Great suggestion Michelle. Thanks for sharing it with the group.
I try to have my office hours before and after scheduled chat sessions. This tends to be the time when most students are online in the classroom.
Scheduling your office hours around your scheduled chat sessions is a great idea David. Hopefully students will be able to easily find you if they need assistance from you.
I would add a thought that was suggested to me. In addition to having office hour(s) scheduled it is a good idea to simply be online and available when assignments are due. If you have the time, go online a few hours before an assignment is due. You can leave the computer on and receive/respond to messages if they occur. If no one is asking questions, you can use the time to do other tasks.
Butch
That is a great suggestion Butch! Thanks for sharing it with us.
I have my office hours in the late afternoon. This allows my working students time to call me when they get off of work.
Keeping in mind the type of students that are in your class and the times they would be available is very important when selecting office hours. Thanks for sharing your experience on the topic Jennifer.
I have found that no matter when I pick my hours someone is not happy. So, I will send out an email and let the students know when I will be online at other times in order for them to be able to get in touch with me.
Terry Armentrout
That is a good idea Terry. Thanks for sharing it with the group.
In order to try and meet everyone's needs, I have office hours in the morning and my Live Chats at night. I figure by scheduling my time this way, I am able to be as available as possible for each student.
As others have said, though, I do find that I must be flexible with these hours. There are always going to be students who cannot meet the time requirements I have set and I must make myself available for them if possible.
Hello Erin,
I actually do get contacted during the office hours. It is not as many students as I would like, but I think it serves a purpose.
Hi Dr. Ernst,
I agree with you as I work office hours around my full time job as well. I always give the students two days + the entire weekend, during a certain time period to call.
I agree. Our assignments are due Sunday at midnight. I find that it is an advantage for me to be online in my faculty office Sunday afternoon and evening when my students are completing their assignments. Although I wish they would work on the assignments a little each day, I recognize that the reality is that working students tend to do their assignments over the weekend. I think it is important for me to be there if questions come up at the 11th hour.
Then, I also schedule office hours for early in the week, typically Monday, so we can get off to a good start on the new assignment for the week.
The downside of this strategy is that I am less available at the end of the week but my students can always reach me via email or cell phone on these days.
This is what works for me.
Trude Fawson
Trude,
It sounds like you have an extremely effective availability plan. Do you find the students contact you by cell phone or e-mail, more often? Thanks for sharing.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I usually schedule my office hour later in the evening on the day the assignment(s) are due.
Apart from office hour, I am also available sometimes during the week on Instant Messenger.
Sitara
Nagalakshmi ,
This seems very reasonable. How do your students respond?
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
