You did the right thing. Most profs are used to dealing with slackers and can handle the humiliation without letting on that anyone said a word. Unfortunately it still happens in the real world, meditate on wielding the umbrella to all the slackers out there. Go Bat Girl, bringing lazy shlubs to justice. And you’re moving in a couple weeks, so focus on that.

Bree

Jenni

I taught college for 7 years, not in engineering but in veterinary science.  The purpose of these exercises is to teach you to deal with real life situations, including slackers, etc.  You are right to act ethically, and even to step up and do most of the work.  In the end your professor should be able to recognize who works and who doesn’t.  (At least if he is any good).  I was always amazed at what students thought they could get away with, as if the teachers didn’t talk to each other and as if we didn’t have any power of observation. 

Think that if you were in a real world solution, your results could be the difference between life and death - calibration of medical equipment for example.  If you were in the same situation in the workplace the ONLY ethical thing would be to go to your manager.  Contacting your instructor was a good thing to do, as long as the tone of the email was professional and not just venting and whining.  You sound very cool and rational here, so I’m assuming that the email was appropriate.  You will probably be told to deal with the situation.  That is usually what I did, just to see how things would be resolved.  With your project group, stand your ground, be professional, and do the best that you can.  After the mess is finished, you might schedule a meeting with your instructor to go over what you learned and ask for recommendations of how to handle the situation in the future.  (That behaviour from a student would have impressed me).

Now go work out, do some yoga, meditate and let us know how things go.

One word, Karma.

shawn - 26 April 2007 01:19 PM

One word, Karma.

Yeah, I’m a big believer in karma.

paula9717 - 26 April 2007 12:56 PM

Jenni

I taught college for 7 years, not in engineering but in veterinary science.  The purpose of these exercises is to teach you to deal with real life situations, including slackers, etc.  You are right to act ethically, and even to step up and do most of the work.  In the end your professor should be able to recognize who works and who doesn’t.  (At least if he is any good).  I was always amazed at what students thought they could get away with, as if the teachers didn’t talk to each other and as if we didn’t have any power of observation. 

Think that if you were in a real world solution, your results could be the difference between life and death - calibration of medical equipment for example.  If you were in the same situation in the workplace the ONLY ethical thing would be to go to your manager.  Contacting your instructor was a good thing to do, as long as the tone of the email was professional and not just venting and whining.  You sound very cool and rational here, so I’m assuming that the email was appropriate.  You will probably be told to deal with the situation.  That is usually what I did, just to see how things would be resolved.  With your project group, stand your ground, be professional, and do the best that you can.  After the mess is finished, you might schedule a meeting with your instructor to go over what you learned and ask for recommendations of how to handle the situation in the future.  (That behaviour from a student would have impressed me).

Now go work out, do some yoga, meditate and let us know how things go.

Thanks bunches. It’s nice to have the perspective of someone who’s been in the instructing position. I totally see what you mean about the life & death thing, and if our prjoect was real life it would be. We’re doing a small experiment of what could be expanded to have a self driving car stay on a predetermined path. The path would be warked with white paint and the car would would have a light and the reflection off the path would come back to the photresitor changing the voltage across the system and sending that result to the controller. If the result is within a certian voltage range then the car is on track, if not it needs to steer back to the path. We’re just doing a calibration of a small scale photresistor, if this was full scale with all the automationa nd the calibration was wrong it could steer someone into oncoming traffic or off a cliff.
I tried to keep my email to the instructor mostly informative. Letting him know what was going on and that I needed some help with my part. Haven’t heard back though. I also asked him how I should handle this whole thing. Thanks for the advice. I’ll keep ya posted

Bree - 26 April 2007 12:41 PM

You did the right thing. Most profs are used to dealing with slackers and can handle the humiliation without letting on that anyone said a word. Unfortunately it still happens in the real world, meditate on wielding the umbrella to all the slackers out there. Go Bat Girl, bringing lazy shlubs to justice. And you’re moving in a couple weeks, so focus on that.

Bree

“Bat Girl, bringing lazy shlubs to justice!” That’s my new motto

I might try and do some more packing tonight. I got like a whole picture of a Matrix 2 thing going on with this one “meditate on wielding the umbrella to all the slackers out there. “ Might have to do some photo editing to see if I can put my vision to reality.

clay/henry - 26 April 2007 11:57 AM

Jenni, I completely understand your frustration and I used to deal with similar circumstances when I was in college (Business major). We had a couple of people who were completely loafing on a group project (e.g., not showing up at the library when the group got together) and we called out these people also.

What happened is that we had to do a lot of extra work (like you are doing) but our main objective was to make sure that the two people who were not putting in their share of work didn’t get the same grade as us. Our professor was very understanding and had us all document our experiences working with these people so he could justify giving the loafers a lower grade.

Unfortunately, this is a harsh reality about the real world… some people in group projects tend to lead and do the majority of work while other tend to loaf. In the real world, you also should bring up issues to your bosses attention when you feel something is being done unethically or you feel there are individuals not carrying their weight. If you express your concerns in a diplomatic fashion, I don’t thing anyone is going to look negatively at you bringing up your concerns (except, of course, the loafers who deserve to be called out).

Way to use exercise to channel your frustrations!

Yeah, sometimes I hate getting forced into groups. Thanks

Instructor’s response to my email:

I would be happy to talk to you over the phone or in person about how to regress the data.  I appreciate your candor and your effort.  If the situation is too extreme or feels ethically uncomfortable for you, I will allow you the option to leave your group and put together your own modified presentation to be given during finals week.  You would not have to mention it to your group, and I would still have you present with your group on Wednesday to evaluate you in the group dynamic.  You would not then be affected by the performance of the other members in your group.  I will need your decision before your group presents, but keep the option in mind.  You are excused from Monday.  Good luck with the transfer.

I’m obviously going to call him, but any other thoughts?

So I am going to give a presentation with my groupo with our crappy presentation, but then give a real one finals week for my grade. This seems to be working out well. Now I just have to pull all that information together.

On another note, gas when up another 10 cents yester day. Looks like I’ll be walking to campus the next 2 weeks. Grrr. Good exercise though. Hope it doesn’t rain or that its not too sunny. I’ll have to pack the sunscreen and the laptop.

On Monday I weighed myself on my scale it it read 155, then I wa weighed on the fancey digital scale at Wellnes Day which ready 157.4. I had not eaten, so it should have been the same or closer to. So that’s a 2.4 difference. Then today I weighed 150 on my scale. Even adding that 2.4 difference, it’s still a 5# loss for the week. I don’t think that’s right, but I was happy to see the scale going in the right direction. About the only thing that has all week. Looks like the weekend is shaping up to be a good one though.

Yay for the weight loss. But I have no idea on what you should do with your class. I’ll be interested in what happens. Good luck.

Bree

When in doubt take the high road.  Always accept responsibility, even for crappy results.  Those who know appreciate those who are accountable even though they don’t cause the issue.  Grades are an artificial artifact of the academic ivory tower.  In other words meaningless.  Just go with the gut.  Never compromise basic values - honesty, integrity etc, but never throw someone else to the wolves over it either.  Give it your best shot and walk away.  You only control your own actions.  Make them count. 

Scales are all calibrated differently.  I have no idea how much I really weigh, but I know that I way 5 pounds less on my scale at home than I did 2 months ago.  I don’t care if it’s 160, 150, 140 or 130.  It just feels good to be where I am.

Just adding to Paula’s comment..... (she is SOO wise)

Scale numbers don’t mean much...it’s how you feel.....both pysically and mentally

Paula you are so right, when you maintain your integrity you can never go wrong, I think you will do very well on both presentations and you should give a 100% on both.As far as scales go, they are not very kind to me! My weight fluctuates in ways you wouldn’t belive, I just look at it this way-If I have a bad day, I work harder. If I have a good day, I work harder.

Well, after reading and thinking about everyones posts and also trying to properly anazlyze only 3 sets of data unsuccessfully, I’ve decided I’m going to use the good set of data for both presentations. I really don’t want to do the work twice. I may see if the what the instructor has to say after we give our presentation on Wednesday.

Goals for the week:

1. Get enough sleep
2. Make some “me” time each day
3. Finish last week of classes strong (that includes working out along with class requirements)
4. Don’t worry about things which I have no contol over (other people and their actions or lack there of)
5. More Yoga!!!

I finally got registered for all my fall classes. After finals I’m going to sit down and write down how I want the last two years of finishing my degrees to go.

Sounds very zen Jenn. You are going to do great.

Bree