Today, i had to submit a report for a project. The project itself is based over 2 semesters so it’s nowhere near complete (this is just end of semester 1), but i still had to do the paperwork to get the marks. Whilst writing isn’t a problem for me, i do feel this particular job is pretty unrewarding.
Whilst i can stand over everything i wrote and could easily have added more in, it’s just not interesting or rewarding enough to get the best out of me. That said, this is business and i’ll never just not complete assignments or reports just because i don’t agree with them or don’t think they’re beneficial.
Anyway, 21 pages of waffle is how i view this report. It will be marked, i’ll pass the subject, the same thing will happen in May next year and everyone goes away happy they’ve done their job. But is doing a job good enough? No.
Now if this was a project designed to profit or designed to go live in the real world, that would be a completely different ball game. It would give everyone (i should hope) much more motivation. Why not make it a group project with zero restrictions and just release a general marking scheme?
I’d expect at least a few quality projects that could actually make a difference in the real world. Individual projects, like my own are by in large of rubbish quality, let’s not kid ourselves (my own included). Maybe i’m asking for too much, but i can’t help but feel an awful lot of talent and time is wasted doing projects that will never see the light of day and realistically are just done to get marks… not done to create value, improve lives etc…
It makes sense to pool all that wasted time and skill together and create something of real value. No restrictions + group work = a much more interesting / higher quality project for both students and examiners. Plus it might actually go somewhere beyond a virtual shelf 
