Group projects have been the bane of many a college student’s existence. In most of my classes, the announcement of a group project has elicited a chorus of stifled groans and furtive glances.

I personally have also had my share of grievances working in groups. All too many times, a classmate has dropped off the grid, not pulled their weight, or tried to micromanage and do the whole project by themselves. As a college student, putting my grade in the hands of my group members can be nerve-racking, especially when they only seem willing to work the bare minimum.

However, my mostly negative perception towards group projects changed after I joined the Water Grand Challenges team earlier this year. As an intentionally multidisciplinary group, we had a Community & Regional Planning student, three Film & Digital Media students, and me, the Geography student. Along with our supervisors (who were leaders & teachers in each respective discipline) and others from the SWEFC, we were all tasked with collaborating to create educational content about water issues in New Mexico. Together, we produced three podcasts about the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on New Mexican water utilities.

I could feel that everyone was passionate about this project, and this was a radical change from many of my negative experiences in the past. Instead of one person taking on the brunt of the work, each person had a role that they were best suited for. In fact, I don’t think any one of us had all the skills necessary to complete the podcasts alone – we had the Film & Digital Media team to do the video & audio editing, SWEFC staff with connections to water utility facilities coordinating the interviews, my supervisor to conduct the interview, me and the CRP student helping with research and writing the interview script, and so many more individual skills that came together to make the podcasts whole. By working in an interdisciplinary team, we were able to combine skill sets and create something that not one of us could have accomplished by ourselves.

On top of creating a more well-rounded project, here are three more exciting benefits that I experienced while working on an interdisciplinary team:

  1. Learning & skill building from one another: Coming from the science side of things, I really enjoyed being able to work with the film students. I got to see their creative process, and they taught me how to edit video and audio, which I think will definitely be a useful skill for me in the future. On the flip side, the CRP student and I were able to provide more in-depth knowledge of the water issues so that the film students could have a more informed perspective in their final edits.
  2. Enhancing the project reach: As a budding scientist, I think a lot of research that goes on right now loses some of its meaning when it is not shared with the public in a way that is both meaningful and understandable. If no one can understand your research, then who are you really reaching, in the end? Partnering with Film & Digital Media students/experts means that we had to explain our research to someone not in our field. Using their storytelling and editing skills, they could then make sure that the information we presented was much more compelling and comprehensible than if we had tried to make the podcast by ourselves.
  3. Building collaborative skills: Like it or not, collaborative work is necessary in nearly every professional field. On the Water Grand Challenges team, I got to work with many different personality types (for example, data-based Type-A’s and more free-thinking, creative personalities). I anticipate that a lot of teams in the professional world will be a similar mixed bag. It’s important to me as a future jobseeker to know how to collaborate effectively with people with different communication styles, work styles, etc. Also, simply as a person existing in the world, I think learning how to effectively balance differences between people is a valuable skill.  

In the end, the collaborative and interdisciplinary facets of the Water Grand Challenges podcasts were the most important aspects, as well as the parts that I most enjoyed. So, to my fellow students who may be struggling through a group project in one class or another, don’t give up! The interpersonal skills you learn from working in a group will be invaluable to you in the future. And, with the right people, group projects can be an amazing tool to combine the skills of each team member, crossing disciplines to make a truly satisfying end result.

Author: Samantha (Sami) Stroud, UNM Department of Geography student