Making Zoom office hours work for me

I hesitate to buck the prevailing view, but I'm coming to appreciate the value of Zoom office hours.

Yes, I'm tired of Zooming. Yes, it's frustrating when students zone out on Zoom and pretend to be fully present--but that happens in face-to-face classrooms too. And yes, it's frustrating to set aside time for Zoom office hours and then have no one show up--but again, that happens with face-to-face office hours ALL. THE. TIME.

But here's what just happened: a student is revising a draft in her room, and she emailed to ask about a format problem she can't figure out how to fix. I asked her to Zoom with me, and within seconds I was sharing my screen with her and showing her where to find the setting on Microsoft Word and how to fix her format. She didn't even have to leave her room.

If I can grade or do course preps or complete other tasks during face-to-face office hours, I can do the same with Zoom: I leave Zoom running in the background with the sound and video muted, and if a student enters the Zoom waiting room, I hear a ding that alerts me. My only problem is that sometimes I forget to turn off the Zoom link when I go to teach a class.

Office hours have always been largely under-subscribed, with few students willing to interrupt their busy schedule to get first-hand help with problems. If Zoom makes it a little easier for students to call for help, I'll make it work.