Office Hours Overview
Pawtograder’s office hours feature allows students to request live help from course staff. Student requests go into a queue, and multiple staff members can be working concurrently through that queue, assigning themselves to help students as they become available.
Students are encouraged to make public requests for help, so that other students can also benefit from the discussion.
Office Hours Queues
Instructors can create multiple office hours queues to provide different types of help. For example, if a class is coordinated across multiple campuses, there may be in-person help queues per-campus, and a cross-network virtual help queue.
Help Request Templates
Instructors can create help request templates, which are pre-filled help requests that students can use to request help. This is useful to help prompt students to ensure that they have completed any expected troubleshooting steps before seeking help.
Templates include:
- A template name (e.g., “General help request”)
- A description explaining what information students should provide
- Pre-filled placeholder text guiding students to include relevant details
Pinned Discussion Topics
When students create a new help request and your course has pinned discussion posts, the system automatically displays a “Before you request help…” section with pinned discussion topics from the course discussion board. This feature:
- Encourages students to check existing answers before joining the queue
- Surfaces instructor-highlighted posts that address common questions
- Shows related posts with an expandable “Show All Related Posts” option
- Reduces wait times by helping students find answers independently
Pin important FAQ threads and common troubleshooting posts on your discussion board to automatically surface them to students before they request help.
Providing Help
When a staff member is working on the queue, they should click Start Working to indicate that they are available to help. This is a helpful indicator for students, and also allows instructors to see that staff are logged on and ready to help.
Select a help request from the queue, and click Take Assignment to indicate that you are actively working on it.
Text and Video Chat
Staff can communicate with students through:
- Text Chat: Built-in messaging for quick questions and code sharing
- Video Chat: Click Start Video Chat to open a video call with screen-sharing capabilities
After the staff member has started the video chat, students can click the Join Video Chat button to join. The video chat window opens in a popup.
Chat Reliability
The chat system includes improved error handling to ensure messages aren’t lost:
- Connection status: The system monitors the connection and alerts users if disconnected
- Message preservation: If a message fails to send (e.g., due to connection issues), it remains in the input box so users don’t lose their typed content
- Automatic reconnection: The chat automatically attempts to reconnect when the connection is restored
- Robust startup: Improved chat initialization and refetch flow for more reliable connections
When a student has an active help request, it follows them around the site. They’ll see:
- Their current queue position or status
- Notifications when staff assigns to help them
- Video call invitations with a prominent “Join Video Call” button
This ensures students never miss updates, even while browsing the discussion board or other course pages.
Office Hours Scheduling and Status
Instructors can configure office hours schedules to help students know when help is available. The system displays:
- Office Hours status card: Shows whether office hours are currently active
- Per-queue cards: Display status and wait times for each queue
- Weekly queue schedule: Calendar view with live “Happening now” highlights
- Demo queues: Create demonstration queues for testing and training
Students can view the schedule to see when different queues are available and plan when to request help.
Queue Management
Queue Ordering
Queues are displayed in ordinal-based order, allowing you to control the sequence in which queues appear to students. This is useful for prioritizing certain types of help or organizing queues by location or topic.
Course-Level Office Hours Description
Add a course-level description for office hours that appears at the top of the office hours page. Use this to:
- Explain your office hours policies
- Provide guidelines for requesting help
- Link to additional resources
Enhanced Notifications
The office hours system includes comprehensive notification support to ensure students never miss updates:
Browser Notifications
Students receive browser notifications when:
- A staff member assigns to help them
- Their queue position changes significantly
- A video chat is started
Students can test notifications and will see permission warnings if browser notifications are blocked.
Visual Indicators
- Title notifications: The page title updates with status changes
- Sound notifications: Optional audio alerts for important updates
- Favicon changes: The browser tab icon updates to show active status
Message Notifications
The chat system includes notification hooks that trigger when:
- Staff sends a message
- The help request status changes
- Video chat invitations are sent
Resolving Requests
A help request can be marked as “Resolved” by either a staff member or a student. When students resolve their own requests, they can select a resolution status:
- Resolved: Question was answered or problem was solved
- Resolved - No longer needed: Student figured it out or no longer needs help
- Resolved - Unanswered: Closing the request without getting needed help
This feedback helps you understand the effectiveness of office hours and identify areas for improvement.
Feedback and Analytics
After a help request is completed, the student can provide feedback on the help provided. This feedback is visible to instructors only and can be used to:
- Monitor quality of assistance provided
- Identify areas for improvement
- Recognize excellent staff members
