Office hours are an essential part of any college curriculum. Amid the hustle of lectures, conferences, and assignments, these hours provide flexible opportunities for students to ask their professors or teaching assistants (TAs) any questions that come up throughout the semester. They offer a safe space for those who might be afraid to ask questions in front of the entire lecture hall, allowing one-on-one time to raise concerns and explore more in-depth questions. Information about professors’ and TAs’ office hours can usually be found on each course’s syllabus.
Some professors’ office hours only occur once or twice a week, making it difficult for students whose schedules overlap with these times to seek help. Luckily, for larger lectures, there are conferences run by TAs, most of whom have their own individual office hours that any student is welcome to attend. For instance, in LING 201, there are five TAs, all of whom host one to two hours a week in person or on Zoom. This flexibility allows students to get their burning questions answered by someone knowledgeable.
Zlata Odribets, a graduate student pursuing a degree in Syntax, is currently one of the five TAs for LING 201. She hosts office hours twice during the semester. Her last session, just before the midterm, welcomed five students with questions about recent assignments.
“I think some students appreciate communication that is private, that their classmates can’t overhear. Often office hours provide me the opportunity to answer a question more in-depth when I’m not rushing from one class to another,” Odribets said. “When I was an undergraduate student I asked similar questions [to professors and TAs].”
Although it can be nice to have a direct line to the professor, having additional office hours with TAs allows both students and instructors more flexibility.
As Ruby Czeban, U0 Arts, explained, office hours also provide a time and space for students to build relationships with their TAs and professors outside of lectures.
“I think that it can be very helpful sometimes, especially when you have a specific question,” Czeban said.
The class had posed some challenges to Czeban, so just before a big test, she attended office hours with the professor to clarify questions about the problem set that had been assigned beforehand. Specific homework questions can be overwhelming or simply inconvenient to ask in a class with over 300 students. Additionally, an issue with a specific problem may not be universally applicable, which is why chatting with the professor or TA after class is often the best way to go.
Alejandra (Sandra) Barriales Bouche, a professor in McGill’s Hispanic Studies department who instructs HISP 219, explained her experience with students who came to office hours.
“After an exam, students come more often. Usually, they come to ask questions about the exam or doubts about the material. Sometimes they come for future plans, [such as] which courses they should take,” Barriales Bouche explained. “I feel that some of them feel there is a barrier in class. I feel like there is a different atmosphere [during office hours]. It’s an opportunity for the student and me to establish a conversation about how they are doing in the course.”
More importantly, she added that she hopes students will take advantage of office hours at all times, and not only when they are struggling—which seems to be a pattern among students.
“Don’t come only when you have a problem. Come to let me know that things are going okay, and things that you like in the course,” Barriales Bouche said.
Office hours are not only an option in times of need; they’re a must throughout the entire semester. Professors’ and TAs’ doors are also opened for a simple chat.
