Office Hours
Why do we do this, again?
Some time this summer, in my Twitter feed, I saw something posted by a colleague whom I do not know personally that rubbed me the wrong way. It just seemed off. And it was about the office hours we usually offer our students at least once per week.
The post included a picture of a sign she had printed and placed on her office door that read (I’m paraphrasing): “My Office Hours are anytime I am here.”
I do not respond to most of the posts I see on Twitter, particularly ones I disagree with. The internet has plenty of disagreement without my adding to it, that’s for sure. But I did respond to this one, and said something like: “Is this really the idea of Office Hours?” The original poster responded with “Yes, isn’t this great? They can come see me at all kinds of times of day. I am very available to my students.”
I did not follow up. But the exchange has been bugging me ever since. So I thought I would expand on it here, so I can learn from your reactions - which may, of course, disagree with mine! But:
I always thought the idea of Office Hours was to set a time/place every week when students could rely on your being there and available to answer questions. Time when they do not have to set up an appointment, or wander by your office several times and hope they catch you there.
The moment when a student has a question is a precious one and brittle too, and I’m afraid we often lose sight of that. If the student has worked up to a point where they can articulate a question to you, they have opened up a window for learning - for making the sorts of connections you are trying to teach them to make.
We often lament the advent of email in education, but here’s the thing that is great about it: email has helped us reach students in those moments. As much as I don’t prefer it sometimes, if I check my email at night before bed, and a student has written a thoughtful email that shows they just have that *one* or *two* more connections they need to make… well - recognizing that our students often work on the homework we give them at night - I make an effort answer it right away.
So email is already the “reach me any time of day” kind of office hours.
But the “traditional” kind - where there is a set time and place they can always depend on you to be available to them - those I think we also need to preserve, for several reasons. (Before my list, let me note that it is important to set that time and day with their schedules in mind, so you know they are free at that time.)
First, it lowers the effort required on the part of the student, which helps some of them. They are not quite at the point where they can express their question in writing, but they are close. Second, it puts a premium on their doing their thinking and question preparation work - it gives them a sort of “deadline” for it. Like this: “Heck, I know I have a question, and I need to ask my teacher. I know she is available tomorrow from 2-4, so I had better put the studying in to make sure I am ready for that conversation.” Third, it makes it so they do not have to make an appointment, which they might feel reluctant to do, particularly if they feel uncertain of the material or the question (as they usually do). Finally, they can reliably schedule the visit - and fit it in - between other classes they are taking, or extracurricular activities they are involved in.
If one just says: “My office hours are whenever you find me here,” that’s fine, but it is not office hours. Doing that increases the barrier to you rather than decreases it. It requires that they wander by your office at many times of day, hoping to find you there, not in a meeting, or on the phone. It raises the ante for them interrupting whatever you were doing when they came by. It reduces the benefit of a deadline on their getting ready to see you to ask their question. And they can’t schedule it in between classes in a reliable way.
By all means, have an open door policy. But also post office hours.
Now, while I am on the subject, because the pandemic moved office hours to Zoom, we discovered this new venue was pretty convenient (for us and for our students). This semester, when we are no longer in masks - and seem to be pretending the pandemic is over - we could return to Office Hours in-person. And I absolutely prefer in-person interaction with my students - who doesn’t? There is something intangible, human, about being face-to-face. We are analog beings, after all. And I think it helps us to break down the barriers between us and our students. They see us as flesh and blood humans, just like they are.
However, the convenience afforded by conducting Office Hours over Zoom can not be denied. It allows the student to reach you wherever they are, or need to be at that time. They (generally) do not have to wait outside your office, and Zoom can be more private than an open office door. So my “middle ground” on this - so far - is to post Zoom links for a weekly schedule of office hour time, and to also offer in-person meetings on an appointment basis, or “walking” meetings around campus if they prefer.
Please let me know your thoughts about this, and how you post and use Office Hours (if you do).
Letters of Recommendation
This week, I am recommending a new piece of music composed by the American composer William Bolcom. It is his second piano concerto, played by Igor Levit and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. This is the world premier of the piece, which took place as part of the Heidelberg Früeling Music Festival a few months ago:
Q of the Week
The Q of the Week this week is a Quote from the astronomer Carl Sagan:
What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.
I attended a very large university. There is no way in "you know where" that I would have bothered to trudge all the way across campus from my dorm at some random time in the "hopes" of finding my professor in her office, but when I knew what her office hours were, I did make that long trudge to her office to get the help I needed. I do not agree with your colleague at all. That philosophy and approach only works in a small college where most or all of the classes take place in the same building as the teachers' offices. While email can be quite useful nowadays, nothing beats that face-to-face conversation in which not only the original question can be answered but also subsequent questions that arise from the conversation can also be addressed. Office hours are important and necessary.
Hi David! In the past I have told students “find me whenever” but have also told them when I will definitely be there. And also that they take priority over anyone else in my office unless it’s another student or a dean. BUT: My office is very close to the main congregating area so I am easy to reach and I also make a point of walking out into student areas during times I know students will be around to find them, “how’s it going? Any questions for me?” I find that makes them feel comfortable dropping by. All of that said, this year when we are still in pandemic-ish mode (mask mandate in teaching spaces) I’ve gone back to a scheduled hour on top of my other practices. I’ll also hold scheduled zoom hours during those weeks right before major due dates. I find that many students like when I hold open “writing rooms” on Zoom on Friday afternoons or weekend mornings.