Organizing Your Digital Closet: Effective Information Management for Online Faculty

Lorna Kearns, Barbara A. Frey, and Christinger Tomer

What is PIM?…the practice and study of activities a person performs to create, store, organize, maintain, retrieve, use, and distribute information.

-- William JonesKeeping Found Things Found:

The Study and Practice of Personal Information Management(2008)

Our StudyResearch Questions• What information management challenges do online

instructors face?• What strategies do they use to manage information?

Methods• Conducted two online focus groups in summer 2009 using

Elluminate Web conferencing system

Participants• Four online instructors and two instructional designers from

several universities

Results• Effective email practices include:• Create folders• File inbox items at regular intervals• Have students put course name in all emails• Reduce or organize select emails with filters

• Effective desktop practices include:• Use folder names that reflect course activities• Use file names that include version tracking info (e.g.

version number, date, semester)• Keep copies of discussion board summaries for future reuse• Convert paper files to digital• Use desktop search feature to locate files• Rename student homework files as soon as you download• Make regular backups

• Effective Web practices include:• Use social bookmarking to share information with students• Don’t download items that can be easily accessed online

• Effective cross-category practice:• Align folder structure across email, desktop, and Web

bookmarks

Next StepsBased on our review of the literature and the data we collected in the focus groups, we will design a survey to administer to a group of instructors teaching online at one university. The purpose of this part of the study will be to investigate personal information management strategies practiced by instructors using the same course management system and situated in the same institutional context

Further RecommendationsEmail• Create mail folders labeled for topic, sender, and/or course• Remember to file sent emails • Flag emails as high priority or for follow-up• Act on incoming email or delete it• Use subject line to keep emails clear and brief

Desktop• Use folders for each course and subfolders for each semester• Within subfolders, create folders for announcements,

discussions, assignments, FAQs• Create folders for advisees

Web• Save bookmarks in a shareable format• Add notes to bookmarks• Explore Web 2.0 tools for bookmark sharing, calendaring,

scheduling, and media sharing• When you upload content to wikis, blogs, or other media

sharing sites, keep a copy on your desktop

Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit.

--William Pollard

Alignment

Email Desktop Bookmarks

Image created at http://www.wordle.net/

Web 2.0