Organising Resources

School can be daunting.

As a student (not that teachers are exempt here), you are going to receive a lot of information throughout the year, for a variety of different subjects which can be further divided up into specific workloads. Arranging that inefficiently or inappropriately can often lead to trouble.

We're fortunate as modern students to see that a lot of (and sometimes all) our content is delivered through e-resources, which means that nothing can ever truly get lost, and there is always a back-up (or, there really should be!)

Before school even starts, decide on what format you will be arranging your hard copies by, and stick with it. Whether it is a folder and notepad, display folders and textbooks, have it all prepared from your very first lesson so you don't have to rearrange these things later.

Of course, there are a few simple rules that you should abide by. Use plastic sleeves on all printed work, or at the very least, for those handouts you will be referring to all throughout the term or semester. It only takes one sleepy morning of not putting your drink bottle lid on properly that has the potential to ruin things. Even if you have soft copies that you can print out the moment you get home, to have to print and rearrange things more than once is wasting valuable time that you could be revising the said information instead.

Remember that you probably aren't going to get a copy of every piece of information your teacher shows you, especially in regards to presentations, so take notes. Get down the main concepts, keywords, and links, so you also have something to further research later. Even if you do end up getting a soft or hard copy of it in the end, it is good practice to maintain your physical writing skills. It also makes sure that you are trying to comprehend the information as you receive it if you have to decipher it, and stops your mind from wandering too far from the given topic.

In regards to soft copies, it also pays to be dilligent in your organisation. If possible, have a dedicated USB for your course. At the end of every day, copy it to your private drive at school, your home computer, and a general storage external hard-drive. It also doesn't hurt to store copies online or in the cloud, i.e. in your email, or through a program like Dropbox. This makes sure that all your files are current, and that you will always have a back up in case of malfunctiong or lost hardware, not to mention damage of your home or school.

Create and label a folder with the name of your over-all course, and further make a folder for each unit. From there, I have found it best to arrange information in folders that are labelled according to the week, and the possible topic of that week, for example, "Week 7 MARC introduction". When you receive e-copies of some information, make sure that the file name is labelled accordingly. Teachers will often give you PDFs with a title like, "Introduction", so edit it to make sure it includes either the basic unit name or the specific topic or concept, where you can easily associate it with the over-all course unit.

It is also quite handy to rename the file including a brief status of what you have had or are going to do, i.e. "Introduction to cataloguing (print)", "Web Page Timetable (printed)", "Learning Presentation (summarised)".

Depending on how you learn, you won't necessarily have to print everything, but some people find it easier based on their learning styles. If you have found success with the VARK learning style analysis of yourself, then you'll be very aware of how you best learn. For read-writer learners and visual learners, it is often best to have a hard-copy of the work that you can interact with. However, if you have the money, it may be worth investing in a good tablet. Many programs allow you to highlight, mark, and scribble in the margins.

Revision is the act of going over your unit notes, and it excludes homework. Try to spend at least an hour a week revising each subject, and it is best if that isn't done in a huge chunk. Aim to revise at least six days a week, at least ten minutes a day. There are exceptions to this, of course, but this should be your basic weekly outline. If Monday is too hectic because you run from school to work, then try and make Tuesday a more intensive revision night.

Do your revision first, which can be as simple as rereading the latest handouts. After your allocated time for that unit is up, tackle the corresponding homework, weekly exercises, or assessment, which should hopefully enforce everything that you have just read through.

Best of luck for the new school year! To look at my resource format for this year, click here.