Happy Hours are a Godsend

Office hours that happen in a virtual environment are called virtual office hours. This type of student-faculty interaction can be easily hosted from a faculty computer/mobile device/tablet. With an invitation, students can login to the online session and join their instructor and peers in a virtual space. Using mobile technologies, students can join virtual office hours from a variety of locations including a library, outdoors, on a commute ride home, while caring for children, eating dinner, and even while grocery shopping. Virtual office hours allow for more flexibility of student-faculty interaction. They are an alternative to traditional office hours. This type of student-faculty interaction helps increase students’ trust in the teacher’s care of their learning. This paper describes the design and implementation of virtual office hours for courses in the thermal-fluid sciences (Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, and Heat Transfer). Further, it reports on students’ learning experiences.