Key Contributors: Olive Ndungu and Iman Ellahi
Background
Group projects can be challenging for any student, but for neurodivergent students, the difficulties are often compounded by factors like social demands and sensory overload. The approach to group projects varies across departments. For Materials Science and Engineering, for example, group projects have at least four students assigned based on past grades. The project duration can range from either one afternoon of collaborative work to multiple terms that contribute significantly to our grade that year. These include design-related projects in 1st and 2nd year, and labs in 3rd year, all of which include written coursework, presentations, and some kind of final report. At the beginning of projects, groups are each assigned a supervisor who provides ongoing in-person feedback on coursework and general guidance. After submitting the final report, group members individually submit a peer review, which contributes to few percentage of the final mark for that module.
This article outlines some common challenges of collaborative work and offers advice on how to navigate them more effectively. The focus of this article is mainly on the social communication and interactions.
Pros of Groupwork
Group projects offer many positives. They act as an opportunity to meet more of your cohort in a smaller, less intimidating setting. The project itself provides a built-in “social script” which can reduce the anxiety of initial conversations and help you build a network of friends and colleagues. Group projects are also a prime opportunity to develop essential professional skills like collaboration, leadership, and communication. Members can play to their individual strengths, leading to more efficient work. The workload is also shared, making the individual burden lighter.
Key challenges in group work
Selection of group members
One of the parameters associated with group projects is the selection of group members. The choice of group members is often made by the module leaders based on parameters such as grades, gender, etc. which can ensure there is some diversity in the group members but can also lead to groups who have never worked before which can be challenging for some neurodivergent students. In some courses, there is flexibility in group formation, and the students can form their own group which can reduce the stress associated with unfamiliarity of working with strangers. Another approach which can balance familiarity with diversity is ability to choose one member of the team and rest of the team is selected by the module leader.
Initial meetings and study spaces
The first meetings are held in rooms designated by the department, which tend to end up noisy and crowded due to the number of students in the space. This can lead to overstimulation and increases cognitive load making it harder to focus on conversations within your group. In my experience, it is much harder to process what others are saying when I am overstimulated, which impacts my ability to contribute to initial group discussions and leave a good first impression. Other neurodivergent students and/or students with auditory processing difficulties may face a similar problem.
While groups can search for a more suitable room to work, this can be frustrating and time consuming, and you may not even find a space that accommodates the whole group’s needs. Even in the case that you find a space to work, the whole process has to be repeated the next time you arrange to meet.
Impact of Group size
Larger groups tend to be more difficult than smaller ones in my experience. In larger groups, such as the 12-person design study project with four-hour sessions done in first year of Materials, it can be difficult to collaborate efficiently without a clear plan. Members may not work at the same time or pace, and the extended period of social interaction can lead to burnout.
In addition, though members are assigned roles at the beginning of this project (which made it clearer what each person should do), they do not correlate to an equal amount of work. In a large group, this can lead to quite uneven workloads across members, and without effective communication it can be hard to resolve this.
In comparison, smaller groups tend to be easier to manage. As there are fewer people, there can be more of a sense of shared responsibility due to the increased individual workload, which means communication is a bigger priority. It can also be easier to put forward ideas to a smaller group of people, and it is also generally faster to find a space to work together in smaller groups.
Workload and group work preferences
Dividing tasks evenly can be a source of conflict, especially if roles are not defined early on. Differing priorities and work habits can cause friction, particularly since students have coursework or other personal responsibilities to manage.
Asynchronous work can prove challenging. Unexpected changes to group deadlines or plans can disrupt your personal schedule, which can be particularly stressful for neurodivergent students who rely on a fixed routine/structure to get through the week. Keeping up with project updates on platforms like Teams can also be a challenge, as conversations often happen outside of your planned working hours.
Synchronous in-person work may also be difficult if you are someone who can’t work continuously for long periods, potentially leading to burnout and negative feelings toward the project. Additionally, shared digital documents can become disorganized and hard to follow when multiple people are editing at once.
Peer review
The peer review process at the end of the project can also be a source of anxiety. Students who are less vocal or whose contributions are less visible may feel their work isn’t recognised, which could negatively impact their peer review grade. The time and effort a student puts into a project doesn’t always translate into a visible output, and this additional work may not be acknowledged by their peers.
My Advice for students
While many aspects of groupwork such as group selection, group size, and actual project are usually controlled by the instructors, there are some steps you can take to make navigating group work easier.
First group meeting
In the first meeting, it might be helpful to:
- Set expectations and roles
- Discuss progress-tracking and how to address group dynamics if issues arise later
- Agree on communication methods and meeting frequency
It is also helpful to keep track of ideas and jot them down in a table as shown below where A, B, C, and D refer to group member in a 4-member group:
| Student: | A | B | C | D |
| Attendance | ||||
| Initial suggestions on how to tackle the coursework | ||||
| Role in the group | ||||
| Communication preferences | ||||
| Next meeting details |
Practice self-advocacy
Self-advocacy is a really important skill to develop, especially for neurodivergent students. Managing assumptions about your working style and preferences can create a more accommodating environment, allowing you to contribute to the best of your ability. St Andrew’s has a list of questions to help uncover what your personal concerns are about group work, and what will be important to communicate to your group [1]. Note that this doesn’t necessarily mean telling your group you are neurodivergent, it can just mean discussing how you prefer to work during one of your earlier group meetings.
Communicate with staff early
If you know ahead of time you’ll be doing a group project during the academic year, it is definitely worth reaching out to your personal tutor, wellbeing tutor, or departmental disability officer to voice any concerns. It can be useful to have an understanding of what challenges may arise, and which tools are needed to tackle them. This can provide some more familiarity because unknowns can be hard. The University of Bristol suggests disclosing neurodivergent identity to the instructor before project, to take pressure off students to do this during the first meeting with group [2].
Clarify roles and expectations
Seeking clarity on how the work will be split up and perhaps creating unofficial roles within the group could also be useful. Utilise feedback sessions with your project supervisor to ask questions about rubric, what improvements to make ahead of next coursework, how much time should be dedicated to coursework, etc.
Find suitable study spaces
There are many quiet spaces for group study on campus. If you want a room for solely your group, the Seminar and Learning Centre (SALC) in the Sherfield Building, the sixth floor of the Chemistry building, or library group study rooms are great. These can get busy during the term so it’s best to book a room in advance to guarantee a spot. Rest of Chemistry building also has good group study spaces.
Meeting regularly with your group
Having regular check-ins with your group can be helpful to update on progress; taking minutes can also help keep everyone accountable.
For example, you can note the minutes and comments from everyone in a table format as shown below:
| Student: | A | B | C | D |
| Progress since last meeting | ||||
| Anything key to mention? | ||||
| Next steps and actions |
I hope that you found this article useful and if you would like to share your experience with groupwork or tips which we have missed, then please get in touch by emailing inclusive.assessments@imperial.ac.uk or v.bhute@imperial.ac.uk.