Group Projects and their ability to promote ideas

Along with most people, my relationship with group projects has been very strained. I often found myself either being a sole contributor or having little to offer. My difficulties lay in the uncertainty of thinking that I either know nothing or my respective partners don’t care enough to contribute. Despite these things, I find it exceptionally important to state that the group work done in this class was not only enjoyable, but also beneficial. To be quite frank, I dreaded the thought of a group blog post. I am very stubborn; when I believe something is correct my mind rarely strays from the fact that I’m correct. This is obviously problematic, it certainly doesn’t make my life easier, especially when considering that I’m wrong most of the time (who would’ve thought.) However, when addressing our blog post, I found it particularly easy to discuss our thoughts on the matter. As a group, the issue of consent was ironically not an issue. Our thought processes seemed to coincide, and whenever there was an issue, that issue was resolved by a simple discussion that in no way hindered our ability to be productive. We decided early on that each person would be in charge of a portion of the blog post, and we then discussed how we wanted to address each portion. The end result was what I consider to be one of the best group projects that I had ever been a part of. Not only did I maintain an interest in the topic, I felt like I had contributed in a meaningful way, and I was appreciative of the insight that my group had given. Overall, that exercise was an example of when group projects are productive. It seems basic, but there is often a degree of difficulty when it comes to sharing one’s ideas with a group of people who may not necessarily agree. Was it perfect? Of course not. There will never be perfection when performing the balancing act that is many different ideas in a conclusive essay. Despite this, I have a newfound appreciation for group projects, especially when it means everyone in said project gets to showcase their strengths.