Something new for Fall 2021: Zoom Hangouts with Dr. G.

Back in Summer 2020, when I was engaged in a series of three complete course redesigns (CS315, CS445, and CS215 née CS439), I was looking into options for holding casual office hours via streaming on Twitch or YouTube. I got the technology working, but I never did integrate it into the semester: it seemed like more trouble than it was worth.

The whole concept of fixed "office hours" is problematic, really. A practical consideration is that there is no chance that I can choose a set of hours during the week during which all of my students are available to attend. As a result, such office hours favor the privileged and the lucky. While the intention is not bad, the requirement is ancestor worship. Previous generations had to come to office hours because these were the only way they had to reach their professors, but now, everyone is on email all the time. It is easier than ever for students to reach us.

For the previous academic year, I ended up not holding any fixed office hours and, instead, holding all of my meetings by email. Either we resolved issues that way, or we used email to set up Zoom meetings. As far as I could tell, this was the best situation for both me and my students.

One of my colleagues pointed out during last Friday's department meeting that many students misunderstand the term "office hours." They think that these are the only hours that we are in our offices and available to help them. In that way, I wonder whether traditional office hours are a barrier to students asking for help, even over email, especially those who don't know the ropes of higher education. This would be a good topic for a research study.

Also at Friday's meeting, however, the new chair of the CS department did ask us all to have some fixed office hours during the week as well. I decided to try something different for this semester, then. While I will continue to do all my usual consulting via email—with a revised and clearer explanation for this process now live on all three of the semester's course plans (CS215, CS222, CS315)—I have also set up weekly "Zoom Hangouts". It's just an hour each week, scheduled between usual class slots, where I plan to be on Zoom. Last year got us all to be pretty comfortable with that platform, and I figure I can use it like open-door office hours: work on low-priority items that can be interrupted at any time.

I have no idea if this will be of any interest to the students. I fear that, as described above, some my misconstrue this as the only time I am available, but I hope that the naming helps. This is a "hangout", not "office hours." On the course plans, I describe the policy under the heading, "Consulting with the Professor," with strong encouragement to email first, and to come to the hangout as desired.

We'll see how it goes. Right now, the link is only shared on Canvas to my current students. I'll post an update once I have more data and experience.