Students' Reluctance to Attend Office Hours: Reasons and Suggested Solutions

Abstract

This paper focuses on investigating students’ reasons for their reluctance to attend faculty members’ office hours. Study participants included 500 male and female students from the Colleges of Engineering (n = 248) and Arts and Social Sciences (CASS) (n = 252) at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). The study followed a descriptive-analytical approach, and a questionnaire was utilized to collect people’s views. The results of the study indicate that the rates of SQU students’ attendance to office hours were low, and some students (11.2%) do not attend at all as they consider these office hours a waste of time. The main reasons behind the students’ lack of interest in office hours were busy student timetables, conflicts between faculty office hours and students’ timetables, and easier and faster ways of getting information than visiting faculty members. Additional reasons were related to faculty members’ personalities and their discouraging attitudes toward attending office hours. The researchers recommend that SQU adopt a new strategy for encouraging faculty members to hold office hours, familiarizing students with the importance of office hours and assigning part of a course’s grades to meeting with faculty members’ office hours.

Nursing faculty perceptions of student faculty interactions

“…In the past, students typically contacted faculty around class times, [26] but students' schedules are not always conducive to faculty office hours, [2,21] thus creating missed opportunities for interaction. Faculty in this study reported being open to meeting the needs of students by showing a willingness to meet outside designated office hours.…”

“…Regardless of the ease and availability of technology, students still underutilize office hours, which is supported by current and historical research. [3,6,17,21,27,29] This may be why faculty will meet outside of office hours and strive to respond to student inquiries within a 24 to 48-hour timeframe. The consensus was that students expect a fast turnaround when reaching out to faculty.…”

“…[18] Newer literature finds that faculty approachability, accessibility, and responsiveness may not be as valued by students [6,19] while others see specific qualities of the faculty, such as nurturing, as being pertinent to student success [20] or student willingness to attend office hours. [21] Findings amongst older studies and newer ones suggest that there is no consensus among scholars about the influence of faculty approachability on cultivating SFI. [6] Computer technology in higher education includes computers, cellphones, or other digital devices, as well as electronic communication methods such as email, text, discussion forums, social media, or video conferencing platforms.…”

“…The literature addresses SFI outside the classroom, sometimes in relation to office hours. Many studies focus on students and student perceptions; [6,8,14,15,[19][20][21][22][23]26] some address both student and faculty perspectives [2,13,27] and fewer delve into faculty perceptions. [18,25,28,29] While qualitative and mixedmethod studies have been conducted, most literature has been quantitative.…”

Looking to Move Away from Expository General Chemistry Laboratories? We May Have a Cure for What “Ales” You

“…The completion of assignments during lab time also increases equity regarding access to support and student success, as students are able to seek instructor assistance during scheduled course time rather than during instructor drop-in (office) hours, when they may have a time conflict or apprehension of attending. 35 Each instructor creates six teams of four students. During the first week of the lab, students complete a "Who Are You" survey via the JMU LMS to provide the instructors with additional information to facilitate team formation and lab operation (e.g., allergies or disabilities).…”