Instructables Ultimate Parts Storage

I don't have an office at work. I have a cubicle that is woefully too small for all the books and stuff I collect over a school year.  Being a technology teacher, I have all kinds of cables and connectors.  I don't have anyplace to really put these in an organized fashion, so they end up in a box or in the bottom of my  drawer.  Once there, they disappear until the end of year when I clean everything and say with joyful surprise when I find something I thought I had lost, "Hello little lost friend."

This Instructables "Ultimate Parts Storage" looks like a clever way to deal with some of these little bits and pieces I need to keep around.  Essentially, you buy zip lock binder pockets.  Then buy some smaller ziplock bags that can help you further organize your stuff into labeled organizational heaven rather than clutter stuff-falls-on-your-head hell.

I'll try it out and let you know.

[Image captured from Instructables: Ultimate Parts Storage: http://www.instructables.com/id/Ultimate-Parts-Storage/step3/Organise-Everything/]

Card Sort

Some of my web design students are going to tackle a re-design of our school site soon. One of the problems of building a big site is how to organize it. Most of us have had the experience of going to a site and then struggling to find the page we want. It's organized, but not in any way that is logical to us. A Card Sort is one way to look at how things should be organized from a user point of view.

Create a stack of cards with one page of your website on each card. Have potential users divide the cards up into logical stacks. Then create a label for each stack. The stacks help you create an organizational tree for your site and the labels become your navigational system.

I'll be trying this out with my students.



[via iLibrarian] [Image captured from Card Sorting: http://cardsorting.pbworks.com/]

Organizing Lego: Part 2

After writing about organizing Lego a while back, I got curious about this whole storage issue and did a little searching on the web to see if anyone has come up with anything unique or different from when I tackled this problem several years ago. Found this article, 16 Lego Storage Options almost immediately. It didn't really give me anything new, but did a nice job of showing most of the options I ever tried in one place with photos of each method.

One method I used with some success that I haven't really seen described was sorting parts into zip lock bags. Each Mindstorm kit we used was sorted into about 12 bags. Each bag had an inventory list included that was cut so it could fit into the bag. It was easy for my students to quickly see if they had a complete set. (OK....easier.) The bags were then put into boxes that were checked out to each group of kids. At the time I was traveling from classroom to classroom with these kits and they had to be stored up out of the way of the regularly scheduled science classes. The bags helped to keep everything together. It wasn't perfect, but it was workable.

Here are a few other sites that you might find useful if you are in the process of trying to get all your bricks in a row.

• How to Sort and Store Lego: Above article refers to this one several times.
• My Old Lego Storage Facility: Nice picture of one man's setup.
• Matt's Mushroom Bins: I thought when I first read this that these were mushroom shaped. Nope! The author is referring to those plastic bins that mushrooms or berries are packaged in at the supermarket. Cool idea!

[Image: Captured from Jeri's Organizing and Decluttering News: 16 Lego Storage Options: http://jdorganizer.blogspot.com/2007/09/15-lego-storage-options.html]

Organizing Lego

A continuing dilemma I had as a technology teacher using Lego was how to organize my kits. I tried throwing everything into one big bin, organizing them in tackle boxes, using plastic boxes designed for hardware and stacking bricks as suggested in today's link. How to organize your lego for efficient building on the Evil Mad Scientist Blog.

The factors I had to take into account when organizing my Lego was:

• Inventory. Two parts to this, one, making sure pieces that students needed were available and, two, knowing what parts I needed to order.
• Ease of use. It's no fun if the majority of your time is spent looking for parts.
• Storage. How do I store, stack, put away all these kits?
  
• Theft. Sometimes it's necessary to track what parts go out and if they come back again. I am thankful to say that theft in my lab was not ever a big issue but another lab in my district had problems with items disappearing.

I never did figure out the perfect solution. I ended up using a basic kit in a multi-chambered hardware box that had the minimum number of pieces needed. It had a visual picture and inventory list that went out with the students and they had to organize the kit before turning it back in again. Then I had other parts and bins of parts that students could check out as they needed.

I always hoped that someone would come up with the perfect bin or storage container. Maybe when I retire?


[Image Source: How to Organize your lego for efficient building: http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/efficientlego]