Suggestion 94. Schedule individual appointments with students

IF YOU WANT TO:

• Know if the class is understanding you or not

• Know if students are bored or confused

• Get to know your students

• Give help to students who are having difficulty

• Encourage students to come see you during office hours

Scheduling an individual appointment with each student.

A statistics professor felt that he was not being successful in generating class discussion. At the end of the third week, still unable to encourage class participation, he decided to pass around a sheet of paper with a list of 10 minute blocks of time when he would be available for individual appointments.

Each student was required to sign up for one the 10 minute appointments. They were told that the chief purpose was for him to get to know the students better and to listen to any complaints or suggestions they might have.

"I found that this was a real ice-breaker," he explains. "Even though most of our discussions were mainly chit-chat, some students used the opportunity to indicate problems they were having in the course or to make suggestions about course improvements. Perhaps the chief benefit was that it gave me an opportunity to get to know the students. As a result, they seemed to feel more comfortable asking and answering questions in class."

"In addition, several students who were having problems understanding the material began to seek me out after class. I'm not certain they would have done so if I hadn't made this effort to get to know them individually."

Limitations on Use of Suggestion

  Discipline:  None
Course Level:  None
 Course Size:  Up to 50-70
        Mode:  Lecture/discussion

Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California

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