Mary's plan in seven parts.zip
What a mess. Imagine 20 of these (that's our class size limit for grad
courses here) in a directory on your hard drive. Yikes.
Now let's say that I required them instead to submit a single document in
Word 2003 format. The file name they use would begin with their last name
(followed by their first name for those where the last name is not unique in
the class), followed by "PlanDraft01.doc" and I would give them the example
that my submission would be:
FlowersPlanDraft01.doc
I would also point out that there are no spaces or non-alphanumeric
characters used (other than the period).
Now, the directory on my hard drive would have all of their work
organized by last name. If there is a second draft, I can see it by the
number changing. I can distinguish a draft from a final submission. If I
comment on their draft, I append "Commented" to the filename just before the
period.
Students will forget to do this, so I'd recommend that you first give
each person a warning. For publicly submitted works (like attachments to
forum postings,) a public correction can go a long way. But if they do this
the second time, I'd suggest you deduct points for failing to follow
file-naming conventions. Enforce this. Hit them in their grade and they'll
typically pay attention.
The result is that you'll not only save time in seeing at a glance what
each file is and being able to find the file you're looking for, but you'll
also minimize file misplacement. It also helps students realize the need for
their own file organization.