Professors Use Skype for Office Hours

Four years ago, a student approached Professor of Medieval History Michael McCormick after lecture with a series of concerns.

“Every time that I suggested to meet with him conflicted with practice or lab or section,” McCormick said. “Finally, in frustration, I asked him what he was doing at 10 p.m. that night.”

Although the student was available, he and McCormick now faced the constraints of distance and the late hour. McCormick suggested that the two meet through an alternate medium: Skype.

McCormick is among a growing number of faculty members who supplement their regular office hours with additional time slots for students to contact them virtually. McCormick said that this type of communication decreases the anxiety that some students experience when meeting with professors in person, prompting an increase in office hours attendance.

“I couldn’t think of anything so implausible as a Harvard student that is intimidated by anything, not to mention their teachers,” he said. “But we have found that a number of students, after their initial Skype sessions, tend to then find their way to our office hours in person.”

Harvard Medical School Professor Thomas Michel ’77 conducts his office hours using Skype for Molecular and Cellular Biology 234: “Cellular Metabolism and Human Disease.” The course is also conducted at the Medical School using live interactive video feeds.

He said that the distance that Cambridge-based students would have to travel to speak to him in person would otherwise be a deterrent to attendance at office hours.

“Skype makes it easier on the students. It is an exceptional tool for staying in contact with them,” he said.

Jay M. Harris, professor of Jewish studies and dean of undergraduate education, said that flexible Skype office hours are ideal for communicating with students around their schedules and his administrative responsibilities.

“Before I had a dean role, I was keeping steady office hours, but they also were scheduled during the busiest class slots,” he said. “Sometimes we don’t schedule them in ways that make sense to students and this is a way of making it much simpler for the student.”

In addition to faculty members, teaching fellows and preceptors are also incorporating Skype office hours into their teaching.

Despite its growing popularity, however, Harris concedes that Skype cannot wholly replicate the quality of the communication that occurs between faculty members and students in person.

“It’s not a perfect replacement, but finding that is impossible,” he said. “It’s better than the phone because you can see body language and tell whether people are following what you’re saying. I would place it as a happy medium between direct personal contact and a phone call.”

—Staff writer Barbara B. DePena can be reached at barbara.b.depena@college.harvard.edu.