Instructors may wish to rename office hours as “student support times,” or a similar term, since many students have misconceptions about the purpose of office hours.
Instructors should announce office hours during the first week of class and explain what students can use them for.
Instructors should normalize attendance by explicitly inviting students to visit them during their office hours.
Instructors should remind students regularly at key points in the semester, such as before midterm exams or project due dates.
Instructors should consider sharing success stories with examples about former students who utilized office hours.
Departments may collect office hour schedules to provide to students upon request.
Instructors may decide whether to schedule general office hours for all courses or specific times for each course.
Instructors may provide more than the minimum number of office hours; a good guideline is one (1) hour per week per three-credit course.
Additional modalities and meeting times by appointment may be offered to give students greater flexibility. For example, instructors teaching a face-to-face course may provide an online office hour option.