Virtual Office Hours

Jenae Cohn, Academic Technology Specialist for PWR, Stanford University

Beth Seltzer, Academic Technology Specialist for Introductory Studies, Stanford University

Edited for McNeese faculty members: Dr. Wendi Prater, Director of eLearning, McNeese State University

Set up virtual office hours to meet with students using your webcam, share your computer screen or collaborate using Microsoft Teams’s or BigBlueButton. If you are more comfortable, you can also give students your phone number to call, or you can set up an online chat in Moodle as an activity, using Teams or BigBlueButton. For Advising sessions, McNeese faculty members use RegisterBlast.


Not familiar with Moodle? You can still use Teams or Meet Now. Read the article Web Conference, Virtual Meeting, Virtual Classroom Resources to set up your meeting session. 


Pedagogical Recommendations 

  • Keep the link to the BigBlueButton room you’re using for your students in a central place on your course in Moodle. The main factor to consider when holding office hours or conferences with students via web conference is your accessibility as an instructor. Make sure they know how to find your “office” (just as you might offer them directions to your office on-campus). 
  • Encourage students to share their screen with you. Screen sharing is possible not just for the instructor in Teams, but for students too. Help your students navigate towards a screen sharing option so that they can show you their written work on their screen.


Asynchronous Recommended Tools: Moodle Calendar, Microsoft outlook from MyMcNeese

If you usually send around a physical sign-in sheet, you might be looking for alternatives that let you schedule appointment slots with students. 


You may book and reserve time with students in a couple of different ways: 

  • For Advising sessions, McNeese faculty members use RegisterBlast.
  • Scheduler/Appointment Tool through Outlook. Through MyMcNeese students and faculty can use the calendar feature to schedule an appointment. Instructors can post a Moodle announcement or post a Moodle calendar event for dates and time to schedule appointments. 
  • Create a Microsoft Forms Doc/Sheet in MyMcNeese and link in to it from the course in Moodle or as a Moodle announcement. Create an openly editable Word Document or Form or Excel spreadsheet with a table of available appointments for students to sign up for appointments. The link to edit the Doc or Sheet could be shared via an Announcement in Moodle or could be directly embedded into a Page or Module within Moodle.