Strong relationships between college students and their teachers have an undisputed link to positive student outcomes, such as retention, motivation, sense of belonging, and academic achievement. Office hours present an invaluable space to build such one-on-one connections with instructors outside of the classroom. However, office hours are frequently underutilized, and remote learning has eliminated many opportunities for informal interactions (i.e., pre- or post-class “corridor” discussions), exacerbating the dependency of the student-instructor relationship on office hours. Therefore, an urgent need exists to lower barriers to attendance that may prevent students from forming connections with their instructors. The proposed reframed office hours are designed to be more relaxed and accessible by lowering instructor expectations of student preparedness to join. This approach first seeks to improve the student-instructor relationship as perceived by both students and teachers. Second, it aims to widen the distribution of students’ academic need levels who participate in office hours by minimizing obstacles to help-seeking experienced by those with the greatest need. The resulting connections between students and instructors may inspire future courses to reconsider their office hours strategy, regardless of teaching format.
Be sure to join the Office Hours discussion for this video on Thursday morning. Find more information on that session here:
https://teachx21.sched.com/event/j8mt
Video Stream
