Office hours for academic consultation is the norm. Apart from anything else, making teaching points via email or any chat app can be a royal PITA, take twice

Office hours for academic consultation is the norm. Apart from anything else, making teaching points via email or any chat app can be a royal PITA, take twice as long and is more open to misunderstanding. Teams and Zoom can be a bit better, but you never know who the student is sharing the room with (parents, little brother etc). As for the older males thing... Certainly the current climate can make personal consultation an issue in that regard. This is the reason I now compel students to book consultation in small groups.