# Office hours for professors: how to make them work for students > **The short answer**: Office hours are fixed times when you meet students to discuss the course, and they work best when you publish them before term starts. Give them a stated purpose, let students book a short slot, and answer repeated questions with one template, so students bring a real question instead of staying silent. **Key takeaways** - State the purpose of your office hours in the course specification before you publish them. - Let students book a short slot, and keep each visit to one or two questions. - Write one reply template for the questions that keep coming back. - Count who attends over the term, not the first week, before judging the hour. ![Office hours for professors: how to make them work for students](https://tiswa.app/assets/blog/office-hours-guide/office-hours-guide-cover-en.webp) Most of us publish office hours, sit at a desk for the first half hour, and then return to our papers. This is common, and it is not the student's fault. Office hours work when you know what you want from them, and when students believe the time is for them. ## What makes office hours useful to students? A study by the London School of Economics analysed around 90,000 bookings from more than 16,000 students, and looked at the gaps between students who used office hours and those who did not.[^1] The main lesson is that use is uneven. The students who most need contact with their lecturer outside class are often the least likely to ask for it, so the design of the hour is part of fairness. A review of office-hour research notes one study in which two-thirds of the students surveyed never used office hours, and others in which fewer than half used them regularly. The review links low use to students feeling intimidated about approaching faculty, rather than to a lack of interest in learning.[^2] ## How should office hours change with class size? Not every course needs the same arrangement. A class of a hundred and fifty needs a booking system. A class of thirty can manage with a flexible slot. The need also changes between a practical course, where students ask how to solve one step, and a theoretical course, where a discussion takes longer. Before you publish a time, ask yourself what students will come to ask, and how long you need to answer it. 1. **State the purpose**: Write one sentence in the course specification, such as "office hours are for reviewing assignments and framing questions before the exam". A written purpose stops the hour from turning into a general chat. 2. **Publish the time and the method**: Give the days, the hours, the place, and how to book, whether through Blackboard or the department email. A student who cannot find the booking route will give up on the idea. 3. **Keep the slot short**: Ten minutes is enough for a routine visit, with longer slots when needed. A short slot encourages the shy student to book, because it does not feel like a large favour. 4. **Ask for the question in writing**: When students book, they send their question in one line. You prepare, and the visit becomes more useful for both of you. ![4-step flow: State the purpose / Publish the time and the method / Keep the slot short / Ask for the question in writing](https://tiswa.app/assets/blog/office-hours-guide/office-hours-guide-inline-1-en.webp) ## How do you run a short visit? Begin with the question they sent, then ask what they already tried. Many questions are solved within a minute once you know the attempt. If the question is too broad, narrow it with one counter-question. End with a single next step you both agree on, and write it down. > **tiswa's take**: In our view an office hour works best when it is shorter and more specific than most lecturers expect. Ten clear questions answered in ten minutes help a student more than two open hours with no topic. ![Key point of the guide (Office hours for professors)](https://tiswa.app/assets/blog/office-hours-guide/office-hours-guide-inline-2-en.webp) ## What do you reply to a vague message? A message that opens with "I did not understand anything" needs a reply that asks and directs, not a long explanation. A short template protects your time and gives the student a clear way forward: Reply template for a student message: ``` Hello [student name], thank you for writing. So I can answer accurately, please send me in one line the exact point in [topic] where you got stuck, and the step you tried before writing. If it needs a discussion, book an office hour on [day] between [time] and [time] through [booking method]. [your name] ``` Cut the last lines if the question can be answered in two sentences. A template does not make you cold. It makes you clear. ## What happens in the weeks before exams? Demand rises in the two weeks before the exam, and visits run longer than planned. Fixed extra slots, with a set number of students each, work better than an open-ended period. Note that a student who arrives the night before an exam usually needs an explanation of one topic, not a review of the whole term, which is easier to hold to time if you set the boundary at the start. ## Do virtual office hours work? They work well for short, specific questions and poorly for questions that need a diagram or a page reviewed together. A mix of both is best: a virtual slot for small questions, and an in-person hour for reviewing work. If you rely on the virtual one, pin the link in Blackboard so students do not search for it. A student who needs more than an office hour can be referred to [academic advising](https://tiswa.app/en/blog/academic-advising-guide/). tiswa for Universities: student benefits and discounts on campus and beyond, free for the student and designed with each university. Learn more at [tiswa for Universities](https://tiswa.app/en/universities/), and share [student discounts in Saudi Arabia](https://tiswa.app/en/deals/) with your class. [tiswa for Universities](https://tiswa.app/en/join/) ## What mistakes empty office hours? - Publishing a time you do not keep, so students learn the hour is not real. - Opening the hour to everything, so it becomes a review of the whole course in half an hour. - Treating the visit like an exam, so the student leaves less confident than when they arrived. - Judging the hour in its first week, when most students are still learning that it exists. Office hours cannot fix every problem. A student who misses every lecture and wants the whole term explained the night before needs academic advising, not a chat about one topic. ## What should you measure to know it helps? Track three things: bookings each week, the kinds of questions that repeat, and whether the questions students bring get better across the term. The first shows reach, the second shows need, and the third shows whether the hour does its job. Do not count attendance alone, because one visit with a sharp question beats a crowded room of silent students. If the same grading question keeps coming back, check the [rubric guide](https://tiswa.app/en/blog/rubric-guide/) before the next visit. ## Questions ### How do I set office hours for a professor? State the purpose in one sentence, publish the days, times and booking method, and keep visits short and specific. The number of hours should follow the size and nature of the course. ### Should students book office hours? Booking helps when numbers are large, and it encourages shy students because they know the slot is reserved. A short booking message with one line of question works well. ### What if nobody comes to my office hours? Do not judge them in the first week. Ask students in class why they are not coming, and check that the booking route is visible in Blackboard. ### Can I run office hours online? Yes, for short and specific questions. A mix of online and in-person is better for review that needs a page or a diagram. ### How do I reply to an unclear student email? Send a short template that asks for one question and the step the student already tried, then give direction or offer a booking. ## Sources [^1]: London School of Economics, Office Hours (Change-makers research archive, 2020-21), https://info.lse.ac.uk/current-students/part-of-lse/assets/documents/Change-makers/research-archive/2020-21/37a-Office-Hours.pdf [^2]: Vaughn et al., review of office hours and student engagement, Insight Journal, https://insightjournal.park.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Vaughn-et-al._Article-3.pdf