Group work...or not?....

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Now that I have accommodations in university, I generally am permitted to do an alternative project to group papers/presentations. I had spoke to a new professor after class today about the participation aspect (I am excused from participating unless/until I can verbalize a thought well enough to offer it). I also mentioned about the group project that is coming up, and I told him I am autistic and some of the difficulties I have in groups. He said it would be no problem to do an individual assignment if I absolutely did not feel as though I could do the group work, and I would not be penalized for it. He did add, however, that he hopes I will consider the group project as it would be a good learning experience for me (to go outside of my comfort zone) and a learning experience for the others in my group (to learn to work with people with differences, I suppose). I am not sure what to do. When you were in university--or if you are in it now--what is your experience with group work? Do you try to challange yourself and do the group projects, or do you always try to work alone?

I always tried to work alone whenever possible. Sometimes I'd actually take over the group project myself and do the whole thing. I didn't really understand how to interact with the other people in the group, who sometimes didn't have a clue what they were doing. I remember a computer programming class in which we were required to work in groups, but the others in the group didn't know how to do the assignment. I did the whole thing myself and got an A. Granted everyone else in the group did too, but I'd rather have this than the whole group (and myself) get a bad grade.

Another experience with group work didn't yield such a good grade. There was one instance in a math class where I was really quiet and not participating in the group discussion since I didn't really know what to say or do. As such, the others in the group thought I wasn't doing the work or contributing anything to the project. They went to the prof and told her that I wasn't doing the work, and the prof failed me for the assignment. She was a jerk anyways, as were the group members who were a gregarious bunch. If the group members weren't to diligent or strong willed socially, I could take the project from them and do it myself. Try to work alone whenever possible. You'll get more out of it.

Hm, I would say, how hard is the course for you? If you find it pretty easy, I would give it a shot. You need to learn how to work with people in most jobs, so it's good to learn it in a place where you have a supportive professor there.

Hello!

Besides, successful team efforts also look good on a resume'!

I wish you every success on this project.

Have a Great Day!

Rob
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Personally, I would work alone. My experience of group work is that it generates a good deal of anxiety, due to the nature of group dynamics. There are often group members who take advantage of other group members in terms of doing the work, group members who take a disliking to others and effectively exclude them, group members who refuse to listen to others, and so on.

Whether it actually turned out to be a good learning experience for yourself and other group members partly depends upon how well these group dynamics are managed by the professor. My experience is that when someone at uni says something would be a ‘good learning experience’, it usually involves my being thrown into a situation I find problematic, without any appropriate guidance, support or understanding of the difficulties I face as a result of being autistic, often resulting in what I would call a poor learning experience.