21st century office hours?

[marshwiggle]

We have required "office hours," but the administration is wise and kind enough to allow us to do so virtually.  Not a single Zoom jingle this year, and maybe one or two all of last year.

Last year I had one student who really wanted to ask questions on Zoom. (There were no scheduled Zoom sessions as everything was asynchronous.) So, I set up a session for the class where anyone could pop in to ask questions.

Three people   joined the session, all good students who just clarified a couple of things. Any bets on who didn't appear?

[Puget]

I guess it depends on where you are (who are the students?), and who you are (do students feel comfortable talking to you, do you invite them to?). I had three students who collectively took up my full office hour yesterday. One was a junior advisee wanting to talk about careers. The other two were both in my class and first year advisees, and wanting to talk about all the normal first year transition issues (feeling lost, imposter syndrome, having a hard time managing their time and being more independent) which they are of course convinced are unique to just them and everyone else must have it all figured out. None of those conversations would or could have happened very well by email, and I think all three were important to have.

[ciao_yall]

I guess it depends on where you are (who are the students?), and who you are (do students feel comfortable talking to you, do you invite them to?). I had three students who collectively took up my full office hour yesterday. One was a junior advisee wanting to talk about careers. The other two were both in my class and first year advisees, and wanting to talk about all the normal first year transition issues (feeling lost, imposter syndrome, having a hard time managing their time and being more independent) which they are of course convinced are unique to just them and everyone else must have it all figured out. None of those conversations would or could have happened very well by email, and I think all three were important to have.

Yep. This is why I want to go back to the classroom. In-person works. Online is fine for a few students but most of the others are getting ripped off.

[AvidReader]

I pitch office hours to my students as a resource they are paying for with tuition/fees, along with the library databases, the counseling services, and access to any recreation areas. We talk about the benefits of clarifying something in person vs. in an email. I routinely have students lined up outside my office waiting to talk. One year, I had a ESL student who attended every week to clarify the next week's directions.

In general, I have found that the best "office hours" are the times before class when I am chatting with students in the hallway or setting up for class. When there isn't a class before mine, I arrive in my classroom as early as possible to set up. Students who don't like the formality of "office hours" will often come early just to "run something by [me]." It's not clocked time, but it offers the same benefit.

AR.

[ciao_yall]

I pitch office hours to my students as a resource they are paying for with tuition/fees, along with the library databases, the counseling services, and access to any recreation areas. We talk about the benefits of clarifying something in person vs. in an email. I routinely have students lined up outside my office waiting to talk. One year, I had a ESL student who attended every week to clarify the next week's directions.

In general, I have found that the best "office hours" are the times before class when I am chatting with students in the hallway or setting up for class. When there isn't a class before mine, I arrive in my classroom as early as possible to set up. Students who don't like the formality of "office hours" will often come early just to "run something by [me]." It's not clocked time, but it offers the same benefit.

AR.

Exactly. That is when I meet with most of my students, actually. Office hours? I rarely get visits so it's a good time to just get other work done.

[bio-nonymous]

Office hours virtually by appointment have worked well for me since Covid--better than before in person. If someone wants to talk we set up a time that works well for both of us and do a WebEx/Zoom/Teams meeting. I tried open office virtual time slot, but only one person showed up.

[secundem_artem]

I have never had scheduled office hours.  I've always worked by appointment and have never had complaints about being difficult to set up a time to meet with.  I'm happy to meet F2F, on Zoom, on Teams, on Facetime, on WhatsApp or any other platform you want.  My last question for the student at the end of any advising session is always, "Did you get the answer to all the questions you had when you came in here?"  If the answer is yes, then scheduled hours or platform don't matter much.

[Wahoo Redux]

I guess it depends on where you are (who are the students?), and who you are (do students feel comfortable talking to you, do you invite them to?).

I will concede that we are 90% a commuter school and virtually all our students work long hours.  And, since we are a commuter school in a economically challenged area, most of our students are interested in job-credentialing degrees----in other words, they just want to get through class and are not interested in the nuances of our subject matter; one-on-ones with the profs are just not very inspiring to them.

[Biologist_]

At my institution, most or all students know what office hours are and many of them attend on a regular basis. We are expected to hold 5 office hours per week, though there is some flexibility to offer some of those by appointment only, online, etc. Attendance varies somewhat from semester to semester, but I typically spend 2 to 4+ of my scheduled five hours actively meeting with students and answering questions. Some students will even put their instructors' office hours on their weekly calendar at the start of the semester and make a point of showing up every week with notes and questions.

[Caracal]

At my institution, most or all students know what office hours are and many of them attend on a regular basis. We are expected to hold 5 office hours per week, though there is some flexibility to offer some of those by appointment only, online, etc. Attendance varies somewhat from semester to semester, but I typically spend 2 to 4+ of my scheduled five hours actively meeting with students and answering questions. Some students will even put their instructors' office hours on their weekly calendar at the start of the semester and make a point of showing up every week with notes and questions.

I wonder if these differences are partly down to how spread out campuses are. When I've had the rare student who drops by office hours fairly frequently, it is usually a major who has an hour long break between two classes in the building. We have classes scattered all around our large campus though. Even the upper level classes are often somewhere weird and the intro courses are frequently really far away. Some of my students probably never come anywhere near my building. Office hours are probably an easier sell when students are going to be in the area anyway.