Office hours revisited

gabrielweinberg.com

54 points·pw··4 comments

post a wall of shame for no shows. honor is worth way more than money, and more effective

For some honor may be worth more.

Though I imagine that if you want advice for how to prevent no shows, talk to the nearest college professor with office hours. The psycology department would properly have some novel ideas.

college professors want students to show for office hours? if the students read the book, spend 2 hours out of class on the subject for each hour in class, and then complete pre reqs sucessfully before enrolling and taking the class, and pay attention in class and get some questions answered by TA and peer study sessions..then ask real honest questions during lecture....

well from what i have observed, profs would just like to use office hours to prep for next class.

my profs were always really nice when i bothered them, but i always felt they could tell i wasn't trying as hard as i should have been.

sorry for the rant, in general i think profs time is better spent elsewhere

Professors have been holding office hours for decades, and it is indeed a very efficient use of time if done properly.

The best part of it, if you're usually on the maker's schedule, is that you can set aside a period of time during which, and only during which, you're on manager's schedule. That's much better than switching in and out at irregular hours to attend meetings scattered all over the place. No show? Shame on you, but it's no big deal for me, because I wasn't planning to do anything terribly important during that time anyway. Maybe I'll check my email while I wait for the next appointment, and take care of, you know, managerial chores.

By comparison, if someone wants to see me in the middle of a 3-hour coding/writing/etc session, and then pulls a no show, the impact on my productivity could be a lot more serious.

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