Group Projects
Today, in my Interpersonal Communication class, I did a group presentation that counted for about one-quarter of my grade. In high school, I absolutely dreaded group projects, but I actually really enjoy group projects now. This one in particular was a lot of fun to work on.I despised group projects in high school because I felt like I always had to take charge. And by take charge, I actually mean do most, if not all, of the work. My peers in high school had been in my classes since elementary school. We all had our unofficial roles and the group setting and our interactions were extremely predictable. I was the worker. If I didn’t do the project, it often didn’t get done. My peers were always more than willing to allow this.
As a pre-med student, I haven’t really had many group projects in my time at Vanderbilt. Many classes, especially those in Human and Organizational Development, in contrast, place an emphasis on group work. In some form or another, all Vanderbilt students will have some exposure to collaborative projects.
Interpersonal Communication, as the name implies, is a class about two person relationships and communication. Thus the presentation I had today was a 50 minute creative lecture on conflict. My group decided to make a skit in which the class was a television “Dr. Phil/ Maury” show featuring our group members as an arguing couple, the show’s host and the show’s resident therapist.
I loved working on this project because I was able to make some new friends. I would absolutely make social plans with any of my group members outside of class. Also, I was extremely impressed with everybody’s willingness to work and get creative. I guess I should have assumed that everybody was competent and would be willing to work, but I completely underestimated my group’s enthusiasm.
We had a blast writing and practicing our skit. I think this was evident in our presentation because our professor complimented us on our enthusiasm and chemistry.
I still love to study on my own, but this group project was a breath of fresh air.