With resources such as e-mail, Blackboard, Twitter and Facebook, faculty office hours may not be as important to students anymore.
According to Section 338 of the Teacher’s Policy Manual, each full-time professor at Fresno State is required to have at least five office hours each week.
When visiting office hours were the easiest and quickest way of contacting teachers, office hours were strictly enforced. Dr. Robert Maldonado, a professor in the philosophy department, said that teachers used to be checked on to make sure they were in their offices.
“They used to actually check more because it used to be the case that if you put ‘by appointment,’ they didn’t like that,” said Maldonado. “They don’t seem to be policing it the way they used too.”
The policy states: “All full-time faculty shall schedule and maintain at least five office hours per week in their assigned offices. The five-hour requirement shall be a minimum amount of time, specifically posted, when students know that the professor is available for consultation without an appointment.”
In a random sampling of teacher’s office hours, 80 percent of teachers were in their office during posted times.
“I’m actually not so surprised,” Maldonado said of the results. “The majority of faculty want to help and want to be available.”
Students seem to have mixed feelings about the minimum amount of office hours.
Senior marketing major, Albert Tello, doesn’t feel his teacher’s office hours fit into his schedule. Tello said it is difficult to make time to meet with teachers while balancing a full load.
“I never use the instructor’s office hours. I feel like their office hours are not set up well. They typically always conflict with the rest of my classes,” said Tello.
Kinesiology major, Lorenzo Llorente has mixed feelings about office hours. “Some teachers seem to have enough office hours and others seem to never be there when you actually need them,” Llorente said.
Some students prefer avoiding officer hours all together and use other means of contacting professors or getting help with assignments.
English major Daylen Prinz said she prefers not going to a professor’s office hours and has never had a problem getting help when she needs it.
“I have never used a professors office hours before,” Prinz said. “I think e-mail is proficient enough, or if it’s really important I just talk to them after class.”
Maldonado believes that, at least in his department, students might be intimidated to meet with teachers.
“It’s difficult to know comparatively, but I think I get fewer students than some of my colleagues,” said Maldonado. “I think some students get intimidated by their own text.”
Llorente is one of the students that may get intimidated. “I prefer to contact teachers by e-mail because I don’t like talking to my teachers face to face, one on one,” Llorente said.
Llorente added that he often uses Blackboard to get help from other classmates and finds it to be very effective.
Maldonado said that despite some misconceptions, teachers are willing and are available to help. “It’s just up to the students to benefit from their assistance,” Maldonado said.