Class Notes
Group Ground Rules

Each group must come up with a group name. Please be creative, but stay within the confines of good taste. (I get to be the "good taste" judge...)

After you have settled on a name for your group, work together to develop a set of ground rules for operation. The rules for each group will vary, but they should definitely address the issues listed below. Your group may also address other issues in its ground rules. Make sure that your ground rules fit within the parameters specified in the course syllabus.

• Attendance

• Timeliness (this includes arriving on time for each meeting and working for the entire meeting time)

• Preparation expectations (read all assigned materials, work through the labs related to a specific application, and so on)

• Communication requirements (turnaround time for email and phone calls, for example)

• Group role assignments (how will the group roles be assigned?)

• Deadlines

• Appropriate group behavior (mutual respect for all group members, all members have a voice, and so on)

Naturally, rules don't mean much if there are no consequences for group members who violate the rules. Your ground rules should spell out the consequences for various ground rule offenses. You probably can't address every conceivable violation, but you can come up with some general guidelines. Examples of consequences for ground rule violations include the following:

• If a group member did not participate in a meaningful way on a specific problem, that member will not receive a grade for that problem.

• A group member who doesn't pull his or her weight on a specific problem will be responsible for a greater share of the next problem. (Risky, but sometimes works.)

• A group member who doesn't respond to communication attempts by the other group members will be responsible for all communication requirements in the next problem. (Risky, but sometimes works.)

• After two violations, a member can be expelled from the group permanently.

All ground rules and consequences must be approved by the group members and your instructor. When you have developed and received approval for your ground rules, please email them to margaret.cheatham@uc.edu. Your email should meet the following requirements:

• Include the Bearcat Online email addresses of all group members in either the From: or CC: lines of the email message.

• Use Group Ground Rules as the subject line for your email message.

• Include your group name at the beginning of the email message.

• Include the first and last names and Bearcat Online email addresses of all group members at the beginning of your message, right beneath the group name. Make sure each email address is accurate. Use this format when you enter the name and email address for each group member:
  First Last <username@email.uc.edu>
  Note: Make sure to include the brackets at the beginning and end of each email address. List the information for each student on a separate line.

• Include all necessary text in the body of the email message; do not send your rules as a file attachment.