Tools and tips to help you ace group assignments

Group assignments are an essential component of learning, yet when ‘group assignment’ is uttered it’s often followed by a collective eye-roll or groan. Thankfully, gone are the days of group assignments being the bane of everyone’s tertiary-education experience. We’ve found the best tools and thrown in a couple of handy tips to help your group assignment run as smoothly as possible.

Online databases

Most universities and institutes will have an electronic resource database that students can access for free. This is where you and your group members can access hundreds of online resources, such as journals and case studies, which can support your studies and research.

Depending on the course you study, The Tax Institute has additional resources available from subject sponsors. For example, if you are studying a Graduate Diploma of Applied Tax Law you will have access to resources from sponsors such as Wolters Kluwer CCH and Thomson Reuters.

There are also a number of free or subscription-based databases and search engines useful for finding and accessing articles in academic journals, repositories or other collections of articles. For example, the Australasian Legal Information Institute is a free online resource with state-specific tax and law databases, news and journals.

Collaboration apps

From managing to-do lists to sharing links and files, Trello is a great project management application. Trello brings everything together in the one place and represents your assignments as ‘boards’. Creating a board is simple to do, as is adding lists and cards. This function makes it easy to organise work and breaks large assignments into manageable sections. You can assign tasks to fellow users and set due dates, or allow users to claim items they would like to complete. Trello integrates files not only with your computer but with just about every other platform, including OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox and many more. Trello’s basic features are all available in the free version.

Slack is another great collaboration app that allows users to discuss ideas, ask questions and share files instantly with team members, all in the one place. Slack has different channels that allow for conversations to be organised in different ways from groups to topics. Slack's basic package is free to use. 

When you’ve complied all your research from online libraries and databases, you can use Evernote to bring all your documents into the one place. Evernote is a great app that allows you to save and share web articles with your group members, as well as take in-text notes. Evernote also has task-tracking capabilities, which allows you to discuss progress with your team. 

Allocate tasks to each member

Group assignments often go awry when there’s zero accountability or if boundaries are blurred. Using a collaboration app, such as Trello, is a great way to assign roles and responsibilities to each group member based on their talents and strengths. In saying that, it is also important to be flexible when it comes to offering support and sharing the workload. The most effective collaborative projects are a game of give and take.

Set expectations from the outset

If you want to deliver an exceptional group assignment, communication is key. Setting clear time frames and establishing deadlines in advance will ensure that important tasks unfold smoothly. During your initial meeting, remind group members to flag issues and obstacles as soon as they occur. Once again, using an app like Slack can help create on open dialogue, set clear expectations and will get you closer to your goal.

Embrace active listening

Unlike working independently, group assignments mean committing to listening to your partners’ perspectives and putting yourself in their shoes. The art of taking the time to listen and provide feedback on other ideas will make your fellow collaborators feel respected and trusted. Making every effort to cultivate strong working relationships can determine whether your joint project succeeds or fails.

Understand how to negotiate conflict

Even if you set clear expectations and listen to your team members’ input, problems will occasionally arise. If team members disagree on something, allow them the time and space to communicate their issues and vote on the outcome as a group. Knowing how to overcome conflict and turn criticism into constructive feedback is an undeniably powerful skill.

It’s worth remembering that career success isn't related to hard skills alone. Whether you aspire to become an accountant or dream about a career in corporate tax, a knack for soft skills such as communicating and collaborating with clients and stakeholders is more likely to ensure that you excel. What are your top tips for collaborative working?

Need the perfect resource tool, have a look at membership with The Tax Institute. Find out more today!

Scoring maximum points in assessable class participation

University isn't just about acing your exams and carving a career path. It’s important you don’t forget the here and now, and that includes participation in your weekly classes – an important contributing factor in most university curriculums. 

Believe it or not, there once was a time when students at tertiary institutions would meet regularly with their professors on a one-to-one basis or, at most, with just one or two of their classmates. After tutorial groups expanded to accommodate anywhere up to 20 people, tertiary institutions were forced to find a way to encourage everyone in these groups to prepare for and participate in discussions. They did this by setting aside a certain amount of marks for ‘classroom participation’.

Here are five tips that will help you earn maximum marks for this part of your course assessment.

1. Show up

It sounds straightforward enough, but with the demands of other courses, work and personal commitments, it can be very tempting to skip a tutorial here and there. Avoid that temptation as participation is impossible if you’re not present. Also, show your classmates and teachers you take tutorials seriously by turning up on time, staying until the end and switching off your phone.

2. Prepare

Do the required readings and any homework that’s been assigned. Think about the issues that are likely to be discussed and anticipate the kind of questions that might be asked and how you would respond to them.

3. Fake it ’til you make it

It’s well recognised that contributing to discussions is easier for some groups than others. Extroverts are much more comfortable sharing their thoughts than introverts. Historically, it’s been much more accepted for men to express strong opinions than women. And those from Western backgrounds are typically more comfortable debating with an authority figure such as a teacher than those from Asian backgrounds. Nevertheless, in school – as in the workplace – you’re going to need to learn to speak up, even if you initially find it unfamiliar and uncomfortable to do so.

4. Play well with others

Your mark isn’t determined by the total amount of time you spend speaking, so don’t dominate the discussion. Make your observations succinctly and respond maturely if your classmates or teachers disagree with you. Also don’t put down other people or respond to their contributions with condescending remarks.

5. To be seen as extraordinary, contribute something extra

Everyone has done (or should have done) the background reading, so they’re not going to be particularly interested in you simply repeating something you’ve read. Instead, provide an individual analysis of the material everyone has consumed and raise an issue or make an argument that will take the discussion in a new and interesting direction. Trust us, even if your classmates don’t appreciate it, the (no longer bored) teacher who’s handing out marks for classroom participation will.

As esoteric as the discussions you may be having are, rest assured that being ‘encouraged’ to take part in them via marks for classroom participation is to your ultimate benefit. Learning how to formulate a compelling case, distinguish between strong and weak arguments and analyse data will stand you in good stead throughout your career, as well as all other aspects of your life.

Give yourself the edge with free Student Membership

If you are a tertiary education student, The Tax Institute can help you progress in your career journey.

Find out about Student Membership.

Surviving the semester: Unlikely tricks to train your memory

Your studies can feel like an overload of information with only a fraction of it becoming knowledge. Retain more with these six tricks to train your memory.

1. Repetition

While we don’t expect you to recite textbooks like a multiplication table, repeating something you’re trying to learn helps lodge it in your memory. A typical path might be your lecturer saying something important, you mouthing it and then writing it down to read later. Saying it, writing it and reading it means it has been repeated three times in different ways, creating different pathways to your brain. (Teaching it to another person counts as a fourth!)

2. Building blocks

Memorising is easier when you have a foundation and then make connections between the new information and your established knowledge. If you need to remember a slab of information, break it down and add it to your memory piece by piece. For example, when trying to remember a case study, start with the who and what, and then gradually add the when, why and how.

3. Finding patterns

A mnemonic device is a common technique that links information to patterns that are more memorable, for example remembering the number of elements in a contract then expanding that to the actual elements. Commonly, mnemonics use a phrase where the starting letter of each word relates to the piece of information, or short rhymes such as Thirty days has September.

4. Storytelling

The human brain is attracted to narrative, so developing a story can help you remember details that might otherwise escape you. Turn information into characters you can describe and explain the consequences of their actions. What happens when GST meets BAS? Humour also makes information sticky, and telling someone the story further embeds it in your memory.

5. Write a song

Delve into the meaning of nursery rhymes and you’ll find many are mini lessons in history effectively passed down by putting rhyme and music together. Choose a piece of simple music and write a short song about what you’re trying to learn. You may also find that someone else has done the hard work, like this economics rap on Hayek versus Keynes.

6. Create a game

Many games are geared to aid learning, and memory games reward recollection, such as matching a piece of information with another. Creating the game is often as important as playing it because it helps you structure information for easy recollection. You can also make a game for two or more people as learning in a group and constructive socialising also assists memorisation.

People respond differently to different techniques, so have a go at some of these to see which works best for you. You can also combine these tricks to enhance the effect.

Good luck with your studies this semester!

Give yourself the edge with free Student Membership

If you are a tertiary education student, The Tax Institute can help you progress in your career journey.

Find out about Student Membership.