I’m a software engineering student. This semester we’re taking a User Interface Design class and there’s a final project which is 40% of the course’s grade. Here’s the thing.
I’ve always been the guy everyone went to for some help with their work. I gladly helped everyone as much as I could. But in time I ended up just doing almost all of their work. If the professor gives a group work, I’m the one who does 100% of the work (nobody shows up for the group meetings, or they’re “busy”) and everyone gets the credit. I’ve always felt it was wrong but I didn’t do anything about it because I felt it didn’t hurt anyone.
Now, the User Interface Design class project is to be done in groups of 5. The project is to create an app that implements all the design principles we’ve learnt this semester. It’s due next week and I still couldn’t get my team members to meet and get the work done. So I’m doing all the work again. I’m okay with this.
Now the problem is, other groups (not my team members but OTHER TEAMS) are asking me to give them one of the apps I created last semester. I somehow tend to overachieve and my previous works do implement most of the design principles. So far, I’ve been asked by two groups. I was angry because they are asking for something that I worked so hard on. I spent weeks on these projects and felt that giving them away this easily was just wrong. If I say “Yes” then it would mean I’d be doing half the class’s work. I said “No” but I now feel so guilty. I’m losing sleep over this.
Am I wrong? I know it’s a previous work. Others are asking me, not because they weren’t able to do it themselves, but because they don’t want to. They don’t put any effort into anything and it angers me. And they complained after I told them “No”. This is the first time that I’ve said “No”. I always said “Yes” to their every request but now I just couldn’t take it.
I’m getting headaches because of this. What should I do? Is it wrong to refuse to give my previous work?
You’re not obligated to help the other groups. Sleep easy.
If you decide to help other groups, you could possibly use this as social capitol later. You’ve helped them, they can help you. You never know when you may need help. It’s one possible way to build social networks, but it’s completely optional.
You can also let your prof know that you’re helping others, but please don’t do this in a whiny way, which I don’t think you would. “Would you prefer that I help my other classmates, which I don’t mind, or would you prefer that I refer them to the TA for the course for extra help?” Who knows? The professor might appoint you as TA and pay you for this! Not likely but a kind of a funny thought, but you never know.
You should absolutely say no to these people. Think of what’s going to happen when they hit the real world and there is no one to cheat off of? Your doing them more of a service to make them do it themselves, not to mention that they have absolutely no rights to your work.
My son is a comp sci major, and his university is very clear that this type of sharing (providing previous work, copying code, etc.) can get you expelled. If I were you, I’d quit doing it. Just say no and don’t apologize.
Why are you okay with doing all the work for your team? That’s foolish and takes away from time you could spend doing other things. You should insist on their help, and if you don’t get any explain to your professors what you contributed and what they contributed.
Do not under any circumstances give the other groups your work. It could easily get YOU expelled. I know someone who got caught selling her work last year and she is the one who got in permanent trouble rather than the purchasers.
You are an honor code violation waiting to happen. I hate to put it so bluntly but you need to to understand this. It’s not just the people “receiving” your help that would be cited for the violation but you would also be significantly culpable in this. My son’s E-school is cracking down on this type thing and it’s forcing students to do very little collaboration on homework. If they have problems or questions, they need to see TA’s or profs to be on the safe side, especially in the coding assignments. Like others, I’m squarely in the just say no camp
Thank you for your comments everybody. I just needed a second opinion on this.
Thanks. Could be a way to build social networks but this is not just a one time thing. And it gets worse and worse. It starts out as a “help” but it ends up me doing the whole thing. The case now is taking my old work, striking off my name and writing theirs. I don’t think I’ll be telling the professor and complicate things. And as it is mentioned here, that could get me in trouble.
Thanks. I’ll take your advice and say “no”.
I could opt to do the project alone but they come and ask to form a group. I just see it as writing extra names on the project. What made this situation worse was that other groups were asking me to give them my work.
I didn’t know it was this serious. Thanks.
I didn’t know this could get me in trouble. I’ll take yours and others advices and say no. Thanks
I suspect the reason that you are having problems getting your group to do their work is simple. They know you will pick up the slack and that they will get a great grade without having to do any work. Your willingness to help is being taken advantage off. You need to start saying no and also need to pick better group members. Until then you will be a doormat that will be walked on. Harsh but likely true.
As others mentioned, giving code to other groups would be consider a serious honor code violation. Submitting a group project that was completely done by one person sound like a gray area to me. Basically your follow group members are taking credit for work they did not contribute to and receiving credit for work they did not do.
Why don’t you just do the projects by yourself? Your classmates should be earning the grades, and ultimately the degree that they will be receiving upon graduation. You sound like a really hardworking student and your classmates are treating you like a doormat. Unless you plan on walking across the stage for them, you should probably start working alone or getting your teammates to pick up the slack.
You, my friend, are a doormat. Your insecurities are making you do all the work within your group so that no one gets mad at you. And, when faced with the choice of “helping” other groups, you say “no” but feel super guilty about it? Some things to think about:
you ARE hurting your teammates by doing all the work and letting them off the hook. It reinforces behavior that will bite them and hard either further along in college or in the real world. Stop letting them slide - break up the project into distinct parts, assign roles, set up meetings, and document everything so that you can approach the professor or TA or whoever to show them who really wound up doing the work;
helping other groups not only probably violates cheating policy, but if you are graded on a curve, WHY would you help the competition? Is it an ego thing - I want to show them how awesome I am by helping them? Stop feeling guilty. It is a wasted emotion in this situation. You have made yourself very clear to us - now do it with them.
I understand the impulse to take the lead on group projects - if it’s a matter of you failing if the group fails, then you are motivated to do a good job so your grade is preserved. There will be leaders and slackers in any group project.
However there is absolutely NO reason to share work with others. Aside from the fact that it probably constitutes academic dishonesty, why should they profit from your hard work. You can certainly direct those students towards helpful resources or help a classmate that is struggling with a specific problem if you feel like being nice. But that’s as far as I would go. And no reason to feel guilty!
It is absolutely wrong to give them your old app…and is against the honor code of your college. Period.
I agree with @redpoodles …imagine the worst case where the professor finds out it was yours and you get expelled/failed. You think you are being “nice” in helping them cheat but then you get screwed.
“Man, I wish I could but I have horror stories about the academic integrity counsel and I am not getting thrown out of school for this.”
You sound empathetic but are saying NO.
Another reason not to feel guilty is if you give them the app, and they get an A in the class, that is your college giving them the stamp of approval that they know how to create an excellent app. But they really don’t. And if these people get hired and they cannot perform, then employers say “those graduates of University of X don’t know what they are doing” and then they don’t want to hire people like you.
You can say “No but if you tell me your idea I can spend 5 minutes telling you my thoughts on it”
Now for the people in your group ask yourself if you are really letting them do any work?
Sometimes people think they can do it better/faster and just do it themselves.
Are there parts(testing, documentation, presentation) that th eothers can do?
Thanks everyone. I ended up saying “No” to the other groups but I ended up doing the whole thing for my group. Yesterday was the presentation day. Before the presentation, I spent over an hour explaining what it was that we were supposed to do and what the project was all about. Well, something annoying happened during the presentation. They wouldn’t let me speak at all. Right after I start, they cut me in and start talking. They’re just repeating what I had explained to them before we got in. I mean, there were even some more stuff that I was going to explain but they just wouldn’t let me finish. Annoyingly, some of them got an A+ while I got only an A. I know, there really is not much of a difference between the two but I felt like I deserved the A+.
@bopper I tried letting them do the work before and I got disappointed quite a lot. For example, there was a project last semester where we had to make a checkers game. I was in a group with the same students. There were lots of other projects so I asked them if they could do the checkers game and I’d do the other projects. Two weeks pass, I’m done with the other projects and I wanted to see how they did with the checkers game. Well, to my disappointment, they have only made the board in some drawing program. No single line of code was written. And yeah, I ended up doing it all by myself as well.
I’ve decided to do all project by my own from now on. And maybe I should start to learn saying no without feeling guilty about it. Nothing bad happened after i said no to the other teams, so what’s left now is to start saying no to my current group and start setting some boundaries.
And again, thank you all for your replies. They were really helpful.
You need to learn to work in a team. Going off on your own won’t help you in the working world. I think the doormat comment above is accurate. Rather than retreating, you need to learn to organize a team, distribute work, hold people accountable, prepare for presentations so everyone knows their role ahead of time, and speak up to the prof if your group members are not pulling their weight.