Empowering Students to use Office Hours_欧洲杯决赛竞猜app_欧洲杯足球网-投注|官网

Rondi Schei
Mon, 26 Sep 2022 13:24:04 +0000
Best practices, Distance Education, Faculty, appointments, Best Practice Blog, calendar, google calendar, office hours

Student Appointment Slots

Did you know that Google Calendar has a feature called Appointment Slots? This has been an amazing feature for me as an instructor. I started using it back in 2015 and have never looked back. You might be thinking, why would I want to use an appointment calendar to set up office time with my students? Here are my reasons:

1. I schedule times that I know I’ll be available. This provides a variety of opportunities for students whose schedules vary considerably. Plus, the times don’t have to be consistent from week to week.

2. Students feel empowered because they can set up a time dedicated to them vs. open office hours. They know how much time they have reserved and generally come prepared.

3. I can plan my life better. I know who is showing up and when! They even let me know why they want to meet! Now isn’t that nice?

4. ?A Google Meet link automatically generates when creating an appointment and the student gets an invite too. I can also leave notes in the calendar invite for myself and the student!

5. I can set up a notification for my phone/computer to ping me so I don’t miss the meeting (especially if I am busy grading or… folding laundry).

I am sure there are more reasons to love using Appointment Calendars, but this is what comes to mind immediately.

How do I let students know about it?

Everywhere! Not really, but rather strategic locations in my Brightspace course:

1. My Syllabus

2. My homepage Ask Questions widget in Brightspace

3. My Instructor Information page in Brightspace

4. My Intelligent Agent email reminders
I provide reminders to students who haven’t completed an assignment or received a certain score. In the email that goes out, a link to my appointment calendar is always included encouraging them to set up a time to go over anything that might be challenging.

5. ?My Email Signature

You know what! While writing this list I realized there is another place I thought I had mentioned my appointment calendar, but I forgot! I need to add it to my Welcome video! I just watched it thinking it was there. What a lapse on my part. So, that makes #6. I’m sure you can think of other places as well!

Empowering our students

Since the onset of the pandemic, the use of my appointment calendar has drastically increased. I feel like I am connecting with my student much more than I ever did before as a fully online instructor. I thrive on those interactions. Students are concerned about my time, but they don’t realize how much I enjoy getting to help them and see that light bulb turn on. (I think they do after meeting with me, though. ?) ?Letting them know they can have one-on-one time with me is important. I want to empower them to feel comfortable meeting with me. A dedicated timeslot lets them feel that this is “their” time and that it wasn’t an inconvenience to me, the instructor, to schedule.

If you need more help than the Google documentation on setting up Appointment slots, feel free to reach out to one of our amazing instructional technology specialists! They excel in helping faculty make their student experience better using technology!

Take care and think of ways you can empower your students to ask you questions this Fall term!

Rondi :)