quote: | Originally posted by srussell0018
No, and stop trying to prove yourself to be right with nonsensical analogies. |
And stop trying to say that I am wrong just because I haven't directly experienced it.
Group projects, no matter the setting, have many things in common, and as such you can make determinations on their over all quality based on experiences not directly involved in those groups.
If you consider that a broad sample of the a larger population, representing at least a majority of all types of people, attend undergraduate studies, then you can make assumptions on how a group would interact in the college setting by extrapolating data or experiences from the over all population. This is especially true because a college population is not a unique, free standing, or isolated population, but is one that is comprised of people that at some point have either been, or will be part of the larger population in which the initial opinion is determined from. Using examples of both prior and post group experiences I will explain how group activity can be directly modeled in this transitory phase.
A determination of the group activity's quality can be made when you apply the qualities of post-educational group activity (working in groups during the course of employment) to the group activity in an undergraduate environment. You can also apply the experiences of pre-higher education activities to undergraduate group work quality as well. I will share the similarities between work and undergraduate/post-graduate education first.
In college/university a comparison can be drawn between groups that are found in a work-place environment and those in non-general education courses. In most circumstances in non-GE course, a shared interest or common goal, will can determine if the group members individual interest will be enough to motivate them to contribute in a constructive and productive manner. This follows in line with that of a work place where the common motivation of monetary gain and continued employment, and often a shared general interest in the actual work material will determine the quality if the groups product.
In an undergraduate setting where GE courses are required you can draw a parallel between pre-higher higher eduction experiences and those of the undergraduate GE courses due to the fact that GE and high school courses are compulsory. While the motivations can often be the same as those in GE courses to do well, that of achieving a good grade, learning the material, and over all educational experience, a subset of this population will not share these motivations because they have not actively chosen to take the courses they are involved in. In these cases experiences can be negatively influenced by participants that do not feel a connection to the subject manner, or motivation to work in an environment that they did not chose to be in.
All of these example situations negate the influence of personal differences between members of the same group and are solely based on whether or not participants in a group will actively participate in a manner that is able to achieve the groups assigned task. Often, these factors play a larger role in a groups effectiveness, but this is not the focus of the current debate.
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