Office Hours

Request live help from course staff through Pawtograder’s office hours queue and video chat system

Office Hours

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.

Office Hours Status and Schedule

The office hours page displays helpful information about queue availability:

• Office Hours status card: Shows whether office hours are currently active
• Per-queue cards: Display the current status and estimated wait time for each queue
• Weekly schedule: View a calendar showing when each queue is available, with live “Happening now” highlights for active sessions

Use the schedule to plan when to request help and choose the best queue for your needs.

Get Help Button

A persistent Get Help button appears throughout the site, making it easy to request help from anywhere in the course. Click this button to:

• Open the help request drawer
• View your active help requests
• Check office hours status and schedules

Notifications

Pawtograder includes comprehensive notifications to ensure you never miss updates about your help request:

Browser Notifications

You’ll receive browser notifications when:

• A staff member assigns to help you
• Your position in the queue changes
• A video chat is started

Make sure to allow browser notifications when prompted. You can test notifications from the office hours page to ensure they’re working properly.

Visual and Audio Alerts

• Page title updates: The browser tab title shows your current status
• Sound notifications: Optional audio alerts for important updates
• Favicon changes: The tab icon updates to indicate active help requests

Viewing Open and Solved Help Requests

Particularly when there are many students asking for help at once, it is likely that multiple students have a sufficiently similar question that they could both benefit from the same answer. If someone else already asked a question similar to yours, and you can see that they are about to be helped, you can join that discussion, rather than asking your own question at the end of the queue.

Use the tabs at the top to navigate:

• My Requests: View your current and past help requests
• Browse Queues: See all open requests and their status

Requesting Help

Click the + New Request button to submit a help request. The request form includes several helpful features:

Before You Request Help

When your course has pinned discussion topics, you’ll see a “Before you request help…” section at the top of the form with relevant discussion topics that might answer your question. The system automatically suggests pinned posts and related discussions from your course. This helps you:

• Find answers without waiting in the queue
• Discover solutions that other students found helpful
• Browse all related posts with the Show All Related Posts expander

Click Browse All Discussion Posts to search the full discussion board.

This section only appears when your course has pinned discussion posts configured by instructors.

Request Form Fields

1. Select Help Queue

   Choose which help queue to submit your request to (e.g., “TA Pool”). Different queues may be staffed at different times or locations.

2. Add Students (Optional)

   If you’re working with partners on a group assignment, you can add them to the help request. You are automatically included and cannot be removed.

3. Select Template

   Choose a help request template. Templates provide a structured format to ensure you include all necessary information, such as:

   • What you’re working on
   • What you’ve already tried
   • Specific error messages or issues

   Templates help TAs understand your problem quickly so they can start helping right away.

4. Write Description

   Fill out the help request description following the template prompts. Be specific about:

   • The assignment or task you’re working on
   • Steps you’ve already taken to solve the problem
   • Any error messages or unexpected behavior

After Submitting a Request

Once you submit a help request:

1. Queue Position: You’ll see your current position in the queue
2. Status Updates: The system notifies you when staff assigns themselves to help
3. Text Chat: Staff may begin helping via text chat
4. Video Chat: When a TA starts a video call, click Join Video Call to connect

Your active help request follows you around the site! You’ll see status updates and video call notifications even while browsing the discussion board or other pages.

Help Request Status

Your help request will show different statuses:

• Waiting: You’re in the queue waiting for a TA
• In Progress: A staff member is actively helping you
• Resolved: Your request has been marked as complete

Resolving Your Help Request

When you’re ready to close your help request, you can resolve it yourself from either:

• The floating banner that appears at the top of the page when you have an active request
• The main chat view in the office hours interface

When resolving a request, you’ll be asked to select a resolution status:

• Resolved: Your question was answered or problem was solved
• Resolved - No longer needed: You figured it out on your own or no longer need help
• Resolved - Unanswered: You’re closing the request but didn’t get the help you needed

This helps course staff understand how effective office hours are and identify areas for improvement.

Providing Feedback

After receiving help, you can provide feedback on the assistance you received. This feedback is visible only to instructors and helps improve the office hours experience.