Hello
I’m Dr. Murphy.
For well over a decade, I’ve been providing one-on-one private tutoring, largely for university students in the sciences (chemistry, physics, and biology) and engineering, although usually I tutor a few high school students as well.
My background includes a few degrees in chemistry (B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D.) from major Canadian universities, working as a teaching assistant, volunteering in science outreach activities, and occasionally providing lectures for university classes as well.
Background
You might wonder, “Why does someone with a PhD do tutoring?" The main reason is that I enjoy helping students learn and come to appreciate science and math. Of course, earning a bit of extra money helps.
My tutoring “side gig” started in 2008 (when I first registered this domain), after learning that I was good at one-on-one instruction. Assigned to work as a teaching assistant during my M.Sc. studies, I taught labs and in the chemistry help room. The help room was a drop-in tutorial space for students in first year chemistry. There I was regularly peppered with questions by students struggling with their assignments and understanding the material. While it can be a challenge — one moment I might be helping someone with thermodynamics; five minutes I was helping another student understand chemical bonding — instructing students was something I enjoyed. It’s rewarding to witness students finally understand what questions were asking and what the course material really means.
To my surprise, some students tried to hire me privately — one student went so far as to take out her chequebook! — but I had to decline on account of the conflict of interest. They were mollified with the fact that I had regular weekly hours in the helproom and learned my schedule. After I was no longer employed as a TA, however, I was free continue as a private tutor.
Witnessing how one-on-one tutoring as a TA helped students to improve convinced me that I was an effective teacher. So, after defending my M.Sc. thesis, I spent roughly one year working as a private tutor full-time before going on to start a Ph.D.
During that second round of graduate studies, my tutoring time diminished as I was once again a teaching assistant and heavily involved in volunteering. My extracurricular efforts were much more focused on science outreach: visiting elementary classrooms to give them hands-on science experiences and also co-founding and developing an annual one-day science & technolgoy program for high school students in grades 11 and 12.
Next, while working abroad, my work as a private tutor was largely paused. During that time as the urge to teach was thoroughly fulfilled through teaching & mentoring 3 masters students and 3 undergrads through their thesis research projects.
Following my return to Canada, I resumed tutoring.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been an increase in the number of students learning remotely. It was a challenging time for many students. As someone once quipped: It’s called “Remote Learning” because the chance of a child learning anything is remote. Today, many students are still lagging behind, trying to catch up on concepts that were not fully conveyed during the pandemic. One way to help your student succeed is to get help. Tutoring is one form of help with the best chance of success.
Currently I am Lower Mainland of British Columbia. As I am among those who are vaccinated for both COVID and flu, I’ve resumed in-person tutoring as well.