Media history and media law professor Will Mari often has tea, iced coffee, snacks and homemade cookies at his office hours, and is considering bringing his puppy, Roux, next.

“I’ll do whatever it takes, I’ll do any song and dance to get [students] in here,” Mari said.

Despite his attempts at creating a welcoming environment, he still finds that only a small number of students come into his office hours, with the exception of the days before exams and essay due dates. 

Office hours are times set aside by professors and teaching assistants where they are available to help students with anything they need, such as going over class material, learning test-taking strategies, or appealing grades. Originally, students were able to go into their office, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many classes have started holding office hours on Zoom. Classes are supposed to have office hours at least twice a week, but professors and teaching assistants find that most students don’t use them.

Andrew Hicks was a graduate teaching assistant for business calculus during the 2018-2019 school year, and he expressed disappointment when reflecting on the attendance in his office hours. “It was kind of dismal… It’s like, where’s the rest of the students? Why are they not coming?” Hicks said.

“I feel like [students] maybe forget I have office hours,” said geography graduate teaching assistant Sumaiya Siddique. While Siddique feels office hours are useful in her graduate courses, she noticed that undergraduates are less likely to take advantage of them. She also found that office hour attendance decreased significantly during the first few months of the pandemic.

“Many people are not comfortable [without] in person [options],” Siddique said. “We didn’t understand the format of online… It took time.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the consistency of in-person meetings, Mari found benefits in holding office hours through Zoom. According to Mari, having online office hours in addition to in-person has been helpful for students with busy schedules, especially those who need to take care of their kids or families.

While office hours can be useful in going over class material, it’s also useful for students who need to address outside issues. 

Mari recalled a student who came into his office hours and explained that they were legally blind, causing them to have trouble reading the slides in class. Because he was made aware of the situation, Mari was able to accommodate the student by adding more audio components and live captions to slides, which he has kept since.

Another student was struggling and not showing up to class. She went to Mari’s office hours and explained that she was the main caregiver in her family, making it difficult to keep up with school at times. After learning of her situation, Mari was able to assist her in class, making sure she knew of every extra credit opportunity and giving more time on exams if needed. 

”I think she got out of it a more understanding professor,” said Mari.

Mari believes that office hours are especially beneficial for first generation students, who may need more guidance on navigating college. “For first gen students… office hours [have] really high impact for the betterment of their experience,” he said.

He also observed that the students who do attend his office hours tend to already be doing well in the class – students who had As in class were more likely to go than those who had Cs or Ds.

Siddique found that going to her graduate classes’ office hours are useful when she doesn’t understand the material.

“From my perspective as a student, I think it’s really important to have TAs and office hours,” Siddique said.

With a big university like LSU, Mari believes office hours are a good place for students to interact with their professors one-on-one. During his office hours, he lets students talk to him about anything, whether it be help in the class, talking about careers, or general life advice.  

“Try them out – go once to each office hour you have for each class,” said Mari. “It will help you no matter what.”

While office hours can be intimidating for students, Hicks also encouraged students to go, even if only to strengthen their knowledge of the course.
“We’re not scary,” Hicks said. “Just take a leap of faith and go to office hours.”