What is Discord?

Discord is a chat application that facilitates group communication spaces called servers. Discord servers contain text channels and voice channels where users can interact. Server administrators customize these channels to foster dialogue and engagement, and develop servers into spaces where community can flourish. In teaching and learning, instructors can also leverage Discord to connect students, enhance group cohesion, and stimulate learner engagement.

Toolkit Overview

This toolkit guides faculty and staff through the processes of adopting, designing, and teaching with Discord servers. These processes are blueprinted across three module sequences: Starter Kit, Design Kit, Instructional Kit.

Below you will find a module overview for each kit.

Starter Kit 

This module sequence walks you through an installation guide, then covers how to set up and utilize Discord servers. From there, the kit explains how to create and customize channels, as well as how to organize your server with roles and permissions. The final module discusses Discord’s accessibility settings, and accounts for the options available to students with diverse learning needs. 

Design Kit

This module sequence blueprints how to organize your server to support one or more course sections, followed by an annotated list of channels designed for teaching and learning. It then explains how to invite and use Discord bots to facilitate class activities. The final module provides a collection of server templates for you to adopt and reuse based on the crowdsourced models of other instructors.

Instructional Kit

This module sequence preps you on how to onboard and orient students to your classroom server. It then breaks down how to format a read-only announcements channel to communicate with your class, followed by an introduction to using text and voice channels for large-group discussion. The final module in this sequence covers how to facilitate peer collaboration through group-only channels.