My Office

About 6 months ago, I adjusted my career path from working at a large Midwestern university as an ESL instructor to working at a small private liberal arts college as an Instructional Technology Specialist. I've really enjoyed the change professionally and it's given me a chance to expand one of my passions; technology and teaching.

My office is in the fine arts building on campus and while it may seem strange that I am over here, I enjoy it. I'm on the 2nd floor and don't have any windows in my office but I look out onto a foyer with lots of windows and light.

My view to the outside

On of the things I really enjoy about being in this building are the students singing and playing. It isn't overpowering where I can't concentrate, but remains pleasantly in the background very low. I feel it gives me a little afternoon boost. It is also nice to see the creative projects that students have created.

Student Artwork

Student Artwork

Before I arrived, I wanted to make sure that I kept up on projects and such, so I asked for a whiteboard to be installed. It's actually made of glass and is quite nice and I highly recommend one. https://www.quartet.com/us/us/v/2909/1610/quartet-infinity-magnetic-glass-dryerase-boards-white-surface#.WHUwbhsrKUl 

My Project Board

This decision came about because of an article I read in The Chronicle of Higher Education, My Writing Productivity Pipeline. While I am not using it for writing, I thought it would work well for other things like projects. I haven't got it quite worked out to how I want it yet, but its prominent presence in my office keeps it at the forefront of my thoughts. While for almost anything else I consider some kind of technology solution first, the idea of using a whiteboard seemed to match my needs better. I feel that things on the computer tend to get lost at times for me and I wanted something that I could physically see in a prominent location in my office and it would keep me on track. I think it has worked well for that. My colleague Dr. Ryan Straight also wrote a piece on academic workflow that might interest you as well. https://ryanstraight.com/writings/2013/12/21/electronic-academic-workflow-paperless-researching.  I also like to keep a paper calendar just to have it there.

Bulletin Board References

For the most part, I like the layout of my office. However, in the future I may change the position of the monitors. I don't like that my back is facing somewhat to the door. I would rather be facing people as they come in. For some reason, that just seems friendlier. It might prove more distracting though since I leave my office door open and a lot of people tend to walk past. 

I like to keep things fun and light since I have a fairly casual attitude about professionalism and don't believe an office should be devoid of personal touches. Lots of  knik-knacks on the shelves and desk. I don't really play with them much, but I like having them there. The bookshelf is sort of lacking in books since I cleaned out a lot when I moved, but I have the most relevant to my new job and able to get plenty of books needed for my profession from the library. 

I also have a big bulletin board in the office that I've filled with relevant reference material for my job. The wall on the other two sides are rather bare, but I do have some things to put up there. Hopefully I can get that done soon :-) 

Facing in from the door

I hope you enjoyed the tour! See you next time.