We can instruct our students to create documents with titles relevant to topics in the course and to copy and past pertinent information in these documents. This is an advantage over saving every email transmission or downloading entire web pages for review. Filing email in folders created for specific topics also helps to keep the student from being overwhelmed with transmissions from the instructor, other students, listserves and newsgroups. We should encourage students to sort through their email once or twice a day. We need to reduce that whenever and wherever possible.
Bookmarks are another valuable tool for managing information.
Downloading can cause clutter on the students computer that slows things down. It also takes time to search through downloaded files to find information. Encourage students to use bookmarks and, if given the choice, to name the bookmark with a title relating to the information on the page. Creating effective titles or subject lines is a learned art, but a rewarding one. These connections enhance the traditional classroom learning experience and their value is magnified in this environment.