Breaking the tyranny of office hours: Overcoming professor avoidance

Briody, Elizabeth K.; Wirtz, Elizabeth; Goldenstein, Angela; Berger, Edward J.

doi:10.1080/03043797.2019.1592116

Cited by 26 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…In this department, the faculty want to connect with the students, but there are so many undergraduates that it's hard to really connect with them.” (Scale; All = 70%). Pervasive workload pressures were present in our other data collection as well (Briody, Wirtz, et al, 2019). Faculty consistently responded that some of their responsibilities could be handled by other people, as indicated by agreement with the statements from various categories: “15.…”

Section: Results For Cultural Characterization Number Of Subculturessupporting

confidence: 62%

“…Our prior work suggested that the organizational culture within the ES shapes all manner of faculty and student activities. We have reported on some of this work elsewhere (Briody, Berger, Wirtz, Ramos, & Guruprasad, 2018; Briody, Rodríguez‐Mejía, Rothstein, Wu, & Berger, 2019; Briody, Wirtz, Goldenstein, & Berger, 2019; Wirtz et al, 2018), and our past work on cultural characterization within the ES has focused largely on interview and observation protocols of a relatively small number of individual faculty. Faculty generally reported on an intense sense of busyness, constant time pressures, and significant struggles with the scale of the organization (primarily defined as undergraduate enrollment).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Faculty subcultures in engineering and their implications for organizational change

Berger

Wu²,

Briody³

et al. 2020

J of Engineering Edu

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Background Prior efforts to understand faculty culture have largely described monoliths where individuals are differentiated by their productivity. Little prior work provides rich faculty subcultural descriptions and their connections to specific activities, including disposition to change. Purpose/Hypothesis This article describes the goals, assumptions, methods, and inferences made about faculty culture within an engineering department at a large university with very high research activity, with the potential to enrich future discussions about change among the target audience of engineering faculty, administrators, and researchers. Design/Method We employ cultural consensus theory (CCT) to characterize faculty culture, based upon a detailed survey, analysis, and member checking. We use the academic ratchet—as a theoretical framework to interpret CCT results, and extend our understanding using previously published change theories. Results We discovered two faculty subcultures of roughly equal membership: (a) change‐oriented and (b) continuity‐embracing. Members of each subculture agree on the primacy of research but differ in their views of change, leadership, and trust. Members of the change‐oriented subculture seek large‐scale changes but feel disempowered to pursue them, while members of the continuity‐embracing subculture seek modest changes and feel empowered to enact them. Conclusions We introduce a scalable, person‐centered culture characterization approach (CCT) to the engineering education research community. This approach deepens our understanding of faculty culture, and our results reinforce the central role of the academic ratchet in shaping faculty activities. This analysis illustrates the potential roles of each subculture in enacting change of various types and magnitudes.

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Section: Results For Cultural Characterization Number Of Subculturessupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Faculty subcultures in engineering and their implications for organizational change

Berger

Wu²,

Briody³

et al. 2020

J of Engineering Edu

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Instructor-student interactions, including those that occur outside the classroom and in office hours, are essential for student success, especially in asynchronous formats (Cokley, 2000;Delaney, 2008;Wallace & Wallace, 2001). Unfortunately, many students do not attend office hours due to insecurity about interacting with instructors one-on-one, time constraints, or because they are not aware of the benefits (Briody et al, 2019). A remote format for class and/ or office hours can further exacerbate low office hour attendance.…”

Section: Offi Ce Hour S Recommendati On Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching animal behavior online: A primer for the pandemic and beyond

et al. 2020

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Behavior courses face numerous challenges when moving to an online environment, as has been made necessary by the COVID‐19 pandemic. These challenges occur largely because behavior courses, like most organismal biology courses, often stress experiential learning through laboratories that involve live animals, as well as a lecture component that emphasizes formative assessment, discussion, and critical thinking. Although online behavior courses may be remote, they can still be interactive and social, and designed with inclusive pedagogy. Here, we discuss some of the key decisions that instructors should consider, provide recommendations, and point out new opportunities for student learning that stem directly from the move to online instruction. Specific topics include challenges related to generating an inclusive and engaging online learning environment, synchronous versus asynchronous formats, assignments that enhance student learning, testing format and execution, grade schemes, design of laboratory experiences including opportunities for community science, design of synthetic student projects, and workload balance for students and instructors. We designed this primer both for animal behavior instructors who need to quickly transition to online teaching in the midst of a pandemic, and for those facing such transitions in upcoming terms. Much of the manuscript's content should also be of general interest and value to instructors from all areas of organismal biology who are attempting to quickly transition to online teaching.

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“…Studies have reported that faculty-student interactions are essential for student engagement, academic success, and professional development. [1,3] Academic institutions often mandate computations to determine the number of office hours required by faculty. The rationale for office hours is to promote faculty-student interactions, thereby, fostering student success.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is an opportunity for students to practice interpersonal and professional skills prior to entering the workforce. [3] Jackson and Knupsky [7] highlight office hours as a prime-time to enhance relationship-building with the student, potentially leading to future collaboration opportunities. In addition, positive relationships between faculty and students personalize the educational experience and promote student success.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are office hours obsolete?

Fowler

2021

JNEP

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Office hours are a higher-education tradition. Unchanged for past-decades, the upheaval due to the COVID pandemic, transitioned office hours in many institutions from face-to-face to virtual and other formats. Historically office hours are a resource underused by students. Faculty-student interactions are considered a high-impact activity aimed at promoting student success. One purpose of office hours is to increase student access to faculty. It is time to revitalize and revamp this tradition. Increasing student engagement, clarifying course requirements, and role modeling professional behavior are potential goals for office hours and student-faculty interactions. To meet these goals, faculty will need to undertake activities that are much more active than the typical passive activity of office hours.

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Breaking the tyranny of office hours: Overcoming professor avoidance

Cited by 26 publications

References 47 publications

Faculty subcultures in engineering and their implications for organizational change

Faculty subcultures in engineering and their implications for organizational change

Teaching animal behavior online: A primer for the pandemic and beyond

Are office hours obsolete?

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