HelpMe: Student Help Seeking using Office Hours and Email

Office hours and help sessions provide students with the important opportunity to obtain feedback and guidance while connecting with instructors and peers. However, these out of class help sessions are often underutilized due to problems such as inconvenient times and locations, long wait times, and student misconceptions on their purpose and value. Managing office hours for large classes is difficult for instructors and may result in poor student participation. It is crucial to adopt approaches to manage help sessions more effectively and encourage student attendance. This research examines current problems with help sessions and implements an office hours management system called HelpMe. Interactions in office hours and emails are analyzed to determine the types of questions asked. Student surveys demonstrate a significant change in student perception of office hours, increased engagement, and valuable data on effective practices for deploying office hours.