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From: reggie@dinsdale.paradyne.com (George W. Leach)
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.contract,comp.edu
Subject: Re: Group projects
Message-ID: <1990Jul17.120036.8944@pdn.paradyne.com>
Date: 17 Jul 90 12:00:36 GMT
References: <1990Jul8.063302.4076@xavax.com> <2616@igloo.scum.com> <1990Jul11.233006.17884@nmt.edu> <18454@rpp386.cactus.org> <1522@abvax.UUCP>
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Reply-To: reggie@dinsdale.paradyne.com (George W. Leach)
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In article <1522@abvax.UUCP> ejp@icd.ab.com (Ed Prochak) writes:
>At the University of Lowell, MA, the OS and Compiler courses
>are required core courses. The OS instructor did not require
>groups to work together, but he allowed it. (As it turned out
>my partner dropped the course, so I had to go it alone.) I
>also took the digital design Lab course which required project
>teams. We have a three person team and did very well in the course
>primarily, I think, because we did good team management. We worked
>well together, even though in the end not all of our hardware
>was finished (though everything that was finished worked).

      During the initial CS courses that I took all work was done
on an individual basis.  I felt this was most appropriate, but once
one has begun to become proficient at working on lab assignments
there certainly is a great deal of benefit to learning how to work
with others.  


      Several junior and senior level courses required group projects.
Perhaps the best one was a course where the group first had to come up
with a project and write the requirements/specifications.  After this
portion of the project was graded the instructor took them back and
redistributed them to other groups who then had to implement the project
from the spec!  Negotiations between the group who originated the spec
and the group that implemented the project were encouraged.  It was a
great learning experience.


      BTW:  I had been burnt on a number of group projects in the past
due to one member either just not showing up or not pulling his/her
weight.  The group would receive a grade as a group, so the group was
responsible.  Having to deal with the situation can be very much like
real life.

[stuff deleted]

>I really don't see why there is a problem in software courses
>with team projects. If there are also exams and other grading
>sourses within the same course (e.g. presentations, verbal exams),
>then at project completion, the instructor should have some idea
>of the ability of each student and how each may have contributed.

    Ah, but that would be more difficult for the instructor, wouldn't
it?  Remember all the discussions over the years about automatic grading
programs, true/false and fill in the blank questions on tests versus
problem solving?

George W. Leach					AT&T Paradyne 
(uunet|att)!pdn!reggie				Mail stop LG-133
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