Office hours sign-up sheet students book from a link

What a week of office hours looks like to students

How to set up office hours sign-up

1. Choose New signup. If “What are you organizing?” appears, choose Skip, fill in by hand.
2. Type “Intro statistics office hours” in Title, and write a description like the example's. Choose Create signup.
3. Choose Fields, then Add field. Name it Starts, pick Time and choose Add field again to save it. Set Group slots by to Date.
4. Close the list and open the empty slot. Type “Room 214” in What, set Date to Tuesday, January 26, 2027 and Starts to 2:00 PM. Leave Capacity at 1 and choose Done.
5. Open it again and choose Duplicate. Open the copy and change Starts to 2:15 PM. Repeat for 2:30 PM and 2:45 PM. For Thursday, duplicate once more. Change What to “Online”, the date to Thursday, January 28, 2027 and Starts to 7:00 PM. Copy that one for the other evening times.
6. Choose Add a slot for the group session: “Homework 1 group” on Friday, January 29, 2027 at 12:00 PM. Set Capacity to 8 and choose Done.
7. Choose Publish (on a phone, More actions, then Publish signup). Copy the Public link into your syllabus and the course site.

The guide to creating and publishing a signup shows each screen. Keep Starts as the only time field, since Add to calendar uses the first time after the date.

When should you hold office hours?

Hours in the middle of a weekday afternoon miss students who work, commute or collect children. Offer one daytime block on campus and one evening block online, as the example does with Tuesday at 2:00 PM and Thursday at 7:00 PM. The University of Washington's teaching center suggests holding some office hours on Zoom, and finding another time with students who can't make yours. (University of Washington, Teaching@UW, checked October 19, 2026)

You can also ask the class first. Michigan State's teaching center suggests polling students for the time most of them can attend, with “by appointment” times for the rest. (Michigan State University teaching center, checked October 19, 2026)

How long should each time be?

Fifteen minutes is a good place to start: enough for one homework problem or a question about a grade. For project or thesis meetings, make 30-minute slots on a separate day. The signup shows only start times, so say in the description how long each one lasts.

Add a group session

Before a deadline, many students bring the same question. One slot with several spots answers it once, and leaves the one-on-one times for students who need them. Michigan State notes that students can come to office hours in small groups, for example to ask the same question. (Michigan State University teaching center, checked October 19, 2026)

What to write so students come prepared

• Where to go. The room, and how to find it if the building is a maze.
• Where the video link will be. OpenSignup doesn't make video links. Post one link on the course site, or say you'll send it the morning of.
• Your time zone. A signup has no time zone: times show exactly as you typed them. For online hours, write yours in the description, like “All times are Eastern time.”
• What to put in the note. Ask for their section and what they want to go over, so you can look at the problem first. The University of Washington's guide says to tell students in advance if they should bring questions or materials, such as their exam or paper. (University of Washington, Teaching@UW, checked October 19, 2026)

Then explain office hours on the first day of class. Michigan State's guide says many students don't come because they don't know what office hours are for. It suggests explaining them in the syllabus and the first class. (Michigan State University teaching center, checked October 19, 2026) Show the link on screen. Say it's for any question, not only for students who are behind.

How to keep one link for the whole semester

Times don't repeat by themselves, and a whole signup can't be copied. Keep one signup for the term and add a week or two at a time, so the link in your syllabus never changes.

• Each Friday, add next week. Open a slot, choose Duplicate and change the copy's date. If a day shows up out of order, move its slots with Drag to reorder.
• Delete last week's empty times. A time that has passed stays open to bookings until you delete it. Open it and choose Delete.
• Check before each block. Nobody tells you when a student books. Look at Responses for names. Choose Export for a CSV file with their notes, which that screen doesn't show.
• Cancelling a week? Copy the booked students' emails from Responses first. Deleting a slot removes its bookings and emails nobody, so write to them yourself.

Should you use this or your school's scheduler?

If your school gives you Canvas Scheduler or Microsoft Bookings and you like it, keep using it. OpenSignup suits a tutor, a TA who hasn't been given those tools, or a session open to students outside one course. Anyone can open the link, students need no account, and the reminder email costs nothing. Google Calendar's help lists email reminders among the appointment schedule features that need a paid subscription. (Google Calendar Help, appointment schedules, checked October 19, 2026)

What happens after a student books

• A confirmation email arrives with your signup's title, the slot's What, date and start time, and a link to change or cancel.
• A reminder email goes out the day before. Someone who signs up less than a day ahead gets one about an hour after signing up, though a sign-up on the day itself may get none. So if a student books on the day, don't count on them getting one.
• Add to calendar puts a 2:00 PM time into their calendar at 2:00 PM, as a one-hour event rather than 15 minutes.
• To move to another time, a student books the new one, then cancels the old one from their email. Done the other way round, the new time may be gone.

What it doesn't do:

• No recurring slots, no limit per student and no waitlist when a time is full. Reminders are by email, never by text.
• No video links, no sync with your own calendar, no alert when someone books, and no way to email students from OpenSignup.
• No questions beyond name, email and note, so there's no student ID box. Ask for what you need in the note.
• It isn't for counselling or health appointments. Use your school's own system for those.

Booking families for a school meeting instead? The parent-teacher conference sign-up covers two afternoons of family times. For parents helping in a classroom, see the classroom volunteer sign-up.

Frequently asked questions

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