Should students pick their own teams, or should you assign them?

Letting students choose their own groups optimises for comfort, not for good teams. People pair with who they already know, which rewards students with an existing network and leaves newer, quieter, international, and commuter students to take whatever is left.

It also clusters ability. Strong, well-connected students find each other, and the students who most need a functional team often end up in the weakest one.

Assigning teams from real inputs, availability, skills, and a few stated preferences, spreads strengths so no team is set up to fail, and gives students who lack a network a fair shot. The cost is that it takes effort to do well, which is why so many courses fall back on self-selection.