Cedar Valley College
January 2011 Volume 55
Teaching Learning Center Organizing Your Workspace for a New Year The start of a new year is as good a time as any to get organized. Organizing your workspace can reduce stress and increase productivity while also saving you time and energy. Monitor Placement: Placing your computer monitor directly in front of you can help to discourage people from interrupting your work. Desk Placement: Position your desk so that you are able to see when someone is approaching. Managing Files: Organize your desk so you never have to handle the same piece of paper twice. Begin using a three file system with a file for review, one called archive or to file, and another labeled to do. Anything which doesn’t fall into one of these three categories should be able to be thrown away. Computer Files: Keep a clean and organized computer desktop by clearly labeling file folders with logical names for faster recall. Create a ‘Junk Drawer’ on your desktop where you can move things that must be sorted or saved for later. You may also want to create three additional folders: docs, docs-archived, and multimedia. Filter your files into one of these three folders. This will help keep your desktop and file system as clean as possible to help you to find things easier.
WEAVE FINDINGS FOR FALL 2010:
Click the ‘assessment’ tab and select ‘measures and findings’ (double check that you are in the correct cycle 2010-2011)
Scroll down to the measures and findings area, select the gray arrow next to your first measure.
You should be able to see the finding for Spring 2010 listed. Select the ‘add finding’ button with the green + and add your data for Fall 2010.
If your target was met, scroll down, click ‘final’ and ‘save’
If your target was not met, click ‘not met’, ‘final’, and ‘save’
An ‘action plan’ must be entered by clicking the button with the green + labeled ‘add action plan’
Fill in the fields provided, then click ‘final’ and ‘save’. Move on to the next measure and repeat the process.
Old Documents: Regularly review your desk and computer files discarding or creating a backup of old or unnecessary documents. Google Desktop: Just like using Google for the web only this version works with your personal computer. It has the same style search function to help you locate files on your computer. Email Folders: Handle these folders the same way as we handled the ones on the computer desktop. Create three folders; hold, archive, and action. Use these to sort through your emails so you will know the ones which require further action, need to be saved, or should be reviewed at a later date. Color coding also helps. Groupwise allows you to change the color of emails addressed to you personally, email from a specific source, etc… Groupwise will also let you sort emails as you receive them, routing them to specific folders. Email: Type specifics in the subject line so the recipient will be able to see exactly what the intent of the email will be. If your entire email is within the subject line type EOM - end of message to indicate to the recipient that there is no need to open the email for further information. If you have several questions it’s a good idea to use bullet points. This makes it clear what questions you’re asking and helps the recipient respond quickly and easily. Say NO to Multitasking: Multitasking just causes you to be fragmented and unable to focus your energies on any one task through to completion. It is actually counter-productive.