Creating U-M Slack Workspaces

There are three options for creating your U-M Slack workspace: via MCommunity group, Canvas course, or standalone. The option you choose will depend on how you want to manage membership in the workspace. Refer to How to Use the U-M Slack Workspace Creation Tool for step-by-step instructions on each option below.

Option 1: MCommunity Group Workspace

• Membership is synced to one existing MCommunity group of which you are an owner.
• Multiple existing MCommunity groups can be added as subgroups to the parent MCommunity group that owns the Slack workspace. All eligible members of each MCommunity subgroup are added to your workspace. 
• Only individuals eligible for U-M Slack will be synced to the workspace.
• You may still add members and guests directly in Slack, but those individuals will not be synced to the MCommunity group and will need to be manually removed when no longer needed.

Option 2: Ann Arbor Canvas Course(s) Workspace

• Membership is synced to one or more official Ann Arbor Canvas courses of which you have a Teacher role. (You cannot create a workspace for an unofficial course or course from another term.)
• If you want to sync the workspace to a Canvas course that you are not a Teacher in, you can:
  • Ask someone who has a Teacher role to create the new workspace.
  • Ask someone who has a Teacher role to provide you with a Teacher role (if appropriate) for as long as it takes to create the workspace. They can then demote you back to your regular role. (For example, if there are three sections of the same course, each with a different instructor, and the instructional team wants one Slack workspace for all three sections, select one instructor to create the workspace and have all instructors add that person as a Teacher to their section. The instructor can then create the workspace and, afterward, be removed.)
• Everyone in the Canvas course will automatically be added to the workspace. (You do not need to add students manually.)
• Anyone removed from the Canvas course (such as a student who drops the course) will automatically be removed from the workspace. (You do not need to remove students manually.)
• All Canvas course roles are synced as long as the individual is eligible for U-M Slack.
• Course workspaces are never deleted. The U-M Slack team is developing a tool that will allow faculty and instructors to delete their course workspaces if desired.
• Support for Dearborn and Flint is on the roadmap, but no estimated time frame can be provided at this time.

Option 3: Standalone Workspace

• You will be responsible for adding and removing individual members directly in U-M Slack.
• Members must have already created their U-M Slack account in order to be added.
• You cannot add MCommunity groups as members. All members must be added as individuals.