Virtual Hour

An Online Platform for Office Hours



How to Use Virtual Hour?


Virtual Hour
Faculty View (Professors/TAs)

Create a Class (you only have to do this once)

  1. Click create and sign in with your school email.
  2. Select a class ID. Select the maximum number of TAs for any office hours. Think of this as if each TA uses a desk during OH, then how many desks would you buy? Note: this number does not have to equal the total number of TAs. If a TA has OH 4-5 pm and another TA has OH 5-6 pm, you only have to buy one desk, here create 1 virtual room. Then enter email addresses of all TAs -- in our analogy, it would be all the TAs who are allowed to use the desks.
  3. "Give Access" to your Google Calendar to create virtual rooms. Note: We do not access any of your calendar events.
  4. Press "Create Virtual Hour". And that's it!

Hold Office Hours

  1. Log in with your school email and your class ID.
  2. If multiple TAs are helping students simultaneously, TAs should decide their virtual room numbers. Using our analogy, if 3 TAs are holding OH together, they will decide who will have the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd desk.
  3. "Start the Queue". Now, students will be allowed to join the queue.
  4. Click "Help Next Student" then "Join Meeting Room." Make sure to join your assigned meeting room only - "the desk" you decided with the other TAs you will sit on.
  5. Students will be automatically asked to join you in your meeting room -- come to your desk. When the student has been helped, click "Help Next Student", "Remove the Student" you just helped, and wait in your meeting room again. Note: You will always stay in the same meeting room -- students will come to your "desk".
  6. Repeat until all students have been helped or OH ends. Then "Stop the Queue" and remove all the remaining students from the queue.

Student View
  1. Log in with your school email and your class ID.
  2. Click "Join the Queue" or "See the Queue".
  3. When a TA is available, their conference room's link will appear next to your name. Simply, click on it.
  4. Need help again? Refresh the page and you will be able to join the queue again.

Learn more about the platform