Group Projects

One of the things I like doing best is teaching. For years now I have been teaching a public relations class to upper level undergraduate students, most of whom are communication majors. One of the tasks I assign students is a group project in which they are called upon to create a PR campaign with community service being the theme. Examples of past projects students have done include canned food drives, pet adoption, blood drive, and book collections. As the current semester of classes winds down, the groups, which number between 4-5 in size, are now making their presentations and turning in their notebooks for my evaluation.

Working with others is not easy. This continues to be one observation of mine as I assess the efforts of the students and listen to them talk about their experience in doing this assignment. Often they talk of the difficulty of actually meeting in-person to plan or keeping each other "in the loop." They are busy; some live on campus and some off; most have jobs in addition to going to class so they are not accessibility to meet face-to-face with each other; and they do not always respond to each other's text messages or emails. Consequently, more often than not, the finished product, though well-intentioned, is often thin on details. It is not uncommon to see some of the students walk away from the experience finding it to be more frustrating than rewarding.

I know all about busy schedules and the challenge of remaining in-sync with others with whom you are working or collaborating. It can be really difficult. One way to help ease this potential problem is through communication. Out of sight does not have to mean out of mind. In today's world with so much technology at our disposal, I tell the students that giving their partners updates on where they are on a joint project is far easier than it used to be. Failing to do so says more about them than it does the partner.