Niagara College Canada

Office Hours

Your instructors may post “Office Hours”. These are specific times set aside outside of your scheduled course hours when you can connect with your instructor and ask questions about course content and concepts, tests and assignments, or just talk about what’s happening in the course. This is a great time to meet with fellow students, too. But come prepared! It will make the time much more productive for you, your instructor, and your classmates.

How to Prepare to Meet your Instructor

• If you have a question about an assignment, have the assignment handy to go over the information that is confusing. You never know when you might point out something that will help the entire class’ understanding of the assignment.
• If you have a question about course content or a concept, try to describe in as much detail as possible where you ran into the issue. For example, “In week 2 readings, I noted on page 8 a description about plant growth being affected by aphids…can you explain exactly how the growth is affected?” is a much better way of asking a question than “what’s up with the aphids?”
• If you have a question about course logistics – for example, how to hand in an assignment or how it should be formatted – try to review course materials to see if the answer is within the docs. Even if you think you can’t find the information, make the effort and explain what you did to try to find it. This will show that you value everyone’s time and are serious about the course. Everyone appreciates it when effort is shown.

Emailing your Instructor

If you don’t have the time to attend office hours, an email is another option for connection. But think before you email! Is it something you can find in the course docs? Or find out from another student in your course? Just as you are likely taking multiple courses, your instructor is teaching multiple courses as well. Everyone’s time is precious, and they might not be thinking about your course right when you email.

Sample Email

The best way to persuade someone to read your email is to be professional and brief. Here’s a sample email for you to follow:

Note: If you’ve been invited to use first names, use their first name in the salutation.

This email works well because the instructor knows what course and assignment the student is referring to, the exact question the student is asking, and that the student did some work on their own to try to find the answer.

How to Find and Email Your Instructor in Brightspace

1. Log in to Brightspace and click on your course icon.
2. Select Communication from the course menu, then choose Classlist.
3. Scroll through the list to find the instructor’s name listed under the Role column.
4. Click on the instructor’s name to open a new email message.