Comment Groupwork (Score 1) 412
At the school I'm currently attending, our upper level CS\IT classes are lock-step (you're with the same classmates in the same classes through the whole curriculum) and our teams carry over through the whole program. This has it's ups and downs.
For one, the fact that you're in the same team through the whole program brings a new level of accountability into play, because if you let your teammates down, you WILL hear about it (and yes, you CAN get kicked off the team, it's equivalent to failing). This also tends to model workplace teamwork fairly well because of the timescale.
Basically, every class has a team project, whether it's a programming class, networking, databases, etc. and your team gets a grade on the project that is then weighted based on a peer review at the end of each class.
This also has the side effect of forcing the quicker learners in each team to tutor the rest of their team.
The only problems with this system I've encountered so far (I'm about 9 months into the program) is that some people learn alot faster than others and tend to carry more of the workload simply because they catch on quicker.
After all it's a highly accelerated program and deadlines are deadlines.
For one, the fact that you're in the same team through the whole program brings a new level of accountability into play, because if you let your teammates down, you WILL hear about it (and yes, you CAN get kicked off the team, it's equivalent to failing). This also tends to model workplace teamwork fairly well because of the timescale.
Basically, every class has a team project, whether it's a programming class, networking, databases, etc. and your team gets a grade on the project that is then weighted based on a peer review at the end of each class.
This also has the side effect of forcing the quicker learners in each team to tutor the rest of their team.
The only problems with this system I've encountered so far (I'm about 9 months into the program) is that some people learn alot faster than others and tend to carry more of the workload simply because they catch on quicker.
After all it's a highly accelerated program and deadlines are deadlines.
