Welcome to the Tuesday Teaching Tip, an easy-to-implement tool that you can use immediately in your classroom teaching. 

TUESDAY TEACHING TIP: How to make the most of office hours

At mid-quarter, you may find yourself with an office overflowing with students during office hours, or you may find yourself with an office that feels rather empty. What are the best practices for office hours, and how can you ensure that your students’ experience with them is meaningful? 

Research has shown that faculty and student understandings of the purpose of office hours differ (Hsu, et. al. 2022), and that those understandings are shaped by their lived experiences (Thiele, 2016). Given these differences, it can be helpful to discuss office hours during class to clarify expectations. And while you may have discussed office hours at the beginning of the quarter, now can be a helpful time to mention them again, to ensure that students who haven’t yet taken advantage of your availability know how to do that while several weeks of the quarter remain. 

It can also be helpful to try out some new ways of holding office hours. Consider holding office hours in a student-centered space (library, Benson, etc.), offering a mix of in-person and Zoom office hours, or making office hours a group experience and encouraging students to come with friends from class (Forsythe, 2024). 

This week, we challenge you to encourage students to try a new way of joining your office hours - have them bring a friend; drop by in person instead of online; or come in just to chat, without a set agenda. 

Here’s one way to do it 

• Spend some time in class discussing office hours.
• If a theme has emerged during office hours, highlight it during class.
• Have students anonymously contribute questions they would pose during office hours and share them with the group as examples of the kinds of topics one might cover during a meeting with an instructor.
• Recommend that students visit your office hours sometime during the coming week.
• Remind them that it is fine to come alone or with a friend, that it is OK to join with a question or just to check in.
• You could even incentivize a visit with some extra credit.

DID YOU DO IT?

Let us know how it went. We would love to hear your feedback about how you implemented today’s Tuesday Teaching Tip in your classroom. Click here to fill out our 3-question survey. The survey is anonymous, but if you choose to enter your name, you’ll be entered in a drawing at the end of the quarter to win a new book from Faculty Development!

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Finding Hope in Difficult Times with Dave Feldman and Diane Dreher on Tuesday, February 10 RSVP
  
  
• Working Session: Make Your Course Materials Accessible on Thursday, February 12 RSVP
  
  
• Student AI Listening Session (for Students only) on Thursday, February 12 – share with your students and ask them to RSVP!
  
  
• Facilitating Student Belonging Through Advising on Thursday, February 19 RSVP
  
  
• Executive Function Coaching & Assistive Technology Panel on Thursday, February 19 RSVP

 

WANT TO READ A LITTLE MORE?

• Digital Resource for Teaching (DRT) on Office Hours
• Hsu, J.L, et. al. 2022. “Student Motivations and Barriers toward Online and In-Person Office Hours in STEM Courses” CBE—Life Sciences Education 21.4, pp. 1-14. 
• Thiele, M. 2016. “Resource or Obstacle? Classed Reports of Student-Faculty Interactions.” The Sociological Quarterly 57.2, pp. 333-355.
• Forsythe, D., et. al. 2024. “Exploring Variations in STEM Instructors’ Approaches to Office Hours.” CBE - Life Sciences Education 23.4, pp. 1-11.

This week’s Tuesday Teaching Tip was prepared by Loring Pfeiffer on behalf of the Faculty Development and the Center for Teaching Excellence.

Missed a teaching tip? Read them all here. 

And check out our full calendar of CAFEs and other Faculty Development events.