Office hours give students a chance to ask their professors about material they may have missed or questions about an upcoming paper or research project. But these scheduled hours are much more. The one-on-one conversations also let student and professor get to know each other. Students can get advice on academics and career goals, find a mentor, and ask questions tailored to their concerns and needs.

In our new video series “Office Hours,” we ask students to bring questions to their professors they might not typically ask in a classroom setting.

In the first installment, sophomore Amir Williams (Sargent), who is in the second year of a demanding six-year accelerated Bachelor of Science in Health Studies/Doctor of Physical Therapy program, reached out to his Human Anatomy teacher, Elizabeth Co, a College of Arts & Sciences senior lecturer in biology, for some tips on how to absorb reams of  information.

Co, the recipient last year of one of the University’s highest teaching honors, a Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching, explains a little about the science behind learning and how we progress from developing a passing familiarity with a subject to mastering the material.