, draft content, and/or online references in the midst of formulating their thoughts. This opens the door to interactive discussion and greater comprehension of material.
“Team projects take a lot more time.”
TeamSpot eliminates the overhead of integrating independently developed sections. Working in parallel, students can “divide and conquer” project tasks more efficiently, accelerating their efforts by soliciting input from each other as needed, when needed.
“We never seem to resolve anything in our email discussions.”
Students can avoid “wars of attrition” that can develop in disjoint online exchanges. By sharing intermediate results and discussing issues in real-time, they can maintain group cohesion and work towards commonly agreed-to goals.
“I didn’t get a chance to read the final report until it was too late.”
Because students are able to share content as they develop it, they have numerous opportunities to shape aspects of the project, even those they are not personally completing. The end result better reflects the entire group’s effort.