Like, Mike and Shari, I work at the MSU writing center. For the last one and half years, I have come to consider this space not only a workplace but also like my second home. Besides working as a writing consultant, I also coordinate all the digital and non digital workshops offered by the writing center. My use of digital technologies at the writing center (WC) is largely influenced by my client’s needs and writing center practice and pedagogy. Unl
ike classroom teaching which involves teaching a group of the same students (say in a given semester), writing center practice involves a one-on-one consultative teaching which is highly collaborative and interactive- not only with the clients but with fellow consultants. This is also true of the many in-classroom workshops that WC consultants conduct from time to time. In one-on- one teaching, clients bring a range of assignments and the digital technologies I will use in a given day will be influenced by the nature of the assignment. I have noticed one of the digital technologies I make use of daily is the photocopy or the printer. By making sure both client and I have a copy of the paper we are working on, helps both of us follow or keep track of the individual changes or writing concerns we identify independently and together/collaboratively during a session. If the case of a digital assignment like imovie or powerpoint, I use client’s laptop, my PC or the WC’s Mac books. When I conduct workshops at the main center in Bessey, I will use the center’s smart board (See picture)
Again, depending on client’s needs, I have noted that I use websites a lot, for example, the Purdue OWL website is a quick reference site to check citations styles. During a session, I will also use other online technologies like google, u-tube, Wikipendia to search for definitions, demos etc. When working on group projects with fellow consultants and colleagues, googledocs comes in handy. In the past I have also used the group feature of Zotero and Mendley to do collaborative work with ot
her consultants. For my own research, I use Zotero and Mendley to keep track of my online sources and build my online library.
As a workshop coordinator, my two main technologies are email and the writing center website. Everyday, every morning, I have to login in the website to check any new workshop requests. I use email to process and coordinate the workshops by communicating with other consultants, instructors, event planners etc. I like gmail because it has other affordances like the google calendar where I record all workshops. The calendar is accessible to WC users.
At home
As a mother of two, I d
on’t spent a lot of time in the library. Most of my school work is done at home. While I don’t use a variety of digital technologies at home, besides my laptop, I have realized when my children make use of their digital technologies; this gives me some ample time to concentrate on my work. When they are preoccupied with their DSI’s, Wii and a desktop computer in their room, this allows me to do some reading or writing. However, I have to admit my greatest digital technology weakness is television. I cannot work from home if the TV is not on. Because of my interest in Hiphop, I don’t consider watching TV a pastime but try to view TV as a useful research site- looking at it this way makes me feel less guilty. 
Esther, I love that you shared the ways in which you work at home with your children. My "office" is right next to my 3yo twin-boys' train table. The other day someone tried to Skype with dmsxxmmmdslkjr. It is interesting to me to think about the ways in which sharing physical space with kids might influence the way I work. Thanks for the post!
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