Explain WHAT office hours are for, not just when
In The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students, Anthony Abraham Jack argues that “office hours” is a classed term and one of many ill-defined yet consequential activities for undergraduates. The expectation that students attend office hours often goes unsaid and feeds into what Jack calls a “hidden curriculum” that further places low-income students at a disadvantage. Jack recommends faculty explain what office hours are, not just when you hold them. “I remember feeling apprehensive about communicating with faculty as a first-generation student. For a long time, I thought office hours was reserved for academic crisis rather than ordinary course-related inquiries. I recommend a more expansive definition of office hours that reframes the time as a student-centered resource and takes a holistic approach to teaching”. – Consider renaming office hours to “student hours” or another student friendly term.
Be Consist
Be consistent with when and how you’ll hold your virtual office hours. Have the link to your office hours listed on your syllabus, on your office door, in your LMS, at the end of your PowerPoint slides or other lecture tools each week and remind students of the link in your weekly announcements. Keep the hours consistent. Just as you hold your class at the same time and day each week, do the same with your office hours. For students learning how to self-regulate, this type of structure helps with student efficacy in planning for success.
Use A Scheduler that will allow students to make appointments
If possible, have an easy way for students to sign up for a specific time to meet with you; you could try sharing a Google Calendar appointment link. I strongly recommend using Canvas’s scheduler
The more opportunities students have to see when you are available, the more likely they are to jump on and join. One final note: if you have some flexibility, consider asking your students when they would prefer you be available to help them outside of class. Once students have a stake in selecting your office hours, they’re more likely to take advantage of those times.
Consider Incentivizing attendance.
Give students an incentive to come. Students are more likely to attend virtual office hours if you’re doing something they enjoy and value.
Use office hours to play games with the course content, and then give away small prizes to the “winners” like a point of extra credit, or a voucher for something they value. Examples include: “turning in one assignment up to 24 hours late with no penalty”
You can also utilize digital quizzing tool like Top Hat where students can deeply engage with digital content like videos, pictures and web links, but my students also love traditional games, like bingo using key terms or concepts.
Tools like Free Bingo Cards can allow you to create the cards, and then distribute these electronically to anyone that attends the office hours. During the game, students hear questions such as, “What word describes the technique where a function calls itself?” Students would have to know the answer is “recursion,” then see if they have it on their bingo card.
Let students use their books and notes during these games so they’re actively engaging in the content. Then, ask a student who had the correct answer on their bingo card to share the answer and provide an example to the other students.
These types of games can not only be fun to students for exam reviews, they’re great formative assessment activities to see where your students are with the course content.
Make it relevant.
Use Google alerts to identify possible real-life examples of what is taking place in the class or find an accessible research article to discuss. Once or twice during the semester, select an interesting and relevant article and provide a link to the students telling them this article will be the focus of your office hours. Record these discussions for students who cannot attend in person so they can watch later if they choose.
Use live coding
Rather than using slides, instructors can create programs in front of their learners (this tip comes from this great article:https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006023 and has a bit more detail as to why it works).
Provide study ideas
There are many strategies that can be used for any class, but some subjects have specific strategies that work particularly well for that class. Provide tips about ways students might consider studying or taking notes for your class.
Get Feedback
Ask students about their classroom experience. Students are poised to evaluate your pedagogical practices better than anyone else. Let’s say a student is seeking clarification on a confusing term. You can follow up by asking what, if anything, would have better clarified the term in class. It’s likely that they will comment on the pace of lecture, which provides you with priceless feedback for improving lecture comprehension (e.g., slowing down, repeating main ideas, introducing fewer terms per class, or making more time for discussion).
Foster connections
Lastly, and this is a big one, be proactive during your office hours to reach out to students and engage.
Lead by asking how a student is doing instead of waiting for them to pose a question.
Did a student answer a question in class in an exceptionally insightful way? Send the student an email acknowledging the great contribution made during the class discussion.
Did a student miss class? Send an email telling them their absence was felt and remind them the lecture was recorded and is available in the LMS (if applicable). – The attendance tools in Canvas might help with this task https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Basics-Guide/What-is-the-Roll-Call-Attendance-Tool/ta-p/59
Do you have an athlete/performer/musician that recently had an event? Send them a note of congratulations and recognition.
Is it almost time for registration? Send students individual reminder emails via Canvas and tell them about a course they have to look forward to next semester.
Is there a big paper coming up? Send a note to a student who struggled with the first paper and ask if they’d like to schedule a time to discuss their concept.
Finally, use this time to reach out to students and ask them to “help” you during the next synchronous class session by having an example ready to share when you discuss a specific topic or describe a concept in their own words. This builds engagement during the synchronous session, as well as creates a connection with the student