Your five categories (teacher preparation, etc.) are very helpful. A sixth category to consider would be assessment, since this is becoming more and more important.

Thanks, Heather, you're right -- evaluations/assessment could be its own category or considered part of institutional materials -- whatever makes sense given your particular situation.

I find that five categories is the max. I store "Assessment" (which is nearly always institutionally-driven) with the "Institutional" files.

This is an excellent run down. I agree that it makes sense to archive electronically these days, but I do find having a paper copy useful sometimes. I keep a folder of each course each semester with the syllabus, handouts, and assignments for the prior few semesters. There is almost always an extra copy of the documents I have in class anyway.

My downfall lies in (1) collecting materials that I MIGHT use in my classes, and (2) research materials that I have used, plan on using, and might possibly use in the future. I recently got some relief when we moved to a new building where I moved into a smaller office and had to toss out barrels of paper (very bittersweet).

Insist that the student name must be part of the filename for work handed in, e.g., JSmith_homework1.xls, and reduce the grades of those who don't comply. The last thing you need is 45 files named Termpaper.doc - especially when J. Smith phones and asks, ”Prof, did you get my term paper?“

A nice post! - It has some great tips, and it turns out that I was already following a lot of them. Which made me realize, "I'm more organized than I thought!"

It also makes me feel like I can throw out a lot of the paper I've got hanging around the office.

ermm. I mean recycle...

Good ideas all - thank you! A couple to add...
- If your institution does not have a time limit for saving student work, then check the time limit for appealing a grade. Ours is three weeks after the start of the next semester, and so any student work left over can be shredded at that point because the grade can not be appealed. Alternately, if you use a rubric or feedback form, you can shred the paper (since it has no comments on it) and save only the grading feedback you gave.
- Have students submit their work in a scanned pdf, and you can print and annotate and return the printout to the student as you like, saving a scanned copy of your written notes for yourself, or, annotate the file itself on a computer or ipad and email it to students to save paper. This way, you can electronically save their work with your comments.
- The five categories and filing method above are good for paper files, but also electronic files. I like adding assessment, plus student required and optional readings (in pdfs), plus possible readings (I am not assigning them to students now, but I might use them in the future).

You need a file folder for grades too

Labeling of files really matters and it matters that you can tell at a glance which is the most recent version without having to look at creation date (especially if you make multiple changes in a day and have copies on multiple drives).

What I have evolved to (and organization is not my forte I am a have it in teetering piles person)

Labeling files that get updated through out the semester - like grade sheet. I label like this MNT 380 sp 2010 v1.3 In the version number: the 1= the class week, the .2 is the second update I did that week.
Finals week is, for example, MNT 380 sp 2010 F3.1 This week includes ALL updates and changes until I actually post grades and turn them in then it is labeled: MNT 380 sp 2010 FINAL
If I have to do a grade change then it is MNT 380 sp 2010 FINAL.1

you need a back up system that has multiple safety systems built in. An unrecoverable computer crash and your life is GONE !

Here is how I back up courses (and I have a parallel system for other stuff)
1) flash drive x2 for each semester - the working one that I carry around and a duplicate I keep in my office. At the end of each day I replace the contents of the duplicate with the current version
2) 1 hard drive that does automatic back up and is always plugged in (yes I had to buy something that gave me more ports)
3) 1 archival back up at the end of the semester on a separate hard drive
4) CD back up of archives
My current university does not have network drives for faculty use or I'd use that too

Flash drives are hard to quickly tell apart. I take permanent markers and color code them and if there is room also label them (the black flash drives make this hard and any paste on label I have put on ones in constant use wears off).

Red - current classes
Additional green stripe - the back up that stays in the office (I put this stripe on any flash that is my in office back up regardless of what other color is on there) so the class back up that stays in the office has both red and green
Past semester archive -stick on label with semester and year
Publications - purple
Personal - blue
Department junk - black

Since I suck at filing I have a bunch of paper boxes in my office. Each box is for a course and I toss in the box anything having to do with that course. I have other boxes for other relevant categories. I then try to use spare time (mostly during office hours) to try to deal with the mess and file it. Often this means it sits until the end of the semester and I clean up the box mess then, but at least I am more likely to find junk if it is at least contained. I also have moved to students signing a sheet when they turn something in as I am tired of a few students claiming I lost something. They have to sign the sheet with me watching them turn in the item and sign otherwise I have been burned that way too (when you leave the classroom and check what is turned in against the sheet it is obvious who is trying to pull a fast one so I switched to having to do it while I am watching).

Yes there is a lot of duplication but I spend 3 semesters scanning or looking up the pdf version of my article files, etc. and if I lose this and everything else I have on computers I have lost my life. In the last 5 years I have had 4 unrecoverable crashes of my work hard drive and a stolen personal laptop.

Paper files I save:

1) articles for the PhD classes I teach. It takes way to much time and way too much paper to reprint plus I make comments on them and mark a few things I want to be sure we bring up in discussion. While I could scan the marked copies (and it is worth learning how your department's copy machine scans as they are magic fast, but typically you can only e-mail your files to your network school e-mail address and I hate our g-mail based school e-mail, threading drives me nuts, especially since you can't selectively delete part of the thread if you need to send something elsewhere), I'd still have to use up paper to reprint.

2) handout masters for classes I teach every semester

3) Student junk for the current and immediately proceeding semester. I also insist that students send electronic files AND give me a paper file. We have to save their junk for 3 years and I save their stuff on a CD and toss the paper after 2 semesters.

4) Contracts, evaluations, etc.

I keep student papers for one year. I bought a box of superized manilla envelopes. (You have to special order the super big ones but the box lasts a LONG time) I try to arrange my assignmnets so all graded work is handed back by the (or at the) final exam so all I have are exams but it doesn't always work that way. At the end of the semester I take all the student work that didn't get handed back and put it in a manilla envelope and lable it with the semester (i.e. spring 2008) Occasionally I have had to use a second envelope. The envelopes go in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet and when I put in a new envelope I throw out the old. (i.e. when spring 2008 goes in spring 2007 goes out) If a student comes to question a grade during that year it is actually pretty esay to flip through the stack and find their work and when the year is up it's all gone - I just throw out the entire envelope.

If you back up your files digitally on the campus server, that's one protection. At the end of every academic year, I burn a CD as well, with my digital files (syllabus, tests, assignments, an email archive, final grade spreadsheet, etc), label it, and file it in one of those big cases designed for your music or movie collection. You never know when the campus servers might go down!

My biggest challenge is finding the time to sit down with that self-replicating stack o' stuff and actually file it, however...

This is really good advice, especially for new faculty members.

My file system more or less falls under 4, mostly familiar, categories: teaching, service, research, and professional. The way you have presented the teaching is very similar to what I use. Grad students have most likely found a way to organize their research, but they might benefit from giving some thought to service and what I call "professional" documents. The latter includes CVs, annual reviews, letters of support and other stuff for one's promotion/tenure file.

Service documents/files can quickly become a nightmare. I distinguish between departmental, college, and university committees/meeting and organize folders by committe names and years of service.

I use this system for both physical and electronic files. I wish I had thought of it *before* amassing drawers of papers and a desktop of documents!

Thanks, everyone, for the additional tips and ideas. As many of you point out, backup and labeling strategies are important for both paper and digital files, and there are lots of different ways to handle these things. Although the basic organizational techniques would be similar for managing research and professional files, there are some additional considerations that might be worth taking up in future posts.

Good ideas and tips here. I have two offices so need to keep good files - at least in one location! The USB drive ideas on labeling from annon1234 are very helpful because I need to have files ready no matter the office.Thanks.

I wondered if anyone has come up with a way to integrate Bb files into this mix. I think I mostly store stuff in the Bb version of the course and then copy course from year to year. One advantage to this is that those files are available anywhere I have WiFi service.