Clearly state the way you will communicate with students during your office hours.

Establishing a personal presence includes being available to students for one-on-one live interaction. If you’re teaching online, set office hours may be impractical since your students could be spread across the globe. It may be more useful for you to ask students to make an appointment to meet with you. It’s a good idea to present the range of days and times you’re available to meet.

Canvas has a scheduler tool on the calendar that allows students to schedule appointments within the office hours times you designate. Be sure to alert students on the course start page that they can schedule time with you there. Include the link to the Canvas Guides tutorial that shows them how to do it. Include what communication method you will use. Phone, Skype, Google Hangouts, and Canvas’ Conferences tool can each be used for one-on-one conferences.

If you would like to arrange drop-in office hours online, you can always use Skype, Google Hangouts, or Canvas’ Chat or Conferences tools. Google Hangouts requires that everyone have a Google account. Conversations in Canvas’ chat tool will be public with anyone in the course’s chat room at the time.