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Tips for Holding Office Hours

Holding Office Hours

Scheduling predictable weekly office hours is a significant but often overlooked avenue for creating a positive learning environment in courses.

Office hours provide students with the opportunity to seek specific course related supports, such as clarifying concepts, asking questions about assessments, debriefing feedback, and sharing interests for further exploration.

Instructors can also gain insights from student perspectives that may shape teaching decisions during the term such as how to focus class time to maximize learning, how to address course related issues (like access to materials or technology), and how to confront any barriers to learning that students may be experiencing.

Instructors can also establish supportive instructor-student relationships and a sense of belonging among students by encouraging students to come to office hours to discuss personal concerns and goals, access academic or career mentorship, and discuss interests in your field or discipline more broadly. When implementing a student-centered approach to office hours, instructors demonstrate an ethos of care and a commitment to inclusive teaching practices that support student engagement, motivation, persistence, and learning success.

Before the Course Begins

  • Check with the Department or Faculty office for policies or approaches related to office hour mode (virtual, in person or mixed), booking shared office locations (for contract teaching faculty), and expectations for weekly time dedications (e.g., 1-hour , 1.5-hours, or 2-hours per week per course).
  • Consider the timing of assessments when determining when to hold office hours. For example, if assessments are regularly due on Fridays at 4pm, consider holding office hours on Thursdays to provide focused support when students are likely to desire it the most.
  • Create a predictable weekly schedule and consider offering a by appointment option for students who have classes or other responsibilities during regularly scheduled office hours
  • Include information about the time and location of your office hours in your course syllabus, on MyLearningSpace, and on or beside your office door (where possible)
  • To set up virtual office hours, create a recurring Zoom meeting from the ‘Zoom Meetings’ tab in MyLS. You can make this meeting recurring and allow students to ‘visit’ by simply joining the meeting at any time, or you can have students register for a specific office hour day in advance by turning on the “Registration” feature when scheduling the meeting. When scheduling the meeting, ensure that you turn on the waiting room feature to queue students. Learn more about configuring Zoom for teaching and holding office hours.

On the first day of Class

Not all students in your class will come to your course with an understanding of the purpose of office hours. Explicitly communicate the schedule and purpose of office hours on the first day of class to ensure that all students have access to the same information about supports for their learning success and available mentorship opportunities. In addition to sharing a statement like "Office Hours: Wednesdays from 00:00 - 00:00, in Office 1-123, virtually or by appointment," consider adding something like:

“This weekly hour is dedicated to students in this course to come and speak with me about:

  • questions about the course, the program, campus supports, or mentoring in a related career pat
  • issues of a personal matter that might impact your success the in the course
  • requests for additional supports for or feedback on assessments
  • sharing your interests, connections, and ideas about what we are learning in the course!”

Share with students that you will give them your undivided attention during office hours and are eager to get to know them, their goals, and their perspectives on challenging material, so that you can support their success in the course and beyond.

How can I encourage students to attend and make the best use of office hours? 

  • Regularly communicate to students in the class: “if you have questions about this concept, lab, video, assessment, etc. I invite you to visit with me during my office hours this week.”
    Identify key challenging topics to students and highlight office hours as a great time and place for further discussion.
  • Urge students to prepare questions in advance of attending office hours, noting that you won’t summarize a lecture/seminar during office hours and that office hours aren’t a substitute for attending class.
  • Encourage students to ‘bring a friend’ to your office hours. This can put students at ease, make office hours more inviting, and encourage wider use of office hours.
  • Welcome groups of students to visit you during office hours. Those groups might be composed of students seeking clarity about the same assessment, students with similar course content questions, students working together on a course project, or students who simply know each other and want to visit with you together.
  • Invite students who have said something interesting in class to visit you during office hours to discuss it in more detail.
  • Regularly remind students that you are available during office hours to answer questions and clarify expectations related to assessments.
  • When you return an assessment, include a note inviting each student to come to your office hours to debrief the feedback given, get additional feedback, or discuss how to prepare for improved outcomes in future assessments.
  • If a student arrives 5 minutes prior to the end of your scheduled office hours, suggest that they return the following week or make an appointment to meet with you so that you have adequate time to discuss what brought them there.

Resources for Faculty

Resources to Assist Students:

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