Love them, hate them, feel pretty neutral about them – group projects and presentations will haunt your life as a university student, and there is no way of getting out of them ( Don’t fake an illness, it’s so obvious and your colleagues may hold a grudge against you forever).
Written by a second year who has survived a fair share of group projects and presentations ( and watched some pretty disastrous ones..) this article is a guide for students who might be slightly unsure about what to expect from group work at university level.
Getting to know your course mates
For the majority of course presentations, the people you will be paired with will be completely random — all the more reason for putting in some effort in getting to know them. A good idea my friend had last year was to invite her project group out for Coffee after their seminar, giving them some vital time to become well acquainted with each other. This meant that when it came to working and calling outside of lectures, the atmosphere was a lot less awkward than it could’ve been. So, jf like me and you are a little introverted, put a little bit of effort into being social at the beginning — it’ll make a good impression on your team, perfect for teamwork.
That being said, if you have a group presentation coming up and you have a friend or two in your seminar that you would feel comfortable working with, then it’s absolutely a good idea to drop your tutor a cheeky email asking to be put together. For my group presentation this semester, my friends and I managed to get ourselves into a group together, and our tutor didn’t need much convincing! Most seminar leaders are not out to get you or make you nervous about this work, and are usually more than ready to make reasonable adjustments for you.
Whilst grouping with your friends maybe an excellent safety net, it’s only really available for those lucky ones who have seminars with their friends. It’s perhaps a 90% chance that you will be grouped with someone you don’t know, but unfortunately this is just life in general — your future workplace will be full of people who you’ll have to work to get to know properly. Group presentations still make me unimaginably nervous, but what helps me is to think about it as an investment, an opportunity to train that’ll be useful later in life. And who knows? By the end of your time working together, you might have made some new course friends.
Timings, timings and timings
As the subheading suggests, timings for university level presentations are highly important. If you’re given time frame is eight minutes, and you go over or under, you may be marked down. What I found helpful is the voice recorder app. I recorded myself speaking about my section several times in the run up to the presentation, constantly double checking that I was just speaking for a minute. Whilst you might hear yourself talk and think ‘I don’t need to check this I can’t be speaking over the time limit’, always double check yourself. Especially considering this is a group project and in most cases you will be graded as a group, so if you’re responsible for a mistake, be prepared to feel guilty about it until the earth explodes.
No, you are not as good at graphic design as you might think
Don’t be like Ed. For his presentation, Ed once decided to include the funkiest and strangest slide transitions that haven’t been seen since primary school IT class. The seminar leader only found it funny for the first two slides, and then spent the next 7 minutes staring in silent dissatisfaction.
For the most part, the way the university system expects you to handle the layout of your presentation is professional, factual and precise. This statement is common sense, however, some students still think that fancy graphics will distract the marker from their slightly iffy group work but this is not the case. If anything, you will get a worse grade.
- don’t add huge chunks of text to the slides, bullet point key words (theory names, the theorists themselves, time periods etc) and then expand on these verbally
- Don’t go overboard on images, only use them when completely relevant and they add significance to your topic
- Try to have an overarching style or theme across your slides (font, sizing etc) otherwise it is painfully obvious that group members have not been working together
Revision : Flash cards or full memorisation
I am totally biased here — if you’re like me and you’re not comfortable with public speaking, sometimes the only way to feel fully prepared is to know what you’re planning to say word for word. Whilst this isn’t the easiest way to learn your notes, I found having a complete grip on my lines the only way I could feel confident in my ability to speak. In the week running up to my presentation, i memorised my dialogue by writing it out several times, and then doing maybe half an hour of speaking it aloud, though it became closer to an hour when it was a couple of days away. This tactic is definitely not a one size fits all solution to every students memory problems, and in fact, most students I encounter have the most luck with flash card revision. It’s also a great comfort to have some written cards with you in the moment, adding that crucial layer of safety as you know that you’ll be alright even if you forget something.
What to do if a course mate has vanished
It’s unfortunate, but the likelihood that you’ll have a group partner who drops off the face of the earth, and won’t answer the project group chat even though you can quite clearly see that they’re active on instagram is quite high. Every one of my friends has a different version of this same story, so it’s best to be prepared for something ( or someone) to go wrong, and then at least you’ll be ready. I’ve listed some steps below that are a good idea to think about if you find yourself in this situation
Number 1 – If you have concerns about a member of your group, try and relay your issues to your seminar leader as early as possible. I totally get that ‘early’ is not always possible, and in this case you should still contact a member of staff
Number 2 – familiarise yourself with the topics covered by your project mates. In the event that an individual hasn’t completed their work and the deadline is the next day
At the point where you’ve basically had to do their work for them? If you feel that you have done too much work for a lazy course mate for the survival of the group project, then let your supervisor know! They will be able to take statements from you and adjust grades accordingly, often penalising the one responsible for you taking on extra work. As an example, i am aware that in the event of a student not pulling their weight Cardiff university’s policy is to grade students individually rather than as a group.
Ultimately, whilst its very easy to get stressed about group presentations, this article has hopefully proved that there is always a way for dealing with any hypothetical nightmare. University staff have seen everything, and they will be able to offer you support — whether its an M.I.A team member or you lose your voice the night before, there is a solution. I won’t be cliche and ask you to enjoy your time in a group presentation as that’s pretty impossible, but hopefully you can view it know as an unfortunate yet beneficial activity.