Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT)

Factors included:

• Undergraduate sociology course, 76 students enrolled with 52 participating voluntarily, anonymous. Survey questionnaire distributed at end of the semester.

Findings:

• Research shows out of class communication enhances student learning.
• Office hours are an opportunity for out of class communication yet, for a variety of reasons, students do not participate.
• Offering Virtual Office Hours (VOH) offers new opportunities.
• Students perceive VOH as useful for convenience, interactivity, and ease of use.
• Despite positive perceptions, students used it very little when VOH was made available.

Factors include:

• The article discusses a study on the use of instant messaging (IM) in promoting student-teacher interactions in a lecture-hall setting in a biology course at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. It found that IM enable the students to directly contact their professors through the Internet which lead to increased in-person interaction. It argues that Internet-based communication technologies break the barriers between the students and professors at the undergraduate level.
• The perennial problem of engagement between students-faculty in a large classroom environment, identified especially for commuter students and minority students. (biology course, 3 sections, 110 students total)

Findings

• Research shows personal relationships between students-faculty promotes student learning and academic success.
• IM was successful at fostering student-teacher interaction, both via the internet and subsequently in person.

Factors included:

• The article discusses the benefits of the implementation of virtual office hours of work for both students and faculties. Office hours are considered as one of the requirements of teaching that is commonly known among professors as the predetermined set of working hours, may it be in class or in the office. With the use of a virtual office concept called a virtual office, communication will serve as a great way for students to interact with their teachers without the need for physical contact.

Findings

• Use of a variety of technologies can accommodate VOH activities.
• Used Elluminate, which can be used to share computer screen, applications, and assignments in a live collaborative environment.
• Put “Virtual Office” button in Blackboard, provide guidance on how to access and use Elluminate.

Factors included:

• The availability of online collaboration software has provided new opportunities for instructors to interact with students outside the classroom. This report describes how Elluminate “Live!”[R], a particular conferencing software package, can be used with a tablet PC to conduct virtual office hours in a biochemistry course. The educational value of engaging students in an online environment, with text messaging, voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP), and application sharing is also discussed. A student perspective is provided to illustrate the advantages of conducting virtual office hours and how the combination of online collaboration software and tablet PC technology can provide an enhanced learning experience.
• Online, collaborative communication. Text messaging, audio, screen sharing, and application sharing.
• Students have demands on time so teacher made evening VOH available with an emphasis on nights before exams.
• Biochemistry course. Article documents VOH activities by the teacher and has a section with the student perspective.

Factors included:

• This study addressed the implications of delivering weekly, interactive, web-based lectures and web-based cyber-office hours to college students enrolled in an advanced, undergraduate course. These web-based lectures and office hours were available to all enrolled students (240), providing them the opportunity to meet, at the same time, at a particular location in cyberspace from any location with internet access. Data collected represent seven, consecutive semesters and support the correlation between the frequency of student’s web-based lecture and cyber-office hour attendance, and objective course outcomes such as quiz scores and final course point total.

Findings:

• Course materials all provided online, no F2F meeting except initial orientation. No required synchronous online meetings. Students can complete course independently. There are weekly web-based lectures and cyber office hours offered. The required discussion forum is part of the class
• Relatively low use of chat or VOH, yet statistically significant.
• Quiz point total: chat attendance frequency, VOH attendance frequency, total attendance frequency.
• Final point total: chat attendance frequency.

Factors included:

• The use of Web-based learning technologies has increased dramatically over the past decade providing new opportunities and avenues for students to interact with their professors virtually using computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies. In this article, the authors share their experiences and findings with the use of virtual office hours as a medium for students to communicate with their professors using a Web 2.0 technology, namely Facebook’s instant messaging (IM) client. Participants in the study included both traditional and nontraditional undergraduate students enrolled in on-campus MIS courses at a public U.S. university in the southeast. The findings suggest that students’ use of virtual office hours is not significantly different from their use of traditional office hours; however, participants in classes that offered virtual office hours reported higher levels of satisfaction with office hours than students in classes that offered only traditional face-to-face office hours. Implications for faculty designing courses using virtual office hours as a teaching and learning tool are discussed.

Findings

• Used survey before and after implementation.
• 89 students, five courses with a mix of day/night courses, some with VOH and traditional OH, some with only traditional.
• Actually, very little use of VOH, as students indicted preference for finding answers online, in syllabus, notes, books, and also preferred email.
• Although very little use documented of office hours, virtual or in-person, students indicated in post-implementation survey higher satisfaction with office hours.

Lih-Ching, C. W., & Beasley, W. (2006). Integrating Instant Messenger into Online Office Hours to Enhance Synchronous Online Interaction in Teacher Education. International Journal Of Instructional Media, 33(3), 277-287. (Have FT, via ILL) http://wcsu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ760700&site=ehost-live&scope=site

• Modern communication technologies have modified the tradition of instructor’s office hours in numerous ways. This article explores the use of Instant Messenger (IM) software in the context of “online office hours”. The authors discuss strengths and weaknesses of IM interactions for instructor/student communication and examine a sample of such communications from two graduate classes to determine the types of content found there. The authors propose a categorical structure drawn from this content which contains three major dimensions, two of which have sub-dimensions; the purpose of the structure is to better understand the potential pedagogical use of TM. The “24-hour professor syndrome” is a real hazard for instructors making increasing use of any type of online interactions with students. This article helps to understand how better to use computer-mediated communications to improve instructor/student interactions through integrating IM into online office hours while remaining aware of the potential disadvantages of failing to establish a boundary defining periods of instructor availability.

Findings

• 34 grad students in an introductory (course #1 in a 5-course sequence) Educational Technology course. Most students were current teachers.
• Identified 3 types of communication
  • Tech support issues
  • Clarification of course content.
  • Student personal issues
• Advantages: free, easy to use, quick, works well when integrated with email, can help overcome shyness, can be anonymous, can be saved.
• Disadvantages: relies on internet connection, may have pop-up ads, grammar, spelling, typing issues, context and misunderstandings, no time for reflection, possible expectation for 24/7 responses/availability.

Lowenthal, P.R., Snelson, C., and Dunlap, J.C. Live Synchronous Web Meetings in Asynchronous Online Courses: Reconceptualizing Virtual Office. Online Learning Journal –Volume 21 Issue 4 –December 2017. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1163476.pdf

Authors describe revisions to virtual office hours approaches in fully online, predominantly asynchronous graduate courses.  Early experience with virtual office hours was that 10% or fewer students attended. The instructor subsequently revise his approach to virtual office hours and saw increased usage. The authors make 21 suggestions/recommendations organized into five categories:

• Orientation to live sessions (for example use a more inviting title)
• Scheduling (schedule sessions strategically)
• Relevance (for example, to share questions in advance)
• Incentive and Assessment (for example, add incentives)
• Interaction (for example, start with ice-breakers)

Meyers, D. M. (2003). The Impact of Virtual Office Hours on In-Class Participation. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (Chicago, IL, April 21-25, 2003). http://wcsu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED477799&site=ehost-live&scope=site

This study investigated whether there would be an increase in college student’s participation in a college methods course that utilized virtual office hours. Virtual office hours involved a specific time when the professor was available for private or public questions and discussions via the Internet. Two groups of students participated in a social studies methods course where virtual office hours were made available twice a week. Laptop computers were issued for the duration of the semester. Students also participated in required asynchronous discussions online. Data were collected from the course and from student interviews regarding the virtual experience. Results indicated that participating students developed a classroom culture that functioned during the virtual office which not only supported classroom discussions but also created a comfort level that augmented participation during the actual class time. Students reported that the virtual office hours had a direct impact on class discussions. The virtual office provided students with a model of thoughtful discussions that they could then practice for themselves. With the confidence developed from this practice, students subsequently developed their own means of putting these ideas into practice.

Serapiglia, A. G. (2011). Augmenting the communication channel between professor and student: Online chat use for virtual office hours (Order No. 3485863). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (908423870). Have FT, Retrieved from http://wcsu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/908423870?accountid=40083

Out-of-Classroom Communication (OCC) has been shown to result in major benefits and positive influences on student satisfaction with their on-ground college experience. Such levels of satisfaction lead to higher levels of persistence, achievement, and retention. Yet little has been done to foster this behavior formally by on-ground colleges and universities. With increasing workloads and travel demands on students and professors, traditional location-based office hours have become inconvenient and infrequently used. The office hour could be more valuable if facilitated through mobile communication technology, such as Instant Messaging, but few professors offer this option. This study organized a semester-long experiment in which 14 sections of a computer literacy course containing 334 students participated. The course sections were broken into two subgroups: the treated group that had Virtual Office Hours (VOH) available to them through instant messaging (IM), and a control group that did not. A pre and posttest survey was administered to measure (1) shifts in student perceptions related to VOH as a valuable resource, (2) satisfaction level with the available resource, and (3) expected response time of the professor to OCC. Results show little use of VOH in an introductory level class. However, there exists support for the concept that students are willing to use IM for communicating with professors if given reason to do so. Student responses show a trend toward preferring electronic communication and dissatisfaction with currently available methods of communication offered in the classroom.

Watson, F.F., Castano Bishop, M. & Ferdinand-James, D. Instructional Strategies to Help Online Students Learn: Feedback from Online Students. TechTrends (2017) 61: 420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-017-0216-y. September 2017, Volume 61, Issue 5, pp 420–427

This article describes a study of over 600 online master’s students at a midwestern University systems.  Based on survey responses, the authors ranked the Top Ten Instructional Strategies The number 1 highest ranked strategy was “be available and responsive to students.”  This was further defined as providing “instructor availability (e.g., schedule for: consultations and office hours online, in-person or phone; response time to email; and timely return of assignments) and promptly respond to students when contacted (e.g., via email and chat).”

• Study finds a mismatch between the institutionally intended purpose of office hours and student perceptions of office hours. Do more to demonstrate to students the value of interacting with faculty and to consistently support the development of relationships between undergraduates and those who teach them.Students think office hours are for “emergencies” (academic crisis).

Recommendations

• make it clear that contact out of class is “normal”;
• make it explicit as to what you expect office hours to be;
• use email, chat, etc. Instead of a physical meeting. Students often feel that a physical visit “is not worth the effort”

Factors include:

• Use your syllabus to explain what happens during office hours.

Recommendations

• The friendlier you are in class, and the more accessible after a lecture—a good time for making appointments—the more likely students are to come around.
• Invite your students to drop by, and repeat the invitation several times during the quarter.
• Suggest the kinds of things they might want to discuss, such as questions about projects, assignments, graduate school, research opportunities, or careers in your field.
• It’s also a good idea to put a map on the syllabus if your office is not in the same building as your classroom; it may seem a bit silly, but it will signal to students that you really do want them to stop by.