Choose a time for your office hour that works for you and for your students
Explicitly invite students to your office hour regularly (e.g., once a week)
Describe what office hours are for: to help your students understanding a concept; to help them understanding what the course is about; to help them learn how to study in college; to help them with a particular assignment; to help them in general; etc.
Try to avoid telling the students an answer or solving the problem for them. Instead, teach them how to solve the problem themselves.
Ask questions to test a student's understanding. Help students identify what concepts or skills they are struggling with.
Help students find a relevant note or chapter section they need to read or think about before tackling an assignment. Give them some time to try addressing the question and then come back to them to see how they’re doing.
One wonderful approach to leading office hours is called the Tao of TALC.
Leverage peer learning
Group students who are working on similar topics so that they can teach one another.
Prepare for office hours so that they are meaningful and useful for you and your students.
Ask students to send questions to you in advance.
Review the lecture notes, readings, activities, and examples that have been covered in class that week
Review the assignment that they are working on.
Think of questions that are similar, but not exactly the the same, as the questions they need to solve for their assignment.
Ask students to bring their lecture notes, readings, homework problems, drafts of their papers, or anything relevant.
Office hours are often the richest, most rewarding learning experience for students.
They offer the opportunity to be tutored 1:1 or in small groups by an expert in the field (you!)
They offer the opportunity to connect to an expert in the field (you!)
They offer students the opportunity to connect with a role model (you!)