Liverpool operates an office hours policy in Chemistry. In Semester 2 I held mine in the teaching labs, rather than my office. This is a very quick blog just to describe what I did, why I did it, and how it worked out.

I’m not claiming that this is some grand innovation. But it’s the kind of small, practical thing which someone could easily try for themselves. Broadly, I found it helpful for connecting meaningfully with students.

What?

Second year students have labs on Thursdays. I sat in the Central Teaching Labs (near the door in one of the big IT rooms) during their 1-2pm lunch break.

The IT lab I sat in for office hours this semester. There are 170 terminals.

Why?

My module (on transition metals) is conceptually challenging and very bitty (lots of small assessments). I anticipated students would find it useful to be able to ask quick questions - either about the science or about the module’s administration. By being in a space where they were doing labs I hoped to lower the barrier to approaching me.

I talked with a horse vet at a party once, and she said “you have to meet the horse where it is.” I asked “like, emotionally?” and she said “well, sure, but also horses are big so you can’t carry a sick horse into the surgery.” I thought about that conversation a lot when I sat in the IT suite. Whether or not it is seen as affectively successful to meet the student where they are, they are literally physically present in that building at that time.

How did it go?

How many students used it?

I got some students approaching me every week except week 12. I guess a normal showing was 3 students/session, with my busiest sessions being about 6. Most students who spoke to me spoke to me more than once, so I’d guess the total number of students who made use of me was probably just below 30.

My module is about 120 students, so I think this is pretty good engagement compared to “come to my office” office hours - my normal (admittedly pre-pandemic) experience of these is that literally no-one shows up.

I think it’s useful to share mistakes when reflecting. I messed up once in week 10 (just before Easter). I missed one session due to an urgent meeting called at short notice. A student emailed me as they had turned up and found me missing. So I arranged a different time with them the following day.

Who used it?

International students were over-represented, but I didn’t notice any other demographic patterns.

What did they ask?

I anticipated more questions about module admin than I encountered, though a couple of students wanted to talk about the specific adjustments they would need for assessments. This was a useful thing to discuss.

Most students wanted to talk about the science (“how do I know if something is high spin?” etc). The most common single family of question was students who had tried problems I had given as post-lecture exercises. I had uploaded my answers to these, and students largely wanted to talk about things they had got wrong. There were also a lot of “while I’m here” questions about something confusing I had said in a lecture; in a few cases, this was because I had said something incorrect.

I got quite a few questions about other courses, too. I felt ok talking about inorganic things, but was extremely rusty solving the energy levels of a particle in a box and explaining the branches of rotational spectra. There were a couple of enjoyably-cheeky questions about specific inorganic lab write-ups, which I was happy to talk about but reluctant to answer outright.

How did I find it overall?

I liked it! Responding to specific questions from students is always instructive, and helps me understand how the course is being received. Identifying what things highly-motivated students are struggling with is surely one of the most useful pieces of feedback a reflective teacher can get.

A very minor thing I hadn’t properly seen before was how students navigated digital notes. Seeing the speed students flipped through well-archived files was sincerely novel to me, a child of Rymans 80gsm narrow-ruled A4 pads and Stabilo Fineliners. The deft use of stylus functions in note software was also quite humbling to behold. I drew diagrams on A4 paper taken from the nearest printer, which let students have their screen out while I was talking the science through. It also let them take something physical away at the end.

Once students had got their answers, it was easy to informally ask things about the wider course (“Lots of people find that second year is a step up from first year. How are you finding it?”/“I’m new to Liverpool this year, and I’m still trying to understand how students find it. What do you think of the University?”). It’s difficult to know how else I might have these conversations. They let me gain a much fuller sense of the objective course structure and subjective experiences of learning. I hadn’t fully understood the way the MedChem degree plays out in second year, for example, or the timelines that Year in Industry students apply for jobs.

It’s hard to identify whether there are wider ways this approach to office hours affects students’ learning. My guess is that some of the clarifications I gave to one student might filter into their friend groups and group chats if it was an important issue. I hope my attempt to put myself in students’ spaces was seen as a gesture of trying to be approachable, but I guess it might have been seen as being a bit weird.

But overall I think I will do this again next year. I would rather my office hours were full than empty, and this is clearly one way of making that happen. You kind of have to meet the horse where it is, you know?

Reflections on 24-25 teaching: Office Hours