No students? Try online office hours

Faculty: Ever sit in your office during your appointed office hours wondering where all the students are?

Students: Ever wonder why faculty members make their office hours at exactly the same time you have other classes?

If you see yourself in either of these questions, you are not alone.

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One way to deal with the problem is aided by technologies readily available to you. Faculty can offer online office hours using a chat system, set hours that they’ll be available, then field questions during the appointed times. Students merely need to enter the chat system, contact the professor, and ask their questions.

Students like the practice because they can reach faculty in the evenings, when they are focused on their assignments; faculty like it because they can keep an eye on the game while working with students.

Feel free to contact the Digital Union for help setting up online office hours. Our contact form is available here: https://registration.it.ohio-state.edu/support-requests/

Chat Systems
There is a chat system inside Carmen. More info is available here: http://elearning.osu.edu/carmen-help/instructors/chat_overview.htm
Other popular chat systems include:

Google (more info available at: http://www.google.com/talk/)
Yahoo (http://messenger.yahoo.com/)
AIM (http://www.aim.com/)

If you want to add video, Google and Skype (http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home) offer video options.