One of the questions I receive most often as an Instructional Consultant is about office hours. Students are struggling with coursework, but they are not coming to office hours. Instructors are teaching large classes and would love to get to know their students more, but students are not coming to office hours. Students are missing class—for important reasons: job interviews, illness, family struggles—but they are not coming to office hours to help fill in the gaps. I look forward to talking with faculty from all over campus about office hours in an upcoming, snack-filled coffee talk, but until then, let’s consider a few major questions about office hours.

Why do we want students in office hours?

I admit, sometimes a few undisturbed hours are exactly what I need for my research or lesson planning, and office hours are already built into my day. If no students show up, I can leverage that time for my own work. However, office hours attendance significantly increases student success; students who attend feel more connected and confident and take more ownership over their education. Self-assured students who feel like they belong in the classroom and who are happy to take accountability make teaching and learning more enjoyable.

Why aren’t students coming to office hours?

The simple answer might surprise you: most students simply have time conflicts. Great numbers of students, especially first-generation students, students from historically underrepresented groups, and low-income students, must work part-time and full-time jobs to fund their education. This means that they do not always have time to come to office hours.

Relatedly, when students do attend office hours, they do so primarily for content clarification. Students in my recent Faculty Learning Community (FLC) where students and faculty partner together to co-create more student-centric courses noted that they didn’t believe it was worth their time or their instructor’s to trek across campus and ask a single, clarifying question. When faculty participants in the FLC expressed that they would love to get to know their students during this time, students were shocked. This revelation is mirrored in a study by Jeremy L. Hsu of Chapman University. Surveying instructors at students at Chapman, Hsu found that 20% of instructors saw office hours as an opportunity to form relationships with their students whereas only 6% of students did.

How do we get students in office hours?

To address time constraints, consider polling your students to see when they are available and cross-referencing with your schedule. You might also try offering office hours in more central or accessible spaces like dorm lounges or libraries (keep in mind, some students may prefer the privacy of an office). If your own schedule is packed tightly, you might offer students an online option for office hours, like Zoom or Teams.

To help students understand the purpose of office hours, be sure to spend some time explaining the ideas behind office hours. This process could be aided by rebranding your office hours on your syllabus and Canvas page as “student hours,” “instructor support,” or “visiting hours.” You can also provide students access to information about IU’s campus through the Student Academic Center, which provides college success courses and academic coaching, or an external resource, Connections are Everything: A College Student’s Guide to Relationship-Rich Education (Tapia et. al., 2023).

To continue the robust discussion around office hours, sign up for our Coffee Talk next Tuesday, September 17. For more information about our Student-Faculty Partnership Learning Community, feel free to contact me at spedzins@iu.edu.

Source

Supiano, Beckie. “The Missed Opportunity of Office Hours.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2023.