Office hours
Office hours refers to a practice, common in colleges and universities, but also found in some other settings, where instructors and teaching assistants allow students to visit them (typically, at their office) to ask questions or discuss topics related to their course.
Office hours could be:
- Walk-in office hours within predetermined time ranges (for instance, an instructor might have office hours 4-5 PM Wednesday and 10-11 AM Friday).
- Office hours by appointment: The student and the instructor or teaching assistant make an appointment (online, by email, or in person before or after class).
In addition to or in place of in-person office hours, some instructors might offer office hours by Skype or text chatting.
General observations on office hours attendance
Fewer students attend office hours than instructors expect or (in many cases) hope for
Office hours are rarely crowded -- instructors rarely get more than one student per hour for walk-in office hours, and some get less.
The following exceptions have been noted:
- For some courses, particularly writing-related courses, students are expected to use office hours to seek help from the instructor or grader on improving their skills.
- Some teaching-focused liberal arts colleges place considerable emphasis on teacher-student interaction, so students may use office hours more.
- Office hour usage is often high immediately preceding a test. However, in cases where the instructor holds a review session for the test or provides clear review materials, office hour usage before a test need not be high.
For more evidence that students don't attend office hours much, and speculations on the reasons, see these Quora questions:
- [http://www.quora.com/How-frequently-do-college-students-use-their-professors-office-hours-to-request-additional-assistance Mark as Best Source
How frequently do college students use their professors' office hours to request additional assistance?]