One of the most useful flags for the ls command is -l . The first block of information displays the mode of the file. The tells you if it is a file or a directory or if it is readable writable, or executable. This applies to the user, group, or other. See chmod for more information.
Owner shows who created the file.
Most files will belong to the user. The group you belong to depends on your status. Most students will be in the group sasugrad . The date and time are established when the file is created or modified.