Office Hours

Office hours are crucial for effective teaching. When students meet one-on-one with their instructors, they are more likely to express their confusion, misunderstandings, and questions openly and fully compared to in a classroom setting. This allows the instructor to provide the individual attention that students need.

Getting Students to See You 

Make an effort to arrange meetings with students. This includes choosing the right location, scheduling convenient times, and providing plenty of encouragement.

The right place:

It's important to make an effort to encourage students to come see you. This involves choosing a suitable location, scheduling convenient times, and providing plenty of support.

Selecting the right place:
 Office hours don't always have to be in your office. Students might be more inclined to meet with you in a coffee shop or another comfortable spot-on campus. 

Scheduling the right times: 

Be thoughtful and considerate when setting your office hours. If you're only available briefly during peak class times, you limit your students' chances of meeting with you. If you lead a discussion, recitation, or lab session, ensure your office hours don't overlap with the lecture part of the course. If you're short on time, think about scheduling an early evening office hour, maybe in the student union, the most suitable library, or another location the students like. Throughout the semester, remind your students that they can also make appointments to meet with you.

The Right Encouragement: 

Start by publicizing your office hours in your syllabus, on the board during the first day of class, and intermittently before high-traffic weeks, such as before exams and paper deadlines. Post your office hours prominently outside your office door. Sometimes even with encouragement, students may not attend your office hours, so you might need to make their attendance mandatory. For example, you could require each student to schedule a meeting with you early in the semester, as part of a paper assignment (draft review) or to go over a problem solution. This initial meeting can encourage students to come back. When students come to meet with you, especially for the first time, make them feel more comfortable with some brief personal chat. It's helpful to spend the first few minutes finding out how they are, how they are finding the course, and how they are experiencing college. However, be careful to maintain appropriate boundaries in your relationship with the student. If you are meeting in your office, close the door for privacy but leave it slightly ajar. Also, maintain a respectable seating distance."