I'm doing Group Work with a 3rd year group (technically: Level 3 as some of 'em have been around for more than 3 years.) To try and avoid the chaos that the 2nd years' group work always causes I've sacrificed 12 hours of my valuable work time to meet with them all (this is a new module that takes a disturbing amount of preparation & they're already complaining that I'm too slow with my lecture slides.) It's supposed to be a chance for their notional business group to meet their pretend client (me!) and in the process check that their group can work together and has begun to plan the work ... So I make a nice page for them to see available appointments and book their preferred slot, check that I'm making slots at appropriate times for the majority of timetables and offer to schedule other times to meet in exceptional cases. There are 26 groups and lo! at the end of the first week 3 appointments have been wasted, 9 groups have signed-up and 17 have yet to pick a time! At least at Level 2 they have 7 other modules to replace a messed-up score with, at level 3 every module counts to their final degree classification! I (& maybe you) would think they'd put a bit of effort into things at this critical stage...
It has prompted some activity -- a few lazy students who couldn't be bothered to form their own groups within my 3 week timescale (c'mon! You have to do it quickly to give yourselves time to work!) are now whinging that they're not working with the people they want to work with & can I please sort them out -- 3 students from 3 separate groups means disrupting 6 other students. Simple mathematics ...
Update: Grrrr ... due to University policy on registering modules & admin inefficiency I actually don't know who's enrolled on the module. It means I have to sort out the bleeping groups in case the 'active' (complaining) students are grouped with inactive/unenrolled students :-( Ho hum...
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