Don’t be the loafer.

When studying either externally or on campus, at some stage you may be required to do a group assignment as part of your assessment.

This can be a frustrating type of assignment especially if you have a loafer in your group. A loafer is one that doesn’t do the work required but expects the credit at the end.

Join an online group as soon as possible as I find those who join first are usually on the ball and ready to work. A wiki is usually where online group work will take place. If there are topics where you are assigned as a leader, ask questions for the others to answer.

Remember the due date is there for a reason but don’t leave your answers and ideas until the last day as the topic leader needs to summarise and most likely post a group response in the forums. Don’t use ‘I work all week’ or ‘it’s not due until tomorrow’ as an excuse not to check the wiki and provide your input. It is better to be up-to-date and involved with the discussion than to whinge that you didn’t get your input posted.

If you are unfortunate enough to have a loafer in your group, you may need to send them a private email along the lines of ‘I hope you are okay, such and such is due tomorrow’. If they do not respond to the group by the deadlines, keep moving along with the topic. The lecturer will read the wiki posts and ascertain who participated actively within the group and who did not respond enough.

You may have the opportunity to do an individual reflective essay on the group assignment where you can talk about participation within the group including the positives and negatives.

Ensuring that you take accountability for your participation in the group will mean an enriched learning experience for you.