What do I do about this Professor who is always not available to talk during office hours?

Question

everytime I go see the prof during what he got in the syllabus as "office hours" he puts a note on the door saying "WILL BE BACK LATER-AT A MEETING"
it happened 2 times and yesterday was the third time when he didn't have the note but once I got there he says to me "Oh, you caught me at a bad time, I was just about to head out for a meeting"

so then I asked a question on here and people suggested I ask him to make an "appointment" with him just to be on the safe side.

so this morning after class was over I asked him if we can schedule an appointment and he says to me "No need! Just drop by my office hours" so i explained to him that my luck sucks and everytime I go see him during office hours he's not there. And then he says to me "Well we can chat now if you want, what do you want to chat about?" He kept emphasizing the word "chat" like i just wanna talk instead of asking him for help with my assignment. It seemed like he was in a rush but I went on anyway to talk about the assignment. After the first sentence he goes "Oh hold that thought!" and he walks out of the room and it sounds like he's talking on his cell phone...(i didn't hear it ring or anything) and he walks back into the classroom and he says to me, "next week after class, we can talk about that. we good?" I told him the assignment is due in 2 weeks and I want more than 1 week to work on it after getting his feedback. And he said the assignment is not meant to take more than a few hours at the most!

So he left, and i left the room and there was another student sitting outside and she goes to me "Yeah he always seems busy and it's really hard to find time to talk to him. You should go to his office Tuesdays around 1, that's what I do and he's always there."
So I have another class on Tuesdays at 1 so my question is, should I skip the other class and just go on Tuesday around 1 or should I just forget about it and try to figure out the assignment on my own?

Answer 1

It's this professor's responsibility to help you, you shouldn't have to skip another class just to meet with him. You're just going to have to be super pushy to get him to stop and talk with you. Stop again during office hours and if he isn't there, leave a note and say "stopped by at __ (time during office hours)...didn't catch you. Still need help with this assignment due on __" or something. And when you run into him if he seems rushed, say "can I make an appointment with you when you aren't so rushed? Because I'd like to do really well on this assignment." You can tell him you aren't able to come Tuesdays and you've already come to his office so many times. Ask him if he's unwilling to set an appointment with you if he can refer you to a student to tutor you. If he is STILL not helping, go to the department head of whatever he teaches and explain your dilemma. You may write your professor an email and tell him a specific time you're going to drop by during office hours and exactly what you need to work on, then you can proceed with the other steps if needed.



Hope that helps.

Answer 2

1. Send him an email about your concerns. (With or without the assignment attached for feedback)



2. Leave him a voicemail on his office machine that you sent him an email about your concerns.



3. CC (Carbon Copy) the department head on your email.



4. Let him know at your next class that you sent him an email, called, and stopped by the office & you're still concerned about the assignment.



5. If you have no luck, turn in the assignment. If the grade is less than what you want/expected return it to him with your paper trail of emails and explain you would like to revise & turn it in again.

Answer 3

this guy sounds like a real jerk and i should add LAZY. i've had this type of professor in the past and they just want to do the bare minimum. especially that comment he said about you being able to do the assignment in 3 hours is an indication of how he views work and responsibility. i would talk to the department head if you can't get a hold of him. but unfortunately if he's been with the college for many years (which is probably the case) no matter how many complaints he gets he isn't going anywhere. i think that's also why he doesnt care.

Answer 4

I wouldn't skip a class to talk to him about it. I assume he gave you a contact e-mail address. I would try contacting him that way, and continue being persistent showing up during his regular office hours. If you run into him and he tries to put you off again, explain with a sense of urgency and importance that it won't take long and you just need to ask a few questions about the assignment.

Answer 5

I don't know the answer to your question but I would go talk to the department head or dean and let him/her know about this. They are required to have office hours and to be available for students and he's not doing it. He is not meeting the requirements of his contract. You can ask the department head not to mention your name if he/she speaks to the professor about it but they do need to be aware of it. Good luck.