If you read what universities say about group work, you would see phrases like it being "an effective and powerful way to learn," being "highly relevant to the workplace," being "more efficient and fun," and "enables you to pool your ideas and see problems from different perspectives." But is it true? Do we, as students, really benefit from it?

UoPeople is an online university, and I love the idea of the virtual "rubbing of shoulders" with students worldwide. I am a hard worker, and I can spot like-minded hard workers in the first discussion forum. Since 2017, I have met wonderful people and still correspond with some today.

A key difference between my BSBA and MBA studies is doing group work, and so far, I have been blessed with being in groups where my peers also worked hard.

Except for this last term.

When I see my group allocation, I look at who my peers are and in which time zones they reside. If possible, I will try to arrange to do the final presentation of the group work for at least one of the courses I take per term. Some of my key strengths include formatting documents according to APA guidelines, refining text using tools like Grammarly, and checking for plagiarism.

However, if I see another hard worker in the group with me, and I know them from a previous term, I would ask them to lead the group because I am probably leading another course's group work. Usually, it works, but there are times when you end up in a group where your peers are either unable or unwilling to take the lead and assemble an excellent final product.

I have noticed that most of my peers welcomed the idea that someone would take the lead and assemble the final product. They would choose which part of the group assignment they liked to do and quickly dive into it. Then they can focus on other tasks without worrying about the final product. I do not mind working harder to produce the final product because I want to achieve the highest possible grade. All I need is for the others to do their best and contribute well-researched work.

For group assignments, all students receive the same grade. Yes, the hard workers and loafers are treated the same - and as long as everyone has contributed something worthwhile, I am fine with it. I can always make adjustments to improve it.

However, when we spot plagiarism, we reject it. We cannot tolerate cheating and will not jeopardise the grading of the group work. A few weeks ago, a peer refused to redo her part of the assignment, even though we pointed out that she had plagiarised more than 50% of it. We had to omit all of her work, and I worked into the wee hours of the morning to research it and fill in the gap she left.

Should she get the same grade as the rest of us? I think not. Yet, she did, and this is where I question the fairness of group work. Do those who plagiarise deserve the same qualification I am working hard to get? If group work allows them to get it, there is a systemic fault and no fairness.

In another course, we submitted individual assignments in Units 1, 3 and 5 and discussed each other's work as a group. We received no feedback from the instructor after each unit, and by Unit 7, we had already been graded. It accounts for 10% of the final grade, and I scored 7 out of 10, which sounds fine, but it is not. For your MBA, you need an average of 73% to pass, and scoring 7/10 means that I failed this course by 10%. I know I will not fail the course in total, but for me, every percentile counts towards my goal.

Any long-distance runner can complete a marathon, but those who aim for the gold medal at the Olympics work much harder, and for them, every little thing contributing towards that goal is of utmost importance.

If group work means that my instructor judges me by the group's average, then I want no part in group work. Then, group work is not reasonably assessed.

In general, I do not think there is fairness in group work. Those who advocate for it will write numerous pages on how to prepare it and how instructors can make it a positive experience. Reaching those successes in a few short weeks at UoPeople is unreasonable. The volume of work does not allow for easing yourself into a group and building relationships.

You create a WhatsApp group, greet everyone, and spell out the project's scope. Depending on the various time zones of the group members, responses can take 12 to 24 hours. Each one claims a piece to do, and one person assembles all the work into one document. Everyone submits before the due date, and you hope for good grades. Once graded, you thank each other and delete the WhatsApp group. You seldom see those people again.

I do not think the above group work prepares me to collaborate with my colleagues at work. There, we gain a much deeper understanding of the scope of each project, considering both the project's sustainability and the relationships involved. We never have to cram everything into two or three weeks.

I do not discard group work because any experience can be a good experience. Sometimes you need to experience that which you never want to do again. So, I participate in the group work and do as well as possible, even though there is no fairness to be found.