Office Hours are dedicated times you are available to students to talk about relevant academic questions about your course or the discipline/profession. You are not a qualified psychiatrist and should not pretend to be one.            

Students—especially incoming Freshman—do not know what Office Hours are. We have started to call them “Student Hours” to welcome students to them, but even still, you will need to spell out (in print and several times orally) what these are: a chance for students to stop by and talk about academic questions and concerns and curiosities related to your course. And be sure that students know where to find you. Freshman are likely to look for you in the classroom, since high school teachers often have their office desk in their classroom.

Students who need extra help do not always ask for it. They may blame a busy schedule and argue that, once they have a chance to catch up this weekend, all will be well. But it never works that way.

Take the initiative and invite them to Office Hours regularly. As soon as you suspect that a student needs help, write on their work and in SpeedGrader that they should visit you during Office Hours. Leave a paper trail so they cannot say you did not try. 

Different institutions have different policies regarding Office Hours—how many you must hold, when, and where. At Yale, PTAIs should make themselves available to students for at least two different hours per week. That is, being available at, say, Monday and Wednesday 12-1 PM means that a student taking a course that meets MWF 12-1 cannot make any of your student hours. Instead, schedule off days/hours, like, say, Tuesday 11-12 and Wednesday 3-4.

Whatever hours you choose for dedicated Office Hours, also offer to meet by appointment in case your chosen times simply do not work for your students. Be sure, though, that when students schedule an appointment outside of your regular Office Hours, they keep that appointment or let you know ahead of time if they will not come. I have seen an increase in students making appointments and simply not showing up.

For your own safety, hold in-person Office Hours in a semi-public place. If you are in an office, keep the door wide open. If you have a shared office, try to hold Student Hours while your officemate is around. Zoom Office Hours increase accessibility. The downside is that it is difficult to go over assignments, look at texts, etc. on Zoom. So perhaps be flexible when offering in-person and Zoom office hours.

For Zoom Office Hours, you may want to use a calendar app like Calendly. Otherwise you will find yourself sitting in front of a Zoom screen alone for an hour, and you want to avoid students Zooming in at the same time.

For more on Office Hours at Yale, see this advice from the Poorvu Center.