Although I began to understand the relevance of computers to writing center and composition pedagogy, it was a strange sort of research. The more focused my research became, the more I found that the real research about computers and writing centers hasn't been published yet. It's going on right now. Technology is constantly changing, and writing instructors must struggle to keep up with it in order to help their students adapt. And of course, sometimes the reverse is true.
Students know more about computers than their teachers do.
The OWL, an online writing center, enables students to e-mail their papers to writing centers so tutors can respond to them online. While DePaul is not planning to set up an OWL in the near future, I felt that as technology coordinator, I ought to know about them. Frustrated that the literature I read did not give me a comprehensive understanding of OWLs, I decided to visit the one recently established at the University of Michigan to help other U of M students create home pages. This takes the pressure off the computer department and helps promote Michigan's OWL as a valuable resource. Barbara Monroe, who teaches U of M's writing center pedagogy class, directly integrates online technology with student writing.