<p>.. Im having an issue with my current Geology professor. This morning our mid-term projects (45% of our grade, consisting of a diorama and a 25 minute presentation) were due, and our group of three was up to present first. I had two partners, Lauren and Jen (made these names up). We worked our asses off on the diorama over the last month and were meeting up to work on it ~5 times per week. We all worked well together and no one was dead-weight or having more work to do than anyone else.</p>
<p>Last night we were at Lauren's apartment until 4:30 AM putting finishing touches on the diorama and once it was finally done, we left it at Lauren's since she said she'd bring it to class with her this morning for our presentation, since her apartment is the closest one (about 7 blocks) from the class.</p>
<p>Well, she didn't show up to class this morning. About 5 minutes into class Jen and I started fidgeting and hyperventilating basically and then Jen got a text from Lauren. It said something like "hi i overslept and need to shower so i wont be in class but i took a pic of the diorama on my phone just show it to the professor," with the picture attached to the message.</p>
<p>We got called up and had no diorama. Jen showed the profesor the text message and the picture, and the professor asked for our rubrics and told us to sit down. After class we got our rubrics back and we got a 0 for presentation, 0 for information, and a 25% for the diorama because it existed but wasn't present. Hereby giving us a 15% on the project and ultimately giving us like a guaranteed C or D+ in the course. When this was ** CLEARLY ** Lauren's fault; but unfortunately the prof has is stated in the sylabus that each group member receives the same grade on projects regardless of extenuating circumstances.</p>
<p>If this is was in the syllabus, are we essentially screwed over? Do you have any suggestions, or was this rational?</p>
<p>That is pretty awful…how could someone work that hard on the project with you, and then just not show up? </p>
<p>There’s been cases of that at my college, and usually the profs would consider if something like that happened. But the reality is, how can he grade you and your other partner if he couldn’t see your project or presentation? And if he already assigned the grades, then he may not step back on them.</p>
<p>You could either approach him on your own, or have the 3rd girl approach him and explain the situation and that it was entirely her own fault. I don’t know if it would matter at all to him, but if he’s going to be approached, might as well be from the one who’s not going to do the whining but rather apologize and try to set things right.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, how did the 3rd girl respond to the grade? Did she seem sorry at all or did she just panic and decide it was easier to take the F than show up?</p>
<p>Seriously. Grades are more important to me than something trivial like that. She could have just gone back and showered after class. Ugh.</p>
<p>Anyway, your professor is well within his rights. It’s not like he sprung this on you either- it stated clearly in the syllabus that there was no individual grades in groups. The best thing to do now would be to approach him as a group and have ‘Lauren’ take all responsibility (since it is, in fact, her fault).</p>
<p>Obviously this is a huge letdown. I would for sure give Lauren a piece of my mind. Maybe talk to your professor, then visit the Dean. IDK. Im just suggesting what I have already learned in my Freshman College Survival Class or as I like to label it, College Noob Class. </p>
<p>IDK, good luck man. Did you learn a lesson? Next time, you bring that thing to your house and you take care of the transportation. Thats what I would have done, then again your not me and Im not you.</p>
<p>But seriously: I hated group projects in elementary school, middle school, high school and college. You just don’t have control over the finished project. I have been screwed several times. It’s just wrong. I think this is the teachers’ ways of not having to grade a load of individual projects.</p>
<p>If the professor won’t budge, talk to the chairman of the department, then to the dean. Just because he wrote it in the syllabus doesn’t mean it’s ethical.</p>
<p>I am confused. If 2/3 of you were there, how did you get a 0 for information and presentation? To me, that’s the weird part since a zero would imply that you literally said nothing correct and did a bad job of saying nothing correct. The diarama grade can’t be argued. You didn’t bring one and it’s not even like the girl was sick, she was showering.</p>
<p>You could have left class, dashed the seven blocks to pick up the diorama and made it back by the end of the hour.</p>
<p>You could have called her earlier or stopped by the apartment to pick up the diorama.</p>
<p>In the business world, if your company was doing a presentation and one of the people on the team didn’t show up with the equipment, you wouldn’t have gotten the contract.</p>
<p>If Lauren’s place was 7 blocks away, why didn’t one of you guys rush over? Why didn’t you tell Lauren that she needed to screw the shower and come over?</p>
<p>In all honesty, while I think the professor’s grading scheme is harsh in this circumstance, the rules WERE delineated ahead of time and are technically fair as listed.</p>
<p>I don’t know how presentation and information are graded, but I think those might be points you could argue with the professor. If you guys didn’t present and simply showed him a picture, then I’d understand why you got 0’s, there. But if you guys still presented information even without Lauren/the diorama present, then go argue it because there’s no reason why you should get 0’s for doing something when you might as well have gotten 0’s for doing nothing.</p>
<p>Totally unfair? No. Pretty harsh? Absolutely. If the professor won’t budge on something like this, I would go to the department chair, and then possibly the dean. </p>
<p>Your friend Lauren probably deserves the 15% on the project though…</p>
<p>Wow, that totally stinks. It seems unfair that he just told you guys to give him your rubrics and sit down. Why not give you a chance to get the points for presentation and information even if the diorama wasn’t there? I would argue this point with him.</p>
<p>He’s also a jerk to punish you all for Lauren’s mistake. I agree that one of you should have rushed over and gotten it, but since you did the work, you should have gotten more than 25%.</p>
<p>Good luck. I hope everything works out.</p>
<p>Oh, and this Lauren sounds like a moron. I’m sorry you got stuck with such a stupid person as a group member.</p>
<p>This is something I would have talked to my academic adviser about. I suspect he would have facilitated a conversation with the dean. Don’t know how it is at your school, but at mine the academic advisers are happy to help you figure out how to react to these kinds of things.</p>
<p>There’s a difference between unfair and unreasonable. I stay away from the word “unfair” – not everything in life IS fair, and not everything fair is reasonable. Don’t say unfair when you really mean unreasonable, it gives your dissenters an easy argument.</p>
<p>This is one big reason why I hated group projects and felt bad for business major friends at other colleges who were stuck doing them for Profs similar to ones you have. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, corporate America thrives on “team players” which as epitomized in this incident means that a minority of the hardworking members of the team must carry the slack for some/most of the slackers so they don’t get screwed and those slackers end up riding the coattails of their harder working teammates. </p>
<p>And as in the corporate world…the slackers aren’t always held accountable because of the above and the fact Profs/corporate supervisors who assign teams and projects are sometimes too oblivious, lazy, and/or politically minded to care either way. </p>
<p>A reason why I am grateful for the times I’ve had supervisors who actually were on the ball enough to ferret out those slackers with our assistance and to hold them accountable* when they tried to avoid contributing to the team/seriously screwed up. </p>
<ul>
<li>Demotions or even terminations.</li>
</ul>
<p>Disclaimer first … I’m a 52 year-old parent and 30 year work vet.</p>
<p>First, while I do think the prof was pretty harsh I so not think s/he was unfair … in many ways s/he is mimicing like in the real world … you likely will be working on teams a ton professionally and will deal with similar situations often.</p>
<p>So my recommendation is instead of looking back look forward. What can you do in the future to avoid a similar outcome … have all teammates cell phone numbers, everyone have a flash drive, everyone put a copy of everything on their flash drive, print copies for everyone, immediately intervene when things go off plan, hustle and do whatever it takes to rectify the situation.</p>
<p>One final rhetorical question … do you think the prof may have responded differently if you two had 1) offered to make the presentation off what you had on the flash drive and 2) asked to go later in the class time so you had time to run to the apartment and back to get any missing info?</p>
<p>While it was a hit to your grade it also was a big learning opportunity.</p>
<p>PS - after 30 years I still find working on teams stressful due to issues like the one you had</p>
<p>You should’ve run to her house to pick it up, just for future reference. Personally, this is the reason i’ve always been iffy about groups work and that I always have the final project at my house, cause I know i’ll make it to class. If I have to stay up all night to be up in time i’ll do it. If you rely on someone else the project MIGHT get done, but rely on yourself and it WILL get done.</p>
<p>This is definitely a harsh situation and there’s no reason the prof shouldn’t have at least let you guys present so you could get those points. Meet with the prof and if that doesn’t work try the dean. However, for future reference I wouldn’t say the prof is being unfair, because he let you know the terms before the project was due and this really is how the actual work world is.</p>
<p>The thing I find truly unbelievable is that the professor just asked you to sit down without presenting.</p>
<p>Thinking like a parent here- maybe, if you weren’t up til 430 the night before it was due, you all would have been perky the next morning. Maybe if you had considered fatigue when you all quit at 430, you would have made arrangements to call each other to ensure you all got up. </p>
<p>I am not sure why you should get more credit for a situation in which you didn’t present the final materials. Also not sure we have the whole picture here.</p>
<p>Frankly, the prof may have been offended that college kids tried to show a cell phone photo. I think maybe even a hs teacher would be.</p>
<p>I’ve always taken the message “If you want some done right, do it yourself” to heart. Even when working with close friends I make sure that everything goes to plan.</p>
<p>It’s extremely harsh but not unfair…</p>
<p>And I’d totally rip her head off, btw. ***** showered instead of going to class? Unbelievable!</p>