3+File+Management

Module 3: File Management




 * Awareness **: I enjoy visual “organization”, and I do use that term loosely. I LOVE image integration. And I love organizing files – for other people. I am not so apt at managing data for myself. Within digital storage, I do an average job, so there is much room for improvement. I find myself saving the same file within multiple folders, because I “might” need it in another context. When it comes to physical data organization, I see what could be done and get overwhelmed. I’m a keeper, so discarding data is a challenge as well. I helped create a file management system in my Graduate Assistant position that is used by sport counselors to track student-athlete eligibility. Within that system there are multiple files: a “student-athlete file” within a larger list of files, sport files, master lists, scholarship/non-scholarship files, individual files, down through individually dated files for each individual athlete. See? Love organizing for other people.
 * Exploration & Filtration **: I had played with different graphic organizers, and like a few mentioned, was first drawn to the mind42.com site because of its Douglas Adams reference. I struggled with it, and a few others, because of limited photo-insertion options. One site allowed one photo, but required upgrades to add any more. I became frustrated. I was frustrated when the maps moved data to “balance” the module – that’s not the way I wanted it to look. I was frustrated at the odd spacing some sites took.


 * Learning **: After these frustrations, I consulted a couple of friends who use these types of organizers in their professional careers. Their recommendations led me to playing with an old familiar instead of banging my head against programming. It has been fun to organize other aspects of my “school” and “work” life from my mind map.


 * Application **: I have use the visual organizers in my Comp I class as a computer-based outline for each of the writing assignments students have had this semester. We have discussed the generational differences in organizing (Digital immigrants like me who are backtracking to learn these technologies, but are just as, if not more, comfortable using a pencil and paper, versus digital natives, like many of my students, who have grown up using technology to plan, create, and edit a paper). By acknowledging there are different, more tech-savvy ways of organizing, and linking those technology options with real jobs that use them on a day-to-day (or job-to-job) basis, students were much more receptive to planning and executing their assignments.

 As far as my own organization, we’ll see. It’s a nice goal, and maybe, eventually, I will come to a place where I will be more organized. For now, I’m taking baby-steps in my files, consolidating here, deleting there, renaming where appropriate. It’s a start. http://learninginprogress.wikispaces.com/3+File+Management 