This study investigated whether there would be an
increase in college student's participation in a
college methods course that utilized virtual office
hours. Virtual office hours involved a specific time
when the professor was available for private or
public questions and discussions via the Internet.
Two groups of students participated in a social
studies methods course where virtual office hours
were made available twice a week. Laptop computers
were issued for the duration of the semester.
Students also participated in required asynchronous
discussions online. Data were collected from the
course and from student interviews regarding the
virtual experience. Results indicated that
participating students developed a classroom culture
that functioned during the virtual office which not
only supported classroom discussions but also created
a comfort level that augmented participation during
the actual class time. Students reported that the
virtual office hours had a direct impact upon class
discussions. The virtual office provided students
with a model of thoughtful discussions that they
could then practice for themselves. With the
confidence developed from this practice, students
subsequently developed their own means of putting
these ideas into practice.
Serapiglia, A. G. (2011). Augmenting the
communication channel between professor and
student: Online chat use for virtual office hours
(Order No. 3485863). Available from ProQuest
Dissertations & Theses Global. (908423870).
Have FT, Retrieved from
http://wcsu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/908423870?accountid=40083
Out-of-Classroom Communication (OCC) has been
shown to result in major benefits and positive
influences on student satisfaction with their
on-ground college experience. Such levels of
satisfaction lead to higher levels of persistence,
achievement, and retention. Yet little has been done
to foster this behavior formally by on-ground
colleges and universities. With increasing workloads
and travel demands on students and professors,
traditional location based office hours have become
inconvenient and infrequently used. The office hour
could be more valuable if facilitated through mobile
communication technology, such as Instant Messaging,
but few professors offer this option. This study
organized a semester long experiment in which 14
sections of a computer literacy course containing 334
students participated. The course sections were
broken into two sub groups: the treated group that
had Virtual Office Hours (VOH) available to them
through instant messaging (IM), and a control group
that did not. A pre and posttest survey was
administered to measure (1) shifts in student
perceptions related to VOH as a valuable resource,
(2) satisfaction level with available resource, and
(3) expected response time of the professor to OCC.
Results show little use of VOH in an introductory
level class. However, there exists support for the
concept that students are willing to use IM for
communicating with professors if given reason to do
so. Student responses show a trend toward preferring
electronic communication and dissatisfaction with
current available methods of communication offered in
the classroom