Hello again! Today, I would like to take the time to talk about my experience with another aspect of being a chemistry ULA - the office hours.
I think that our office hours are probably the best part of the job. Office hours, although they’re part of our official duty, are the least structured and likely the least intimidating part of the role, both for ULAs and students. Just like for other professors, office hours are a good place to stop by if students have any questions about a specific problem or concept and want one-on-one attention. When a student comes in with a question, I’ll usually get through the concept within about 10-15 minutes, but then we’ll go on a random tangent and just talk. Because there’s no real structure to office hours, we’re pretty much open for anything.
There’s an interesting read by The Harvard Gazette that actually talks about the benefit of going to office hours. It’s a good read and I’ve posted the link below, but the gist of the article is that attending office hours not only increases understanding of concepts in a less-formal setting, but the students who come to office hours on a regular basis are generally the ones who perform better in the class. Going to these sessions also allows for us to talk about plans for future course progressions, so attending these sessions are inherently beneficial to the student.
In a sense, I think office hours really demonstrate what it means to be an ULA: we’re always present if students have any doubts, but we’re also students ourselves who can talk about random things - like the Parasite movie or about that one time Kanye came to GW.
Until next time.
- Philip Parel
Link to the Article: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/12/professors-examine-the-realities-of-office-hours/