On Wed, 6 Dec 2000, Michael J. Kane wrote:
> Does anyone out there know of any research on factors that influence
> whether students take advantage of teachers' office hours? I don't
> know whether it's a function of my style, my courses, or my class
> sizes (or something else altogether), but I have a very difficult time
> getting my students to come to see me outside of class for extra help.
> The few that do come once tend to come back, but getting them in the
> door for the first time is what I'm concerned about. How do you all
> manage to get students who are struggling in your classes to come to
> you for help? On course evaluations my students endorse that I'm very
> approachable and that I relate to students very well, and yet (most)
> don't come. And my version of the "help me help you" speech just
> isn't cutting the mustard.
>
Although I don't know of any research in this area, one approach a
colleague of mine used to get them to her office was to return the first
exam exclusively during office hours or appointments. Typically the
appointment lasted only a few minutes, but she was able to "get them in
the door the first time" with this approach. I believe she distributed a
sign-up sheet with 10 minute blocks on it so that there wasn't a rush of
students at one time.
Obviously this would not work in very large classes, but in smaller
classes, it might help.
I'm interested in others' approaches to this problem. The General
Psychology class I teach is large enough (about 60 students) that even
giving 10 minutes per student might not be feasible--though maybe 10 hours
is worth it if they're more likely to return. Writing "please see me" on
the top of students' exams (and even emailing them) hasn't been effective,
so I, too, am looking for alternative ways of encouraging them to utilize
office hours.
Jeff
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Jeff Bartel
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~jbartel
Department of Psychology, Kansas State University
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