As we enter week five of the quarter, online learning is still something challenging for many of us. I felt on top of my courses week one, but as I added another class I found myself beginning to become overwhelmed with the multiple reading assignments, essays, and quizzes I’m assigned weekly. Usually, a part of understanding these concepts is going to office hours.
Even though I have unreliable WiFi, due to my sister and brother learning at home while my mother has the occasional classwork to grade, I tried to give it a shot and attend Zoom office hours with my professor.
Luckily, this professor is one I had from the previous quarter and things weren’t as awkward as they could have been. In the beginning, we made small talk together. She asked how I was doing, about my brother (since I was in his room during the chat), and how the course was going overall for me. I also asked her about her new dog and she told me about how fun it has been having her despite the current circumstances.
It did feel kind of odd seeing a more personable side of a professor since we’re all not in our traditional workspaces or offices. The conversation was nice and a little more easy going though compared to her traditional office hours I attended last quarter. However, I was almost able to get through all the things I wanted covered before my Zoom decided to crash on me.
Compared to other meetings, it only crashed twice and she froze once. Our chat lasted about thirty minutes and she gave me words of encouragement for our next paper due at the end of the week.
This experience has definitely made me feel more comfortable navigating the technology landscape we’re all now exploring. Hopefully I’ll gain more confidence to attend office hours with my other professors, but I definitely will be going to hers more often.
It’s going to be awkward if your connection is whacky, but just roll with it! My best advice is to at least go once and just treat it as a regular conversation. For the most part, these professors are more laid back given everything that’s going on. It’s a tough situation to be in, but we still need to try to get the most out of our education since we’re paying for it.