{"id":13469,"date":"2013-03-22t08:00:59","date_gmt":"2013-03-22t13:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/?p=13469"},"modified":"2013-03-22t13:28:16","modified_gmt":"2013-03-22t18:28:16","slug":"ask-professor-pedagogy-lonely-office-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/2013\/03\/ask-professor-pedagogy-lonely-office-hours\/","title":{"rendered":"ask professor pedagogy: lonely office hours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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ask professor pedagogy<\/strong> is a twice monthly advice column written by 2022年世界杯中国小组赛积分 staff. one aspect of our mission is to cultivate dialogue about teaching and learning, so we welcome questions and concerns that arise in the classroom; particularly those from vanderbilt faculty, students, and staff. if you have a question that you’d like professor p to address, please send it to us<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

by dan morrison & adam wilsman
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(professor p. is away on spring break)
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dear professor p.,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

each semester, i spend the vast majority of my \u201coffice hours\u201d sitting around checking my e-mail, reading, and lesson planning.\u00a0 while i value any time i can spend catching up on my own work, i can\u2019t help but think i\u2019m missing opportunities to enhance my students\u2019 learning.\u00a0 however, as friendly and approachable as i try to be with students, no one ever comes to my office hours!\u00a0 i know many of the students are struggling with the material, so there are students who would benefit from attending them.\u00a0 what can i do to get students to visit my office hours?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

– all by my lonesome<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

dear \u201call by my lonesome,\u201d<\/p>\n

you are correct that office hours, when used effectively, have incredible value for students.\u00a0 those times represent excellent opportunities to clarify material, to provide direction on essays, projects, and homework assignments, and to teach studying and time management techniques.\u00a0 office hours can also give students a sense that they matter, especially students in a large class who might feel lost in the crowd.\u00a0 the value of office hours has repeatedly been verified by the national survey on student engagement, which has demonstrated that students who have access to professors outside of regular class time are more satisfied with their educational experience.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

office hours also have great value for instructors.\u00a0 for starters, these one-on-one or small group meetings help instructors uncover common student errors, which can be critical feedback as instructors assess their own teaching.\u00a0 effective office hour usage can also help facilitate better classroom teaching in other ways.\u00a0 one study in the association for psychological science\u2019s journal, observer<\/em>, revealed that students tend to pay better attention during class time for those instructors who effectively utilize their office hours.[2]<\/a> using your office hours well can also have a payoff at the end of the semester as students tend to highly value \u201capproachability\u201d when filling out teaching evaluations.<\/p>\n

the problem of lonely office hours is a common one, but there\u2019s a lot you can do to try to remedy the issue.\u00a0first, let’s address two primary reasons students don’t come to office hours: they’re scheduled in a location that’s far away from the rest of their classes or their residences, or the office hours are scheduled at\u00a0inconvenient\u00a0times. so you could:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. change where you hold office hours.<\/strong> you could meet students outside your echo chamber, especially since it is in\u00a0stevenson, a location notorious for its forbidding entrances, serpentine pathways, and an odd numbering scheme. if your class is mostly first-year students, you might consider meeting in the commons. alternatively, you could find a table in rand, close to the coffee shop. graduate students usually need coffee.<\/li>\n
  2. hold office hours at the most convenient time for the majority of students.<\/strong> <\/strong>most students tend to avoid class before 10 a.m. and after 2 p.m. (just like professors). holding office hours right after class, or holding one morning and one afternoon session per week might be more attractive to busy and overcommitted students. if you can\u2019t schedule one during the day, consider an early evening office hour. this could be held at rand, the commons, or sarratt.you might also survey your students using a scheduling website, like this one:\u00a0http:\/\/www.whenisgood.net\/<\/a> in addition to setting up hours that the majority of students could attend, you should also add \u201cand by appointment\u201d to your description of office hours. you simply won\u2019t be able to accommodate all students without making time for those whose schedules don\u2019t align with your standing office hours.students\u2019 interest in, and attendance at, office hours is likely to increase over the semester, especially around exam time. consider scheduling extra office hours, or special study sessions or review periods to meet the demand.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    once your schedule and location(s) are set,\u00a0publicize your office hours in class<\/strong>. in the future, you could ask the professor to require students to attend your office hours early in the semester as part of an assignment or to review a problem set. do your best to be friendly, engaging students before and after class. during this time, suggest the kinds of topics that you could discuss in office hours: questions about projects and homework, research ideas and opportunities, reviews of key topics and concepts. in this way, students can be focused when they meet with you. remind students to bring appropriate materials, such as lecture notes, books, homework problems, paper drafts, or readings with difficult passages already marked. suggest that students come to office hours with written questions or confusing concepts to help focus the conversation.<\/p>\n

    don\u2019t be afraid to encourage students to attend office hours via notes on graded exams and essays.\u00a0 here, the framing may be important.\u00a0 students don\u2019t like to feel that they\u2019re being singled-out for poor performance, but a subtle nudge to visit office hours to discuss certain aspects of the course material can often yield positive office hour interactions.<\/p>\n

    so now we’ve address getting students to come to your office hours, and though you didn’t ask about it – i want to give you a few tips anyway about what do when students do come to see you. (if they come once and don’t find it valuable, they won’t be coming back!) here are my suggestions:<\/p>\n