Mandatory Office Hours

Here’s a quick tip for the new school year: make every student in your class visit your office hours within the first week. Make this a grade. I have a quiz every Friday in my classes, and to get full credit on the first quiz, a student needs to have visited my office by then.

Why? The reasons are two-fold. First, the students benefit because now they know where my office is, and when they can find me there, and how to make an appointment with me if my office hours don’t fit their schedule. And they’ve learned that coming to office hours isn’t so scary, so maybe they’re more likely to come back later. Second, I benefit because now I’ve met and talked to all my students one-on-one, and I’ve had an extra opportunity to learn their names early on (I struggle with names, but I make a conscious effort to know them all by the end of the second week). Everyone wins, and it’s a very low-effort assignment.

Try it! Let me know how it works for your class.