Online Office Hours

Cal Poly recommends Zoom for live, synchronous office hours as it is the official collaborative web application for the campus. There are a few things you can do to prepare for successful online office hours:

• Become proficient in Zoom! The CTLT offers workshops each quarter that can help you develop strong online collaboration skills. Check out our newsletter and our workshop page for more information.
   
• Let your students know in advance that you will be using Zoom! You can share your office hour link with your students in advance, and remind them to have questions ready to go
   
• Find out about the cool features available in Zoom for office hours, such as an online “waiting room” where your students can wait their turn and assure privacy for others, or screen-sharing features so you can view your students’ work directly in a live, shared environment
   
• Want to break up those office hours into smaller segments so your students can schedule a more specific time with you? Canvas will allow you to do this! For more information, check out the Scheduler information document in the Canvas guides!
   
• Mitigate the rush during online office hour questions by posting a course Q&A discussion in Canvas. Students can help one another, or you can reply to students in the days between your online office hours.