Tips for Large Classes

Running office hours for a large class can be challenging, either because few students show up or too many students show up at once. It is nevertheless important to encourage students to attend your office hours and build that personal connection with you as the instructor. One strategy is to offer group office hours, in which you encourage students to join you as a group and work collaboratively to answer questions or work through an assignment. Another strategy is to ask students to sign up for specific times to make the meeting manageable. It is easy for a student in a large class to feel lost in the crowd and unnoticed by their instructor, so personal invitations to attend office hours may help students to feel seen.