Point of View: Taking the Office Hour Out of the Office

Abstract

Science classrooms across our campus have changed dramatically over the past 10 years as an increasing number of instructors have incorporated a variety of active learning techniques into their teaching practice, using, for example, classroom response systems to poll their students and guided inquiry and case study activities to facilitate small group work (AAAS, 2011; McGill et al., 2019). However, the primary way students interact with faculty outside the classroom remains unchanged: the office hour. Despite evidence that students benefit from office hour visits, low office hour attendance is common. Here, I describe a novel addition to my typical office hours, holding one of my four weekly office hours outside as a group run called the “Active Office Hour.” Students view the Active Office Hour positively, with a subset of my students attending weekly. Active Office Hour participants report their primary motivator for attendance is to seek comradery with their peers and instructor, not the specific activity of running, suggesting alternative forms of out-of-office office hours may work well for different students and instructors.

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Notes on contributors

Patrick Cafferty

Patrick Cafferty ([email protected]) is a senior lecturer in the Department of Biology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.