At the beginning of the quarter and throughout, schedule brief one-on-one meetings with students.

Many students will never use your office hours or the extra time you provide before and after class or online for questions. In all their schooling up until this point, the only time they went to an office, came early, stayed late, or arranged a meeting was most likely when they were in trouble. Others are intimidated or think you will judge them for struggling. While none of these concerns may be true, they are real for many students. Building in one-on-one meetings as a requirement breaks down stigma and fear. It also makes it easier for you to find out how each student is doing individually.

Regardless of how you schedule one-on-one meetings, here are three things we have learned that can help you plan and implement them:

The heart of a one-on-one meeting is that the student has your undivided attention as an individual. In other words, they feel like the only person in the room.
The meeting is in no way punitive.
The meeting lasts 10 minutes or less and has a clear focus. See examples below.

Meeting Topic Ideas

Q&A Form: For each meeting (e.g., beginning, mid, and/or end of quarter), provide students in advance with the short list of questions you will ask during the meeting. Provide space for them to jot down notes. Also, ask them to write down at least one question they want to ask you. Have them bring the form to their meeting and follow it as needed.
Project Process: Build in a meeting as part of a project. This could be a planning meeting to help students get started if they have never done a project like this before. It could be a status report midway or a final review of a draft.
Post-Exam Review: Meet with each student and review the exam questions that they answered incorrectly. Ask them to read through the prompt/question and describe how they understood it. You may discover that their answer was correct for how they understood the question. Practice Paradox and add a point to their score (and revise the question to be more clear in the future). When they reveal their thinking process and it is incorrect, use the time to help them understand the topic.

Scheduling Meetings

Faculty members use a variety of approaches for scheduling one-on-one meetings.

Office Hours: Full-time faculty frequently use their office hours as the time designated for one-on-one meetings. Use of office hours can pose challenges for students who are only on campus during class time. Office hours are also a challenge for adjunct faculty who typically do not get paid for office hours.
Class Conferences: One option is to use regular class time for individual meetings with students. This might look like holding class for all students for the first hour or so of a scheduled period and then following with conferences.
Lab Hours: Some faculty members have tightened up their lab documents, creating stronger guides that students can go through mostly on their own/with peers. During lab time, faculty members meet with individual students, taking breaks between meetings to check back in with the larger group.
Use of Technology: Whether your class meets face-to-face, hybrid, or online, use online tools for your meetings. If you are a Microsoft campus, all students and employees typically have access to Skype for Business with their college email accounts. If you are a google campus (or if you prefer google), google hangouts are simple to navigate and easy to join with a mobile device or a computer. Your college may have other web conferencing tools you can use. Check with your eLearning office to learn more.
Use of Email: Some students don’t feel comfortable using a web cam (or cannot because of life happening in the background) or online tools in general. A faculty member at Saddleback Community College adapted to this by scheduling varying online office hours where he is available via email for immediate response. He posts the hours clearly and is able to “meet” with a number of students by replying to emails they send during those time frames.

Sign-up forms for one-on-one meetings can be printed and posted in your classroom. You can also create a Canvas page that is editable by students and you. List the time slots available and have students add their name next to the time that works best for them.