I think it is very important as an educator to constantly reflect on our own motivations, learning, practice. I think it's important that we be able to answer "what is our pedagogical reason for doing X?" in our classrooms. I think we should be crafting syllabi, choosing readings, revising and updating the primary and secondary texts we teach. I think it is our job to stay informed of what the conversations of the field are. I think too often we replicate the systems we came up and were taught in and rarely interogate them.
Especially the last few years it seems like office hours have become a place of where we can do better by our students. I've seen recommendations to call them "student hours" so students know the time is for them and not just when you're sitting in your office. I've seen professors make office hours mandatory so students can "see" how helpful they are. Some turn the hours into a workshop space. Some just want students to know their professors are resources. With so many classes and office hours moving online this semester professors have shared how they've set work times, like a lab, where students can work and ask questions. Some have set up Discord and Slack spaces that seem to lean more towards workshop spaces. Some professors offer actual workshops on Zoom, covering skills or common questions, and recording for any who can't attend.
Every semester as part of my end of course reflection I ask students if they came to office hours, why or why not. I admit that I have not always paid as much attention to their answers as I should have. This semester their answers really hit me. Even though I had on campus office hours this semester, I rarely had students come in. Last year I often had students in my office, but it was usually just them dropping by and hanging out. Which I loved, but which also proved a bit problematic, because then when I students showed up wanting/needing help, they were facing a room full of students- a bit intimidating, and then if students didn't take the hint to leave, I had to tell them too. I was happy students felt comfortable being in my office, talking to me, but if I'd been that student in the doorway, I would have left rather than face that.
Next semester I've moved all my office hours online. It just doesn't seem safe knowing what we know about how Covid spreads to sit in a 10x10 room with no/poor ventilation, even if masked. So I was already in a space to think/rethink office hours. So when I read my students answers to the office hours questions this semester I actually listened. And it got me thinking about what we as educators want office hours to do. We want students to take advantage of one on one help. We want them to practice/do the work of talking through ideas, forming an argument, revising, getting feedback. We want them to show engagement, curiosity, and use these things to stretch themselves in their work. We want them to show an interest.
I remember as an undergrad and graduate students being fascinated by the offices of my professors. I judged them based on how they did (or didn't) decorate their doors. I was always distracted by the books, the shelves, the layout. The rabbit warrens of a professional life on display. How professors placed their desks between me and them, setting clear boundaries. Professors with empty shelves. Professors with stacks of books versus them on the shelves (what was the secret? the system?). I've tried to make my office open and welcoming. I have snacks. And office supplies. And tea. And Kleenex And rubber ducks. A lot of this is a hold over from high school teaching, no one went hungry in my classroom. I want my office to be a safe, welcoming space, the same as I want my classrooom to be. I miss having my own classroom.
When I read my students' answers to the office hours questions this semester I think I heard them in a different way. Few attended office hours and said so on their reflections. But it was what else they said that is what has stayed with me. When I asked why or why not they said overwhelmingly that they didn't feel the need to. They said I always answered their emailed questions quickly, always read and got drafts back fast, and they never needed to come to office hours. It was this "needed" that struck me. I also ask students about whether they regularly attended class, and if not, why or why not, and what I could have done more. Their answers to this and office hours had some overlap. Many students said they had to work so often could not come (to office hours or class). Many said that they had transportation issues. More said they had other responsibilities. Some said the times didn't work for them. In the past I've had students vote on my office hours to try and fix that but it didn't result in any more attendance in my office.
But here's the thing- none of them felt like these barriers interfered with them getting the help they needed. They all felt that they were able to get everything they needed from emailing me. Given their varying schedules, it certainly made sense. It got me thinking about office hours, their purpose, and what the technology of email does, and the ways that maybe I've been clinging to old ideas. It's a common complaint that students don't come to office hours. They don't realize what they're for. They don't take advantage of them. I think, reflecting on the list above of what WE as professors WANT them to be, that maybe not all those things are about serving the students. If I schedule workshop days into my classes, if it's the standard in my classes for students to send me drafts for feedback, if I answer all emails within 24 hours Monday through Friday, often quite faster, then what needs of my students are NOT being met?
We all know professors who don't care about teaching. We know professors who would not make an appearance on campus, do their jobs if not for that 10 or 15 hour office hours requirement. And these are horrible people who should not be teaching. But as with many things, are we setting rules and expectations 1) for antiquated ideas of what serving students look like and 2) as a way to make people do their jobs?
Too often these same people seem to like to frame students not attending office hours, "not taking advantage" like a personal failing. As though the student must not be dedicated or engaged enough to "care" about doing well in your class. First, not taking advantage smacks of some blechy you as savior crap. Second, it totally ignores the reality of the majority of our students. Even students who are full time and live on campus are juggling jobs and families and extra curricular responsibilities. They're not sitting around waiting for you to bless them with your expertise. And again- blech.
I'm not saying we should dump office hours. I have set virtual office hours for the spring. I'll continue to hold them when we return to campus. Maybe though we should ask about what we want them to do, what our students need them to do, and consider how we can meet those needs in other, better ways. If your students need a model for thinking through an idea or paper then arrange for one on one conferences for them to do that. If you think your students need dedicated work time to complete an assignment then build that into your classes. If you want to set up a practice of drafting, feedback, and revision, then build that into your class. If you want to build a community of majors, alumni, professors, then you have to find a way to do that.
If the problem is faculty won't answer student emails, or show up, if you don't "make" them well that's a whole other issue. If you're at an institution where your professors won't prioritize teaching then you have a culture problem not an office hours one.
I think at least part of office hours is based in an antiquated idea of the sage on the stage- that students should come to the hallowed halls of your building, knock and hope they're admitted to your presence, and then supplicate themselves, basking in your knowledge.
Yuck.
So I think next semester I'm going to stop asking about whether or not they attended office hours and why or why not. Instead I'm going to ask them about what they needed to succeed in class, what I did that helped, and what else I could have done. That is what I care about. That is what I want to make sure I'm doing.
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