Engineering professor Catherine Garland asked her students where they’d saved their computer files, and some didn’t understand what she meant. They were comfortable using computers, but organizing files into folders and directories was unfamiliar to some.
Garland’s experience was featured in a 2021 The Verge article about a surprising gap in young people’s computer skills. Although many students have grown up using smartphones, tablets, and laptops, that doesn’t necessarily mean they understand how files are stored and organized.
Why do some students struggle to find their files?
The problem first caught Garland’s attention in 2017 while she was teaching an engineering course. Students were using software to simulate jet-engine turbines. Some encountered error messages because the program couldn’t locate their files.
Garland tried to help by asking where they’d saved their work. Had they put it on the desktop? Was it on a shared drive? Some students didn’t understand the questions.
As Garland explained in The Verge article, “They see it like one bucket, and everything’s in the bucket.”
Other instructors described similar experiences. Lincoln Colling, a psychology lecturer at the University of Sussex, recalled asking students to retrieve a file from a specific directory, only to be met with blank stares.
Nicolás Guarín-Zapata, an applied physicist and lecturer at Universidad EAFIT in Colombia, also noticed students struggling to find their documents. He began teaching basic computer organization at the start of each semester, including how files and folders work.
Older computer interfaces often required users to navigate through folders to locate their work. Today, search functions and apps can make that process largely unnecessary. Someone can open a document without ever thinking about which folder contains it.
That convenience can become a problem when students encounter software that requires them to know exactly where a file is stored.
Growing up with technology doesn’t mean knowing everything about it
A 2026 study published in the Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education examined computer literacy among university students taking introductory statistical programming courses in Germany. Researchers found considerable differences in students’ computer experience and confidence with everyday tasks.
Most students felt comfortable creating documents, downloading files, and using search engines. But confidence was less consistent for tasks such as managing files, installing programs, and using operating-system search functions.
Although nearly all students used smartphones daily, their experience with desktop computers varied considerably. The findings suggest that regularly using digital devices doesn’t necessarily make students confident with every computer task.
Teaching the skills students haven’t learned
Agnes Cameron, a specialist technician at the University of the Arts London’s Creative Computing Institute, developed workshops to help students build basic computer skills.
According to her January 2026 teaching case study, the workshops included practical activities involving image editing and web design. They were designed to help students become more comfortable using computers and the software required for their coursework.
A simple computer skill that can make life easier
Fortunately, the basics of file organization are fairly simple.
A file is a document or piece of information saved on a computer. A folder holds files and can contain other folders. A file path identifies the location of a particular file within that structure.
For example, a student saves an assignment inside a folder named “Schoolwork,” which sits inside their “Documents folder.” Knowing that location makes it easier to find the assignment later, especially if the application asks them to select a particular file.
Garland eventually began rethinking her own approach to organizing files. She started using her computer’s search function to find schedules and documents instead of navigating through folders.
“I’m like, huh … I don’t even need these subfolders,” Garland said.
