Five Ways to Take the Stress Out of Group Projects at Uni

Learn to love your group assignments.

This post is presented in partnership with Monash Business School.

Prepare to cringe: we’re gonna talk about the dreaded group assignment.

While we all probably hate this kind of assessment, we all must do it at least once during our stint at university, and if you’re studying a practical field, all your assessments will likely be with peers or classmates (yikes).

Thankfully, we’re here to help take the pressure off by giving you our best tips on how to manage a group assignment, even if someone on your team isn’t pulling their weight.

Let’s get started:

Get to know your group members.

Let’s get real: it’s very unlikely that you’ll get to choose your group assignment team members, let alone know them already. So, your first step to taking the stress out of group assignments is getting to know your team members.

Catch up after class, grab a coffee or book out a room in the library. Learning about what your teammates are studying, what their strengths are and any ideas they might have for your project can be super helpful.

If you're an online student or are currently stuck in lockdown, make sure you meet your group mates on Zoom, Teams or Skype to get to know them a bit better and take that individual pressure off your shoulders a little bit. This will speed things up big time and give you great insights into the different skill sets of your team.

The better you know your team members the easier it will be to assign roles, chase people up if they’re running a bit behind, or give respectful and constructive feedback on shared work.

Plus, who doesn’t like making new friends? Your future bestie could be hidden in this set of classmates.

Assign specific and actionable roles and tasks.

Once you know each other a little better, it’s time to break up your assignment into roles and tasks.

Give each member the opportunity to share their ideas, strengths, or weaknesses so that you can get an idea of who should take on what task.

Dividing up the project in this way will ensure that all the work is completed fairly and plays to the strengths of each team member.

If it helps to define things further, give each person a title, word count or a specific number of jobs to complete. The more particular you are about the details, the easier it is for team members to take responsibility and ownership for their tasks  

At this point, make sure you’re hearing everyone’s voice and opinions so no one gets stuck with a job they hate or don’t feel confident completing.

Use a group chat service.

When you don’t have a regular place to meet or prefer studying from home, group assignments can quickly unravel. That’s why before you head off to get workin’, you’ll want to create some kind of group chat.

Use Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, Teams, or whatever your fave social media service is and connect with your group mates.

This is the best way to keep tabs on everyone’s roles, share any ideas and work on proofreading without having to travel all the way to campus (it’s also a biggie if you’re an online student).

Group chats are also a great way to get to know your group mates on a more personal basis. Go on, have some bants, you know you want to!

Use collaborative documents.

To avoid having to share all your work via Facebook or email, why not just start with an online collaborative doc so that everyone can contribute from the get-go.

Using a tool like Google Docs or Microsoft Word online will allow everyone to make sure that the work is getting done on time. Plus, it'll give you the opportunity to edit or have your work edited by others.

This style of work could save your butt if you wind up in a situation where a group member doesn’t complete their work or decides to have a crack at it right at the last minute.

Have regular catch-ups.

Finally, the ultimate key to group assignments is regular catch-ups. Whether in person or over video chat, making sure everyone is on the same page and coping with the workload will ensure that your assignment gets the big marks.

Communication is what matters most in group work and it’s important to remember that while group assignments sometimes suck. They’re designed to teach you how to work and collaborate with different people and work styles—‘cos that’s what real workplaces are like.

And with a career in business or a job collaborating with diverse people, learning how to work well in a strong, confident team is a super valuable and transferrable skill.

If you wanna learn more about the importance of collaboration or business at Monash, check out the courses on offer on Monash Business School’s website.

Header Image: Brooke Cagle via Unsplash