The Academic Problem: mega-thread to come up with a solution

10-19 Concepts 14 Build your system
21

Thanks @dkoob! All input is good.

I’d put a tentative deadline of tomorrow on this first round of ‘discovery’, and I think we’ve got a good amount here. Lucy and I will be taking a day off tomorrow, and then it’ll take me a couple of days to get around to reading and consolidating all of this, so please: last call for any more.

If you have any other ideas, thoughts, problems, questions on this topic, let’s hear them! Remember: there are no stupid questions; no bad ideas. This is a massive brainstorm. More is better.

1 Like
22

One last question: How should we split it up between organizing files related to classes and files not related? Would it make more sense to structure classes as subcomponent of the base JD system, like outlined in 12.02 Exceptions to the rules • Johnny.Decimal for YYMM extensions? Or should we be looking more outside categories 00-99, like SX.C.ID?

No right answer, nor something to decide now.

23

Hi! I’m an English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher, teaching mostly high school in the last few years. I’ve been following the discussion and wanted to add my two cents but I haven’t had much time to write out a post. Since Johnny set a deadline, I’ll post what I’ve got. Please excuse the lack of editing!

My position is different from many others who have posted because I teach high school EFL. My classes will tend to be shorter and more frequent, the content will be broader, and they will be heavier on creativity and discussion than on information and analysis.

Also, I have many fewer administrative responsibilities than do university professors. With that in mind, my post will be mostly about details related to teaching.

Below is my lessons folder. Lessons are grouped by grade year. In each year is a unit folder, which contains resources for the lessons of the unit. Units come from two places: a textbook (EDGE, Speakout, Nat Geo Life) or from my brain (AI Art, Fables, etc.).

I’ve tried to organize the textbook-based units according to the textbook unit that they come from.

There are also some folders which aren’t units, like the final exam, for example. But, they share the feature with units in that they are built using the same tools (LaTeX, SILE, pandoc, etc)[1]. So, there’s a mix of grouping by attributes and by function.

Folder stucture (no files) 
lessons
├── 10
│   ├── AIArt
│   ├── BookReport
│   ├── EDGE
│   │   ├── fittingin
│   │   │   └── readings
│   │   ├── whatmakesuswise
│   │   │   ├── advice
│   │   │   ├── age
│   │   │   ├── math
│   │   │   └── memoirs
│   │   │       ├── draft
│   │   │       └── revise
│   │   ├── whatsimportant
│   │   └── whoami
│   ├── FAQ
│   ├── ForeignWords
│   ├── Life
│   │   ├── 1--habits
│   │   ├── 1--learning
│   │   │   └── norwegian
│   │   ├── 1--places
│   │   └── 2--transport
│   ├── PlayGamesBetter
│   │   └── tagged
│   ├── Speakout
│   │   ├── plans
│   │   ├── shopping
│   │   └── travel
│   │       ├── holidayquiz
│   │       ├── hongkongvideo
│   │       └── itineraryproject
│   │           └── example
│   ├── VocabDetective
│   ├── VocabTest
│   ├── fieldtrip
│   ├── finalexam
│   ├── friendsproject
│   ├── gifts
│   ├── midtermreview
│   ├── moviepresentations
│   ├── photoessay
│   │   ├── pretravel
│   │   └── travel
│   ├── regularhomework
│   ├── reportcardnotes
│   └── wordlists
├── Starters
├── fonts
├── handouts
│   ├── ewl
│   └── longman-communication-3000
├── templates
└── workshops
    └── dogme

56 directories

Lesson plans are usually in a big notebook I carry around because I’ve found it easier to plan on paper than by typing. The notebook also contains other administrative stuff like meeting notes. I have a separate notebook for notes on teaching theory. They refer to books and articles in Zotero.[2]

Below is the same folder structure plus all of the files contained therein. I’ve included it for the sake of being thorough, but it’s a long list. Files include sources and outputs for handouts, syllabi, HTML presentations, images, word clouds, and so on.

Folders+files (400+ of them) 
lessons
├── 10
│   ├── AIArt
│   │   ├── easyReading.docx
│   │   ├── easyReading.pdf
│   │   ├── easyReading.tex
│   │   ├── easyReading.txt
│   │   ├── index.md
│   │   ├── reading.docx
│   │   ├── reading.pdf
│   │   ├── reading.tex
│   │   └── reading.txt
│   ├── BookReport
│   │   ├── assmt.docx
│   │   ├── assmt.pdf
│   │   └── assmt.tex
│   ├── EDGE
│   │   ├── fittingin
│   │   │   ├── readings
│   │   │   │   ├── deaf.jpg
│   │   │   │   ├── myversion.docx
│   │   │   │   ├── myversion.md
│   │   │   │   ├── myversion.pdf
│   │   │   │   ├── myversion.tex
│   │   │   │   └── myversion.txt
│   │   │   ├── KWL.docx
│   │   │   ├── KWL.pdf
│   │   │   ├── KWL.tex
│   │   │   ├── fables.docx
│   │   │   ├── fables.pdf
│   │   │   ├── fables.tex
│   │   │   ├── form.docx
│   │   │   ├── form.pdf
│   │   │   ├── form.tex
│   │   │   ├── frogking.pdf
│   │   │   ├── frogking.sil
│   │   │   ├── frogs.jpg
│   │   │   └── tortoiseandhare.jpg
│   │   ├── whatmakesuswise
│   │   │   ├── advice
│   │   │   │   ├── dayplanner.jpg
│   │   │   │   ├── finalwritingassignment.docx
│   │   │   │   ├── finalwritingassignment.pdf
│   │   │   │   ├── finalwritingassignment.tex
│   │   │   │   ├── findfreetime.docx
│   │   │   │   ├── findfreetime.pdf
│   │   │   │   ├── findfreetime.tex
│   │   │   │   ├── findfreetimequestion.txt
│   │   │   │   ├── freetimewritingprompt.docx
│   │   │   │   ├── freetimewritingprompt.pdf
│   │   │   │   ├── freetimewritingprompt.tex
│   │   │   │   ├── hobbies.docx
│   │   │   │   ├── hobbies.pdf
│   │   │   │   └── hobbies.tex
│   │   │   ├── age
│   │   │   │   └── index.md
│   │   │   ├── math
│   │   │   │   ├── mathreading.txt
│   │   │   │   ├── stoplist
│   │   │   │   └── vocab
│   │   │   ├── memoirs
│   │   │   │   ├── draft
│   │   │   │   │   ├── draftwritingpage.docx
│   │   │   │   │   ├── draftwritingpage.pdf
│   │   │   │   │   ├── draftwritingpage.tex
│   │   │   │   │   ├── plan1.md
│   │   │   │   │   ├── plan2.md
│   │   │   │   │   └── plan3.md
│   │   │   │   ├── revise
│   │   │   │   │   ├── daniel.docx
│   │   │   │   │   ├── daniel.pdf
│   │   │   │   │   ├── daniel.tex
│   │   │   │   │   ├── revisionplan.md
│   │   │   │   │   ├── seconddraft.docx
│   │   │   │   │   ├── seconddraft.pdf
│   │   │   │   │   └── seconddraft.tex
│   │   │   │   ├── assmt.docx
│   │   │   │   ├── assmt.pdf
│   │   │   │   ├── assmt.tex
│   │   │   │   ├── finaldraft.docx
│   │   │   │   ├── finaldraft.pdf
│   │   │   │   ├── finaldraft.tex
│   │   │   │   ├── memoirs.docx
│   │   │   │   ├── memoirs.pdf
│   │   │   │   ├── memoirs.tex
│   │   │   │   ├── mymemoir.docx
│   │   │   │   ├── mymemoir.pdf
│   │   │   │   ├── mymemoir.tex
│   │   │   │   ├── subway.jpg
│   │   │   │   └── tree.jpg
│   │   │   ├── handsassignment.pdf.do
│   │   │   ├── handsreading.txt
│   │   │   └── index.md
│   │   ├── whatsimportant
│   │   │   ├── fallingmiracle.pdf
│   │   │   ├── fallingmiracle.sil
│   │   │   ├── honestysurvey.pdf
│   │   │   └── honestysurvey.sil
│   │   └── whoami
│   │       ├── growingtogetherassignment.pdf.do
│   │       ├── poemassmt.docx
│   │       ├── poemassmt.pdf
│   │       └── poemassmt.tex
│   ├── FAQ
│   │   └── README.md
│   ├── ForeignWords
│   │   ├── article.txt
│   │   ├── fl-1french.TXT
│   │   ├── fl-2german.TXT
│   │   ├── fl-3spanish.TXT
│   │   ├── fl-4nativeAmerican.TXT
│   │   ├── fl-5chinese.TXT
│   │   ├── fluentu-edited.md
│   │   ├── fluentu.txt
│   │   ├── ignored-words.txt
│   │   ├── word-list.txt
│   │   ├── writing.docx
│   │   ├── writing.pdf
│   │   └── writing.tex
│   ├── Life
│   │   ├── 1--habits
│   │   │   ├── writing.pdf
│   │   │   └── writing.sil
│   │   ├── 1--learning
│   │   │   ├── norwegian
│   │   │   │   ├── audiencequestions.docx
│   │   │   │   ├── audiencequestions.pdf
│   │   │   │   ├── audiencequestions.tex
│   │   │   │   ├── audiencequestions.txt
│   │   │   │   ├── interviewerquestions.docx
│   │   │   │   ├── interviewerquestions.pdf
│   │   │   │   ├── interviewerquestions.tex
│   │   │   │   ├── interviewerquestions.txt
│   │   │   │   ├── learningnorwegian.txt
│   │   │   │   ├── listeningquestions.docx
│   │   │   │   ├── listeningquestions.pdf
│   │   │   │   ├── listeningquestions.tex
│   │   │   │   ├── tips.docx
│   │   │   │   ├── tips.pdf
│   │   │   │   ├── tips.tex
│   │   │   │   └── tips.txt
│   │   │   ├── cpt-life-elem-91.ogg
│   │   │   ├── cpt-life-elem-91.srt
│   │   │   ├── dictation.docx
│   │   │   ├── dictation.pdf
│   │   │   ├── dictation.tex
│   │   │   ├── foreword.pdf
│   │   │   ├── foreword.sil
│   │   │   ├── listening-91.json
│   │   │   ├── listening-91.srt
│   │   │   ├── listening-91.tsv
│   │   │   ├── listening-91.txt
│   │   │   ├── listening-91.vtt
│   │   │   ├── splitinforeading.pdf
│   │   │   ├── splitinforeading.sil
│   │   │   ├── subjectsurvey.pdf
│   │   │   └── subjectsurvey.sil
│   │   ├── 1--places
│   │   │   ├── writing.pdf
│   │   │   └── writing.sil
│   │   └── 2--transport
│   │       ├── trains.pdf
│   │       ├── trains.sil
│   │       ├── writing.pdf
│   │       └── writing.sil
│   ├── PlayGamesBetter
│   │   ├── tagged
│   │   │   └── redbull.txt
│   │   ├── cloze.docx
│   │   ├── cloze.md
│   │   ├── cloze.pandoc.err
│   │   ├── header.yaml
│   │   ├── mycloze.docx
│   │   ├── mycloze.pdf
│   │   ├── mycloze.tex
│   │   ├── redbull.md
│   │   ├── redbull.txt
│   │   ├── writing.md
│   │   └── writingAssignment.txt
│   ├── Speakout
│   │   ├── plans
│   │   │   ├── index.md
│   │   │   ├── suggestions.pdf
│   │   │   └── suggestions.sil
│   │   ├── shopping
│   │   │   ├── quiz.pdf
│   │   │   └── quiz.sil
│   │   └── travel
│   │       ├── holidayquiz
│   │       │   ├── SO_ELEM_U7_Tr2.srt
│   │       │   ├── SO_ELEM_U7_Tr2.txt
│   │       │   ├── SO_ELEM_U7_Tr2.vtt
│   │       │   ├── clozepractice.docx
│   │       │   ├── clozepractice.pdf
│   │       │   ├── clozepractice.tex
│   │       │   ├── focusonform.md
│   │       │   ├── focusonformmixed.pdf
│   │       │   ├── focusonformmixed.sil
│   │       │   ├── plan.txt
│   │       │   ├── script.pdf
│   │       │   ├── script.sil
│   │       │   ├── speakingassmt.pdf
│   │       │   ├── speakingassmt.sil
│   │       │   ├── survey.pdf
│   │       │   ├── survey.sil
│   │       │   └── travellesson.txt
│   │       ├── hongkongvideo
│   │       │   ├── SO_E_U07_interviews.srt
│   │       │   └── SO_E_U07_interviews.txt
│   │       ├── itineraryproject
│   │       │   ├── example
│   │       │   │   ├── hendrix.gif
│   │       │   │   └── index.md
│   │       │   ├── index.md
│   │       │   ├── itinerarytask.pdf
│   │       │   ├── itinerarytask.sil
│   │       │   ├── listeninghandout.docx
│   │       │   ├── listeninghandout.pdf
│   │       │   ├── listeninghandout.tex
│   │       │   ├── reportexample.pdf
│   │       │   ├── reportexample.sil
│   │       │   ├── rubric.docx
│   │       │   ├── rubric.pdf
│   │       │   ├── rubric.tex
│   │       │   ├── worksheet.pdf
│   │       │   └── worksheet.sil
│   │       ├── amyliu.jpg
│   │       ├── customers.docx
│   │       ├── customers.pdf
│   │       ├── customers.tex
│   │       ├── diego.jpg
│   │       ├── index.md
│   │       ├── maria.jpg
│   │       ├── sarah.jpg
│   │       ├── speaking.pdf
│   │       ├── speaking.sil
│   │       ├── travelagent.pdf
│   │       └── travelagent.sil
│   ├── VocabDetective
│   │   ├── README.md
│   │   ├── exam.docx
│   │   ├── exam.pdf
│   │   ├── exam.tex
│   │   └── index.md
│   ├── VocabTest
│   │   ├── VocabularyLevelsTestMandarin.pdf
│   │   └── index.md
│   ├── fieldtrip
│   │   ├── bridge.jpg
│   │   ├── colosseum.jpg
│   │   ├── greatwall.jpg
│   │   ├── nyc.jpg
│   │   ├── redsquare.jpg
│   │   ├── temple.jpg
│   │   ├── writingpractice.pdf
│   │   └── writingpractice.sil
│   ├── finalexam
│   │   ├── class1presentationrubric.docx
│   │   ├── class1presentationrubric.pdf
│   │   ├── class1presentationrubric.tex
│   │   ├── exam.docx
│   │   ├── exam.pdf
│   │   ├── exam.tex
│   │   ├── reading.docx
│   │   ├── reading.pdf
│   │   ├── reading.tex
│   │   ├── reading.tex.bak
│   │   ├── readingpassage1.txt
│   │   ├── readingpassage2.txt
│   │   ├── speaking.docx
│   │   ├── speaking.pdf
│   │   ├── speaking.tex
│   │   ├── speakingrubric.docx
│   │   ├── speakingrubric.pdf
│   │   ├── speakingrubric.tex
│   │   ├── writing.docx
│   │   ├── writing.pdf
│   │   └── writing.tex
│   ├── friendsproject
│   │   ├── endingworksheet.docx
│   │   ├── endingworksheet.pdf
│   │   ├── endingworksheet.tex
│   │   ├── project.txt
│   │   ├── pronunciation_notes.txt
│   │   ├── reflection.txt
│   │   ├── reflectionWorksheet.docx
│   │   ├── reflectionWorksheet.pdf
│   │   ├── reflectionWorksheet.tex
│   │   ├── reqsforplay.TXT
│   │   ├── script.docx
│   │   ├── script.pdf
│   │   └── script.tex
│   ├── gifts
│   │   ├── bestgiftvideo.pdf
│   │   ├── bestgiftvideo.sil
│   │   ├── bestgiftvideo.srt
│   │   ├── bestgiftvideo.txt
│   │   ├── blacklab.jpg
│   │   ├── boardgames.jpg
│   │   ├── bracelet.jpg
│   │   ├── car.jpg
│   │   ├── cleats.jpg
│   │   ├── debatesummary.pdf
│   │   ├── debatesummary.sil
│   │   ├── earrings.jpg
│   │   ├── giftcard.jpg
│   │   ├── headphones.jpg
│   │   ├── laptop.jpg
│   │   ├── maintask.pdf
│   │   ├── maintask.ref
│   │   ├── maintask.sil
│   │   ├── necklace.jpg
│   │   ├── photoalbum.jpg
│   │   ├── plain.md
│   │   ├── ps2.jpg
│   │   ├── smartphone.jpg
│   │   ├── stuffedanimal.jpg
│   │   ├── survey.pdf
│   │   ├── survey.sil
│   │   ├── writinghomework.pdf
│   │   └── writinghomework.sil
│   ├── midtermreview
│   │   ├── classone.pdf
│   │   ├── classone.sil
│   │   ├── midterm.pdf
│   │   └── midterm.sil
│   ├── moviepresentations
│   │   ├── listeningworksheet.pdf
│   │   ├── listeningworksheet.sil
│   │   ├── presentationassignment.pdf
│   │   ├── presentationassignment.sil
│   │   ├── writingfeedback.pdf
│   │   └── writingfeedback.sil
│   ├── photoessay
│   │   ├── pretravel
│   │   │   ├── index.md
│   │   │   ├── photoessayassignment.pdf
│   │   │   └── photoessayassignment.sil
│   │   ├── travel
│   │   │   ├── handout.pdf
│   │   │   └── handout.sil
│   │   ├── photoessayrequirements.docx
│   │   ├── photoessayrequirements.pdf
│   │   └── photoessayrequirements.tex
│   ├── regularhomework
│   │   ├── 10minprompt.docx
│   │   ├── 10minprompt.pdf
│   │   ├── 10minprompt.tex
│   │   ├── 10minwriting.docx
│   │   ├── 10minwriting.pdf
│   │   └── 10minwriting.tex
│   ├── reportcardnotes
│   │   ├── StudentName.txt
│   │   └── criteria.txt_
│   ├── wordlists
│   │   ├── README.txt
│   │   ├── week1.txt
│   │   ├── week2.txt
│   │   ├── week3.txt
│   │   ├── week4.txt
│   │   ├── xdfmswordlist01.txt
│   │   ├── xdfmswordlist02.txt
│   │   ├── xdfmswordlist03.txt
│   │   ├── xdfmswordlist04.txt
│   │   ├── xdfmswordlist05.txt
│   │   ├── xdfmswordlist06.txt
│   │   ├── xdfmswordlist07.txt
│   │   ├── xdfmswordlist08.txt
│   │   ├── xdfmswordlist09.txt
│   │   └── xdfmswordlist10.txt
│   ├── 2023-spring-G10.docx
│   ├── 2023-spring-G10.pdf
│   ├── 2023-spring-G10.tex
│   ├── 2023-spring-calendar.txt
│   ├── 2023-spring-modules.txt
│   ├── 2023-spring-prefatory.txt
│   ├── 2023-spring-projects.txt
│   ├── 2023-spring-resources.txt
│   ├── EFL.bib
│   ├── photoessayassignment.pdf
│   ├── photoessayassignment.sil
│   ├── syllabus.docx
│   ├── syllabus.pdf
│   ├── syllabus.tex                                                                    │   ├── syllabus.tex.md
│   └── syllabusnotes.txt
├── Starters                                                                            │   ├── AAMeeting.txt
│   ├── FourCorners.txt
│   └── ThreeThingsInCommon.txt
├── fonts
│   ├── NotoSans-Black.ttf
│   ├── NotoSans-BlackItalic.ttf
│   ├── NotoSans-Bold.ttf
│   ├── NotoSans-BoldItalic.ttf
│   ├── NotoSans-Italic.ttf
│   ├── NotoSans-Light.ttf
│   ├── NotoSans-LightItalic.ttf
│   ├── NotoSans-Medium.ttf
│   ├── NotoSans-MediumItalic.ttf
│   ├── NotoSans-Regular.ttf
│   ├── NotoSans-Thin.ttf                                                               │   ├── NotoSans-ThinItalic.ttf
│   ├── NotoSansCJK-Regular.ttc
│   ├── ...
├── handouts
│   ├── ewl
│   │   ├── blanks.txt
│   │   ├── ewl-function-words.txt
│   │   ├── ewl-list.docx
│   │   ├── ewl-list.pdf
│   │   ├── ewl-list.tex                                                                │   │   ├── maketable.sh
│   │   ├── sublist1.txt                                                                │   │   ├── sublist10.txt
│   │   ├── sublist11.txt                                                               │   │   ├── sublist12.txt
│   │   ├── sublist13.txt                                                               │   │   ├── sublist2.txt
│   │   ├── sublist3.txt                                                                │   │   ├── sublist4.txt
│   │   ├── sublist5.txt                                                                │   │   ├── sublist6.txt
│   │   ├── sublist7.txt                                                                │   │   ├── sublist8.txt
│   │   ├── sublist9.txt                                                                │   │   ├── table0.txt
│   │   ├── table1.txt                                                                  │   │   ├── table2.txt
│   │   └── words.txt                                                                   │   ├── longman-communication-3000
│   │   ├── S1.txt                                                                      │   │   ├── S1W2.txt
│   │   ├── S1W3.txt                                                                    │   │   ├── S2.txt
│   │   ├── S3.txt                                                                      │   │   ├── SW1.tex.txt
│   │   ├── SW1.txt                                                                     │   │   ├── SW2.tex.txt
│   │   ├── SW3.tex.txt                                                                 │   │   ├── W1.txt
│   │   ├── W2.txt
│   │   ├── W3.txt
│   │   ├── all-zh.txt
│   │   ├── all.txt
│   │   ├── justwords-zh.txt
│   │   ├── justwords.txt
│   │   ├── longman-communication-3000-sorted.docx
│   │   ├── longman-communication-3000-sorted.pdf
│   │   ├── longman-communication-3000-sorted.tex
│   │   ├── longman-communication-3000.json
│   │   └── wordlist.py
│   ├── key.docx
│   ├── key.pdf
│   ├── key.tex
│   ├── observationform.pdf
│   ├── observationform.sil
│   ├── writingfeedback.pdf
│   └── writingfeedback.sil
├── templates
│   ├── exam.tex
│   ├── flashcards.tex
│   ├── index.md
│   ├── plan-table.md
│   ├── plan.md
│   └── plan.rst
├── workshops
│   └── dogme
│       ├── index.md
│       └── plan.rst
├── README.txt
├── all.do
├── apa.csl
├── assmt.sty
├── bilingual.sty
├── clean.do
├── config.json
├── default.docx.do
├── default.html.do
├── default.pdf.do
├── default.runtex.do
├── default.wordcloud.pdf.do
├── do
├── exam.lua
├── favicon.ico
├── gen-username.py
├── linkfiles.do
├── my.css
├── mypaper.cfg
├── package-lock.json
├── package.json
├── pdfslides.do
├── plan.css
├── rsync.sh
├── styles.css
├── styles.css.do
├── tailwind.config.js
├── template.latex
└── zh.sty

56 directories, 468 files

This structure came about as I was flying by the seat of my pants my first year in high school teaching. I was at a new school which had no curriculum in place I didn’t know what I was doing well enough to make decent plans for the year. Now, during a summer break, I think it’s a great chance to contemplate a better way of organizing my work. It’s quite creatively demanding to make an entertaining and effective lesson, so I wonder how the “JD for creatives” structure might apply here.

Lastly, I’ll mention a few other issues I’ve had that make organizing this difficult. One is the issue of adapting and reusing materials for different classes. A lesson from a textbook has some things which are easy to reuse, like screenshots from the PDF, but other things like handouts often change from class to class. One class may be large, so the instructions must change to reflect that. Another class may need more or less guidance to do the assignment. Students might benefit from an added section to challenge them more. All of these changes make it difficult to manage versions and reuse materials.

As an example, my tenth grade students have a similar English level to my ninth grade students, but my 9th grade classes are three times bigger. With larger classes also comes a wider range of skill levels. If I can reuse a unit between the two grades, adjustments need to be made for learning context, maturity level, time available, and so on. With my current structure, I need to decide, do I copy those materials from 10 to 9 or vice versa, or do I just edit them where they are? Or is there some other solution that I’m just too close to the problem to see?

Thinking on @PhillyChuck’s organization system: it looks great, actually. I tried to organize my lessons with folders per lesson, but I found this to detract from my organization. I’m not skillful enough yet as a teacher to consistently get through what I plan for a lesson, so I’ve found organizing per unit to be more effective for me. I also have between 40 and 50 lessons with a class per semester, and class cancellations and shuffles due to test prep and holidays makes for an unpredictable schedule. I think these are some of the big differences between secondary and post secondary education from a teacher’s point of view. Also, English course content is less focused then many university courses (what is English language as a subject, anyway?).

This gave me an idea. A lot of my lessons use the idea of task-based teaching and lessons often use common types of materials. For example, I’m a fan of class surveys as a way to generate interest in a topic and explore ideas about it. Another common one is reading passages. It would be an interesting exercise to see how files could be organized on this way.

Here’s a brainstorm of things I see in my work:

  • Worksheets like the things discussed earlier in my post
  • Quizzes and exams. Exams usually only happen twice a semester
  • Lesson plans
  • Media files related to lesson units (screenshots, videos, images)
  • Notes and materials used for formative assessment, for example notes about student performance in group work[3]
  • Unit homework, including short essays and writing prompts
  • Regular, ongoing homework assignments like journal writing or vocabulary study
  • Syllabi and curriculum plans
  • Attendance records[4]
  • Meeting minutes and notes on staff discussion about various plans and issues
  • Special project-based extracurricular class plans and materials, having some overlap with other material types listed above
  • Student proposals for said extracurricular classes
  • Plans and materials for special events, like a food fair or discussion forum
  • Proposals and ideas for “creative assessment” (one proposal per semester)
  • Student work samples, turned in, maybe graded, maybe part of a portfolio
  • Missing assignments
  • Remedial assignments and plans

  1. I use these tools rather than MS Word because I want the power of programming languages and I care about typography. The wisdom of my choice here is debatable. One example I might use LaTeX or SILE for is to duplicate a document for printing two, four, or eight copies to a page. Doing the same in other programs is inconvenient and unpredictable in my experience. ↩︎

  2. Shout out to my fellow Zotero users! It’s a great tool for published document organization, and is mostly out of scope for my purposes. But I’d love to hear how others organize their collections. ↩︎

  3. In my current position, I’m not required to assign grades to my students, so these haven’t been a priority for organization. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be, because they are important tools for quality teaching. ↩︎

  4. I’m also not required to track attendance. Students may simply not show up for class, and I will be informed that the students are reviewing other subjects with their other teachers, among other reasons. Things that I would take for granted often don’t apply in a different cultural context. ↩︎

2 Likes
24

Love this!

Feels like we’re still going with discovery so I’ll give this a few more days. Any more thoughts? Let’s have them all.

25

I am a student - currently in college studying Electromechanical Engineering Technology. Pretty cool stuff! I also in general have a love of learning new things in nearly any context. Here’s how that works for me and my JD system:

I have my area: 50-59-Learning. Anything learning-related goes into here.
Inside this I have a few categories. One is for school, one is for work training, another is for my personal study of languages.

Inside the school folder, I have an ID for each course I have taken (that has electronic files, that is - some of them don’t). This is probably one of my highest-capacity folders. Inside each folder, I heavily leverage sort-by-name to keep things in order. Depending on how the course is structured I’ll make some kind of numbering system to keep assignments in order and make it clear what they go with in the online LMS stuff.

1 Like
26

Ouf, I guess I miss this thread. Sorry for being late.
I’ll try to stick with the problem since I have found some kind of solution/workaround with the “academic” issues.

First, there is the quantity if courses. You might want to organize them by topics, by level or by session.

Then there is the lessons, objectives, assignments, evaluations, exams, administrative concerns, tools, standards, templates, rules, etc.

All of those might change every year rendering a global mess that is my home office!

Besides, other issues concerns the knowledge management related to past, present and future courses.

I thing I have found some kind of balance, but I guess the solution are for another post?

27

Glad there was a bit of an extension for the brainstorm. I’ve had a couple of weeks to think about what I wrote before and if there was anything that I wanted to add. There is.

Ideally I would have one JD system for everything, including academic material, but given the simplicity of the system, it may not be reasonable for a turtles all the way down approach (Obsidian is an absolute requirement for me).

Obsidian essentially uses symbolic links to connect notes and JD relies on shallow depth, metadata, and an index for easy searches. I can imagine a JD system filling up very quickly if symbolic links were employed to show a connection between say, 13.02.01 → 13.05.07 (if that makes sense).

I think what may work (at least for a mathematician with lots of definitions, proofs, ideas, etc.) is a consistent vault structure that can be applied to different subjects/courses/etc., each with its own JD ID. Then there could be one vault to rule them all, one vault to find them, one vault to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.

This main vault would be the write vault (which wouldn’t actually be an Obsidian vault per se, just a directory with all of the markdown files) while the others would be read vaults.

This doesn’t really gel with the point of zettelkasten because “vaults all the way down” isn’t the organizing principle, but it would keep all of the information in one place.

Whenever a note is created in a specific vault, it writes to the main vault and then the current one pulls the information if it matches the criteria (subject/course/etc). I see a few issues here:

  1. consistency among the vaults (not too difficult if there’s a template)
  2. naming conventions for notes (JD? Extended JD?)
  3. coding hell (not sure how to point to notes in another vault, dynamically update, search for duplicates, combine notes, etc.)

I have a couple of fledgling ideas for solutions to these but do not have the time to experiment until maybe early July. Something to do with using a fast search algo and forward-thinking frontmatter.

That’s just organizational, not really optimized in any way, and a total PITA to maintain. I suppose it could go the other way around, but then the vault becomes almost entirely unmanageable. See my previous post.

Another requirement I have is transitioning from MS to PhD status. As a student, I don’t require a folder for any students I have (maybe for tutoring, if I end up keeping notes). If I end up teaching, I would want to use those notes for reference, updating, etc.

Ok. Brain dump complete.

Thanks!

28

Reading your post @dreadvimfantail, it reminded me of an issue I have been facing with my documents organization: I have multiple locations where they are stored.

Here’s an example for the topic “Software Forensics”:

  • I have documents on my computer related to this,
  • these documents are backed up on iCloud and elsewhere,
  • I have references linked to the same topics in Zotero,
  • I have documents published on Moodle,
  • I organize classes and grades using Google Sheets,
  • I use Scrivener to create content for my courses,
  • to exchange documents between my computer and the one provided by the University, I use Dropbox,
  • sometimes I use Apple Notes to keep track of some information related to this topic,
  • sometimes I exchange documents through MS Teams,
  • and I must use OneDrive for working documents within the department.

So far, this is what I use to keep track of those documents:

I use the following as “reserved” number

  • xx.01 To put at the right place (RESERVED EVERYWHERE WITHIN 2x.xx)

  • xx.02 [BLANK]

  • xx.03 Tools, HowTo, etc. (RESERVED EVERYWHERE WITHIN 2x.xx)

  • xx.04 Personal notes, abstract, etc. (RESERVED EVERYWHERE WITHIN 2x.xx)

  • xx.05 Training (RESERVED EVERYWHERE WITHIN 2x.xx)

  • xx.06 Norms and standards (RESERVED EVERYWHERE WITHIN 2x.xx)

  • xx.07 [BLANK]

  • xx.08 [BLANK]

  • xx.09 [BLANK]

  • 27.00 Teaching Cyberforensics in IT (INF807) (iCloud/Notes/Scrivener)

  • 27.10 Administration (Notes/Scrivener)

  • 27.20 Preparation (Notes/Scrivener)

  • 27.21 Course Plan (Scrivener/GoogleDrive/Moodle/UdS)

  • 27.27 Documents for teachers (Notes/Teams/GoogleSheets/Source: Scrivener/iCloud-PPT/DropBox-PDF)

  • 27.27 Documents for students

  • 27.30 Courses-Part A (Notes/Scrivener)

  • 27.40 Courses-Part B (Notes/Scrivener)

  • 27.60 Workshop (Notes/Scrivener)

  • 27.70 Assignments (Notes / Scrivener)

  • 21.71 Mid-terms (Scrivener/UdS)

  • 21.73 Finals (Scrivener/UdS)

  • 27.79 Grades (Google Drive)

  • 27.80 Research-Concept and References (Notes/iCloud/Scrivener/Zotero)

  • 27.81 Criminal law in IT

  • 27.82 Forensics concepts

  • 27.83 Forensics tools

  • 27.84 Digital evidence in criminal proceedings

  • 27.85 Digital evidence in civil proceedings

  • 27.86 Investigation process

  • 27.88 Policies process practices and instructions (Scrivener)

I put a link in parentheses to indicate the location. In this example, the source of information is in Scrivener, one output (pptx) is kept in iCloud so I can access it on my iPad if needed, and I also create a PDF output as a backup for my lecture. My courses are organized in the section 20.xx

So, it is not completed yet, meaning it is still a mess… but at least it’s getting structured and I can see patterns and find documents much, much, much, much quickly.

I’ve been using this system for about 2-3 weeks… I’ll see how it goes. But on the bright side, I found so many duplicates… it is sad to see how much useless work I have done. On the other hand, I realize I was using the same examples and concepts.

I’m crossing my fingers that this system is the right one for me! I have tried so many different things over the past decades…

By the way, yes, Index is burdensome, but so critical!!!

3 Likes
29

Haven’t forgotten this one! Just been working out the creative pattern as we need to use it here ourselves. As soon as I’ve got that tidied up this is next on the list!

3 Likes
30

I think very simple like this: each course must be at the ID level. Once you can find your course, you are already organized. The depth of your course folder doesn’t really matter, as long as you can find your course.

Here is an example

├── 23.01 CS50x
│   ├── 2024
│   │   ├── Week 0 Scratch
│   │   │   ├── Audio
│   │   │   ├── Notes
│   │   │   ├── Slides
│   │   │   ├── Source Code
│   │   │   ├── Subtitles
│   │   │   ├── Transcript
│   │   │   └── Video
│   │   ├── Week 1 C
│   │   ├── Week 2 Arrays
│   │   ├── ...
│   ├── 2023
│   ├── 2022
│   ├── ...
├── 23.02 CS50 AI
├── 23.03 CS50 Business
├── ...
31

Mid-career faculty here. I’ve spent a LOT of time with the linked notetaking systems (Obsidian, Logseq), mindmapping systems, different types of reference management and writing software, as well as JD. I just found this thread, and I didn’t read everything in detail, but here are some thoughts.

As much as I wish it weren’t the case, I have finally concluded that it doesn’t make sense to have one system for everything. I tried so hard for this. But systems have trade-offs and no system is good for everything. I see some people commented on limits in JD in terms of discovery, linking, etc. JD isn’t designed for or suited for associational thinking or developing new ideas.

I know that JD requires a notes system and even promotes the usefulness of links between notes. But the goal of JD is so fundamentally different from the goal of a note system for longform writing that I think it’s best to keep the “file and later find things” JD system separate from the “record thoughts and link them to learn, generate new ideas, and write stuff” system. Both involve notes, yes, but the actual goal of the system is really, really different.

From my perspective, JD is best for identifying, indexing, and locating things that are STATIC. Water bills, birth certificates, user’s manuals, physical objects, etc. The system isn’t static because you are constantly adding things to it, but the things themselves are static. JD ss not good as an environment for generating academic output or a desktop for developing ideas, a Zettlekasten, or a writing desk where you move pieces around to get a longform writing output. Use Scribner for that. JD is not for reference management. Use Zotero for that. I totally get the drive to put everything in one place, and still sometimes fantasize out doing that, but at the end of the day I think it’s a fool’s errand.

One issue that may be bigger for academics is that we often have dozens of versions of something, whether a syllabus for a class that we’ve taught a bunch, or a bunch of conference papers that are all a bit different but are basically part of the same research project. But versioning software isn’t a good match for this issue (my 2 conference papers on the same topic ARE two different papers I gave at different times), so there is a tension between not wanting to store dozens of copies of similar things in different places and being able to find the version that goes with a specific course, conference, or meeting.

For my teaching, I have one high-level folder labeled “91 - courses taught” and each course gets an index number like “91.13 - freshman composition” and within that folder I have sub-folders labeled with the academic year and course code “2022-23 CHS3239 Intro to Composition”. Here, “freshman composition” is an informal label since I have taught the same course under different names or different course codes.

Within the subfolders for a specific course taught in a specific term, I have a bunch of other folders like “assignments” and “exams”. And I just copy the entire thing over next time I teach the course, making changes, and not worrying about the fact that 90% of the documents in “2021-22 CHS3239 Intro to Composition” and “2022-23 CHS3239 Intro to Composition” are duplicates. Documents don’t take up that much disk space.

There are other challenges I am facing in the area of organizing academic stuff, but this post is long so I’ll stop for now and read any replies.

5 Likes
32

Thanks for this. I have had this hunch, and it’s nice to hear from someone with (more) experience trying this out.

Very relatable, the grass is always greener on the other side of someone’s shiny new plain-text wiki tool Github repo issue list!

two thoughts:

1: I’ve been keeping my notes inside my JD system; so far it’s very clear in my mind which parts are of the ‘ideas, links, and writing’ corpus and which are the static ‘file and find later’ type.

(by 'keeping inside my JD system I mean that both types of things are represented by text files in folders – the text-files-as-index approach.)

The distinction, to your point, is that I do not use Johnny Decimal ID’s for categorizing the contents my notes. There’s just a couple of categories and IDs where I throw in a whole bunch of text files, and interlink with [[insert any personal wiki management system]] tooling. So far, this seems to be working.

the reason I like this is because my notes show up in the same full-text search as my text records of other ‘stuff’.

But on reading your thoughts I wonder if this entanglement might become a hindrance in the future.

Have you done this – a system of notes within a JD system – and run into any issues in the long run?

So my ‘personal knowledge management system’ is really separate, but I have given it a few JD IDs just because it’s one of the things I want to give a place to, alongside al the static stuff. (Analogy: I could look up at my shelf and see my row of notebooks sitting alongside my row of admin folders and my row of reference manuals, textbooks etc. The notebooks get a catalogue ID, but for the purposes of the catalogue they are a closed box).

A similar aspect of the same thing is the reference system: my idea is that my Zotero collection will get a JD ID (still working on moving things over), but that it would indeed be folly to try to give each article I cite some kind of identifier in the JD system!

2:

I suppose this would actually match 15.02 the Creative pattern, where you could – if it made sense and you had the time – consolidate and refile ‘repeating’ stuff into a ‘library’ category after each iteration – or not, and it wouldn’t be a problem.

33

I’m not sure how long you’ve been using this system but when I read it a deep sense of dread fell over me :slight_smile: . For context, I have over 12,000 Zotero items, and thousands of notes and document files. If I kept my academic notes and documents in JD, I can’t imagine trying to find anything in my life that is described in words adjacent to my academic area. If your area is protein folding, maybe it doesn’t matter, but try to find your water bill if your research is fluid mechanics.

Yes, I thought of this after I posted. Maybe the only difference is that the academic course JD template would include not just folders but also many files that are re-used (with revisions) across different semesters.

For trying to crack “the academic problem” in general, I suggest that there will probably be different best practices for teaching, research, service, and admin sections.

One thing I wrestle with is organizing materials for a research project that might produce several papers and involve several people. Dates are not a good way to do this, as the date is not very relevant to the content (unlike travel, doctor’s appointments, or purchases). So there should be another principle for creating subfolders that can be organized as usefully as date folders can be organized in other areas.

34

I’ve been doing this with my academic notes and files (under my SX.C.ID system) and college administration stuff (in a standard JD setup). I’ve been keeping my active working notes contained in one ID per class, as I will almost never need to reference a specific note for a class. If I do, I’ll give it an ID when I need it. I’d rather name my notes based on the lesson or unit number, as that is both organized and helps me review for tests on specific units.

There is some overlap between my business communication class, where I practiced resumes and CVs, and my employment category, which holds the up to date copies of those documents. I differentiate based on where they are located. Searching my system for “resume” yields both S2.4.08, for that business class, and 22.01, the most recent copy. If I’m looking for the specific copy I made for that class, I look in S2.4, if I want the latest I’ll look at 22.01.

I could see this working in a similar way in a vanilla setup, if your research is contained in 10-19 and life admin in 20-29, look for the power bill in that 20-29 range. If your results are alphabetical, just scroll until you hit 20. If your research isn’t part of your JD system, then your JD files should already be at the top (assuming your system alphabetizes numbers before letters).

35

I’m worried that one point I made may get lost in my long posts above, so I hope it’s ok to highlight it separately. Johnny, my main problem re: academia is not organizing classes, but organizing research. I have a few research areas, and each is associated with different people, conferences, papers, personal writing notes, and articles in different stages of publication. Making this harder is that sometimes certain people, conferences, or notes are associated with more than one research area/project. I would love advice on how to organize this mess.

1 Like
36

Sorry I haven’t forgotten this thread. My to-do list is just real long.

2 Likes
37

It is precisely because of this that I have thought that JD is better implemented as a set of hierarchical tags, rather than as folders (though I have been starting to implement as folders).

1 Like
38

No worries.
The beauty of a forum is a post/discussion will always (well almost always in most cases) be there.
My own todo list may even exceed my priority email list(s) :flushed:
I mean, I’ve been hoarding and mis-managing my emails for close to 4 decades now — and it seems this JD experience, once I finally ‘get it’ — may/will be just the ticket I need to sort out my overly crowded life!

:joy: :speak_no_evil: just realized I thought I was replying to another thread that I had started, and was about to remove this one and move it to the other — but the shoe seems to fit here too, so will just leave this one here if that’s ok.

1 Like
39

Interesting idea — ‘organizing research’

Wayyyy back in the 70’s, when I was still in the age of Univ, I believe I would have benefited royally from using JD for research. I spent most of the 7 yrs at Univ in Hist/PoliSci/English, then In MediaArts/Film/Photo, and finally, Education.

It was during the first phase that I concentrated mostly on CdnPoli/Hist and had accumulated a good sized library of books, papers, etc on the topic.

Tests and exams were not my thing, or forte! I enjoyed, and still enjoy, writing — developing thoughts, arguments, theories, discussions.

In one particular instance I had spent an immeasurable amount of time researching the role of the church in French Canadian politics and wound up with stacks of papers. Sorry, make that one stack of unsorted papers.

Deadlines were approaching, far too quickly, for this final major submission to the course. All I could see was a pile of ‘the dog’s breakfast’ in front of me. All I could see was the clock ticking — faster and faster and…

Eventually the dog won!

I arranged to meet with the prof. We discussed my research, the time I had spent on it, and the time remaining to compose the paper. I enquired how much of the final submission was based on the written paper, how much on the research, and if an oral conversation would count for anything at all.

The prof was very understanding and we agreed that should I not be able to complete the final paper, then he would base the grade at 70% on the research and a final meeting/discussion.

Best 70% mark I was ever awarded — ever!

Moral of this wee story? I needed a better organizational tool — a tool that would have saved me weeks of angst — a tool that could have kept my head above water, on more than one occasion, back in the Univ days.

Like Harry Chapin once said to an audience, “Where were you when I needed you in the 60’s?”

Like I’m saying now to JohnnyDecimal, “Where were you when I needed you in the 70’s?” :wink:

2 Likes
40

me too!! I studied from 2014-2022 and so wish I had this system back then.

1 Like