(no subject)
Tomorrow morning, we hand in the project that I am most scared about. Probably good that it's getting out of the way early in the week. It's definitely a difficult project, don't get me wrong, but I have other reasons to be concerned. It's for a prof who I already had last semester. My group project in her class last semester just tanked; I'm pretty sure we passed just on the merit of having handed in an attempt on time. The prof was quite concerned about the whole thing. While I think I would have reflected on the situation anyway, her "active interest" made sure I did so very thoroughly.
There were a lot of reasons it turned out that way, and in comparing it to all my projects that went well, I definitely learned a lot. Communication is key, etc etc etc. I haven't worked with any of those people again this semester, although I'm certain I would have been able to do so successfully if it had come to pass. For the first few months of school, I was barely social at all. I talked to people in class, but ate alone most lunchtimes, and when it came to groupwork I partnered with whatever other stragglers were around.
It was only in the few weeks around exams that I settled into a sort of core group, and actually socialized outside of class a few times. That pod has stuck together this term. It's been awhile since anyone has had time for much fun, but we made it out a few times earlier on, and at least there are still opportunities for lunchtime shenanigans. Project wise, we've stayed together for the most part.
For this particular assignment, our numbers didn't work out, so I volunteered to strike out on my own. I didn't leave it completely to chance, I asked to join a group that needed one more. I'd worked with one of them before quite successfully, and I know she'd worked with the rest of them on several things, so it seemed like a good choice.
We delegated the work early on, have been sharing progress and co-editing by email, worked in person as a group, and met with the prof twice. It was definitely a difficult project, but everyone made useful contributions. As far as I know, all the edited sections were sent to the person formatting the final submission by late this afternoon. Not too shabby at all.
It's just about guaranteed that we'll exceed the mark I got on December's fiasco, but I'm going to be paranoid about it until I make it to the end of the semester. Until then, every time I even see that prof, I'm going to worry that she's about to pull me aside for another one of those horribly awkward concerned discussions. By the time one of those exchanges occurs, there's nothing that can be done about the situation (at least, we had no chance to fix our paper last term). I don't even want to bother rehashing anything that doesn't work out well between now and the end of class - I just want to get on with life!
There were a lot of reasons it turned out that way, and in comparing it to all my projects that went well, I definitely learned a lot. Communication is key, etc etc etc. I haven't worked with any of those people again this semester, although I'm certain I would have been able to do so successfully if it had come to pass. For the first few months of school, I was barely social at all. I talked to people in class, but ate alone most lunchtimes, and when it came to groupwork I partnered with whatever other stragglers were around.
It was only in the few weeks around exams that I settled into a sort of core group, and actually socialized outside of class a few times. That pod has stuck together this term. It's been awhile since anyone has had time for much fun, but we made it out a few times earlier on, and at least there are still opportunities for lunchtime shenanigans. Project wise, we've stayed together for the most part.
For this particular assignment, our numbers didn't work out, so I volunteered to strike out on my own. I didn't leave it completely to chance, I asked to join a group that needed one more. I'd worked with one of them before quite successfully, and I know she'd worked with the rest of them on several things, so it seemed like a good choice.
We delegated the work early on, have been sharing progress and co-editing by email, worked in person as a group, and met with the prof twice. It was definitely a difficult project, but everyone made useful contributions. As far as I know, all the edited sections were sent to the person formatting the final submission by late this afternoon. Not too shabby at all.
It's just about guaranteed that we'll exceed the mark I got on December's fiasco, but I'm going to be paranoid about it until I make it to the end of the semester. Until then, every time I even see that prof, I'm going to worry that she's about to pull me aside for another one of those horribly awkward concerned discussions. By the time one of those exchanges occurs, there's nothing that can be done about the situation (at least, we had no chance to fix our paper last term). I don't even want to bother rehashing anything that doesn't work out well between now and the end of class - I just want to get on with life!