For the students who have access to these web-sites, there is a section called Virtual Office Hours for each class. The name virtual office hours implies that teachers are now holding their office hours over the computer. Yet, virtual office hours were not created to replace office hours for professors or teaching assistants, but to enhance them.
Teachers still hold their regular office hours to discuss questions with students.
These items are posted in such a way that anyone who logs on to the page can see the discussions. In that way, students who have the same questions about material can see the answers right on the screen. With virtual office hours, a student can now ask their class questions at any time of day, any day of the week. This is also a good place for students to discuss questions that may go off on a tangent or for shy students to ask questions they are too afraid to ask in a huge classroom. With our world's rapidly changing technology, it's nice to see that some of it is being used to benefit students.