We use a chat application called Slack as our primary means of communication for the whole program.1 It’s easy to start using right away, but you can also check out their website to read walkthroughs, tips, and more.
A Slack community is called a workspace, like servers in Discord. Companies often have their own workspace, or many for different departments. You can find and join free workspaces for all sorts of communities. We have one for the whole program, so both first and second year students can interact in one place.
A workspace is divided up into different channels for different topics. We have a #general channel for announcements and program-related info and a #random channel for unrelated banter. Each class has a dedicated channel (e.g. #cset-105, #cset-260) where I post links to the days lecture slides, assignments, etc. There’s also a separate #help channel where you can post questions and get help from fellow students.
Slack isn’t limited to chat in channels. You can create threaded reply chains, react to messages with emojis, vote on polls, and embed images or other documents. We also use it for calls, with or without video, and can share screens to work on projects in groups.
It’s a fun tool to keep us all connected, so hop on whenever you feel and chat with your fellow students! Keep it professional, of course, but otherwise the tool is yours to play around with.
Why not Discord? Slack is commonly used by companies in the industry, so it’s one more thing you can learn to prep for jobs. But mainly it helps you avoid Discord while you’re working which can be a distraction. ↩