Connect Learnster with Slack to enable seamless communication across your learning environment. This integration brings learning directly into your daily workflow.
By connecting Learnster to Slack, you can:
Create dedicated channels for courses, teams, and company-wide discussions
Give learners instant channel access to course specific slack channels directly from Learnster U
Build collaboration through integrated learning in everyday communication
Set up Slack integration in Learnster
Go to Studio —> Integrations —> Slack and navigate to “Add credentials” button. When you get redirected, click “Allow” (as shown in the image below). This will activate the credentials.
On the integration page in Learnster you will see several tabs with different functions as described bellow.
Slack credentials tab: where you can enable/disable existing credentials
This is where you activate your Slack credentials. When credentials are disabled, you can't use the integration. If some channels were already created, you will stop seeing the Slack icons in Learnster U. Also, you will stop seeing Slack Channel pages in Studio.
Learners status tab: contains a list of all vendor students and their Slack IDs if they are available
In this tab you can find:
The list of all vendors users. The list of users contains 'Slack ID' column. If a user has account in Slack, the id is shown in that column. If the user doesn't have a Slack account, there is no value for them in 'Slack ID' column.
Sync status. Once credentials are added, synchronization of users starts automatically and repeats every 3 hours. The Sync status shows Success or Fail, showing if the users with slack accounts have been synced with the integration. The list of learners is synchronized with Slack accounts by a scheduled task, but can also be forced with “Force sync” action.
Search for students in the list to see if they have active slack integration.
Slack channel: Vendor wide channel
Admin who has Slack account can create a channel for all vendor students. If you don’t have Slack account you will get error message about that when trying to create the channel. This type of a general channel allows all users in your Learnster vendor to join organization-wide discussions and receive updates related to learning and development.
In this tab you can select some actions:
Create a vendor channel
“Add learners to this channel” checkbox: all vendor learners with active slack account will be added to this channel automatically. All newly added learners will also be added to the channel (after scheduled sync tasks are run or 'sync' button is clicked.). If the checkbox is Off, then new users with Slack account are not added to the chat.
“Channel enabled” toggle: controlling if the channel is active or not
Open channel in Slack
Unlink Slack channel: the Slack channel is unlinked from Learnster vendor, meaning it is no longer present in Learnster, however it still exists in Slack.
Changing channel name: Admin can change description of the channel once the channel is created, it's name/description can not be updated in Studio. However, you can update the description in Slack and then click 'Sync' button. The description should be synced with the Slack after that.
Create Slack channels in Learnster
Learn how to set up Slack channels for courses, teams, and organization-wide discussions, enabling seamless communication and collaboration directly within Learnster.
Create a General Channel
A general channel allows all users in your Learnster vendor to join organization-wide discussions and receive updates related to learning and development. Read more here to set up a vendor wide channel.
Chat with Individual Users
Go to the Studio —> Users tab, select users, and click on the “Chat in Slack” to open a conversation.
Chat Based on User Attributes
To create chats based on user attributes, click the Slack icon when no users are selected.
Opens the multi-picker, allowing chats based on attributes (e.g., Country Manager).
A group chat is created for users matching the selected attribute.
Create a Team Channel
Learnster Team-specific channels provide a space for managers to share updates, post announcements, and enable team discussions. Team members can also ask questions and engage in conversations.
As a Team Manager:
Open your team in Learnster U.
Go to the Communication tab and click Create Channel.
By default, the name is [Team Name] Discussion, and can be changed in Slack.
Add a description and click Create Channel.
"Add team members to this channel" (checkbox): Ensures all current and future team members are automatically added.
Syncing Team Members
Users sync every 3 hours.
To manually sync, click the Force sync (circle) icon.
If the channel name is changed, force sync using the same icon.
A Learnster Team channel created 👇
One-on-One Chats with Team Members
Go to the Learners tab, select a learner, and click Chat in Teams to start a private chat (see image below)
Create a Course Channel
A Course Channel serves as a dedicated space for discussions, making it easier for learners and instructors to collaborate. Clicking the Slack button within a course opens the corresponding Slack channel, keeping discussions aligned with learning activities.
To create a course channel, as an instructor (or any other course role):
In the course, go to the Communication tab > Slack Channel tab.
Click Create Channel.
Enter the channel details. By default, the name is
[Course Name]Discussion, but this can be changed in Slack.Add a description and click Create Channel.
"Add learners to this channel" (checkbox): Ensures all current and future course learners are added. Note: only learners with active Slack accounts will be added.
"Add users with course roles to this channel" (checkbox): Automatically adds instructors and other course role users. Note: only users with active Slack accounts will be added.
Syncing Learners
Learners sync every 3 hours.
To manually sync, click the Force sync (circle) icon.
If the channel name is changed, force sync using the same icon.
One-on-One Chats with Learners
Go to the Learners tab, select a learner, and click Chat in Teams to start a private chat (see the image below).
Learner Experience of Slack in Learnster U
After setting up the integration and syncing users, a Slack button appears in the bottom-left corner of Learnster U. Clicking it opens the relevant channels, providing quick access to course chats, Learnster Teams, and general/vendor discussions channels.
Slack button bottom left corner👇
Slack Overview Button
On the Learnster U home page, the floating Slack button serves as a shortcut to an overview of available channels, enabling learners to stay connected across various discussions. Clicking on any channel opens the corresponding chat in the Slack app, ensuring quick and seamless access to all conversations.
Channels are grouped into three sections:
Courses – Displays active course discussions.
Teams – Lists Learnster Team-specific channels for team updates and collaboration.
General – Organization-wide (vendor wide) channels for company-wide communication and announcements.
This setup ensures that users can quickly access relevant conversations, fostering engagement and interaction directly within their daily workflow in Slack.
Slack in Courses
Within a course, the course channel serves as a dedicated space for discussions, enabling learners and instructors to communicate effortlessly. Clicking the Slack button within a course opens the corresponding Slack channel in the Slack app, keeping the conversation within an existing workflow.
Slack chat easily accessible from a course👇
One-to-one chat with instructor
Learners with active and synced Slack accounts can chat directly with their course instructor, enabling seamless communication for questions, clarifications, and feedback.
Note: If the Instructure does not have an active Slack account this option will not be possible
To start a chat, they navigate to the Course Information page.
Hover over the instructor’s name.
Click the three-dot menu.
Select “Message directly on Slack.”
This redirects them to the Slack app, where a one-on-one chat with the instructor is automatically created.
Learners can join existing slack channels by themselves.
If the course learner has the Slack account, but wasn't added to the channel, they can join the channel themselves.
The case could be that you have a slack account but when admin created the channel, they didn't add you to it (the 'add learner' checkbox was off.)
Learner can easily join the slack channel by navigating to the floating Slack icon in Learnster U home page, and go to the course channel. Slack opens and shows the option to join the channel.