When the pandemic began and we switched our courses online we lost our physical meeting space. Usually, we have an open-door policy in our department – every student can visit any German instructor’s office hour to ask questions. We also have several projects in our basic classes that require interviews. This meant we needed to re-create a space where it was easy for students to approach instructors.
We chose Discord as a virtual space mostly because a lot of students already seemed familiar with the tool. Discord works with servers that can have several channels, a lot like Slack but with the option of creating text or audio/video channels.

We decided we wanted to guarantee some privacy. Discord doesn’t allow private servers but has the option of creating different roles and adjusting access for these roles. Anyone who comes across our server, sees a text channel called “getting started” that is static and explains how to work with the server, here is the intro that we use:
“Welcome! This channel is for students, instructors, and alumni of German only. So, while everyone can read this message, you will only be able to read and engage with other channels once you have been assigned a role. If your name doesn’t show in your discord handle, send me an email or contact me here on Discord with a private message. Include your handle so that we can assign you a role and you can get started here!”
Once students tell me their user names, I assign them the student role and they are able to see all channels and interact in several of them. Our main structure looks like this:



We have an “Informationen” section at the top which consists of five text channels that can only be edited by the teacher role. All of these are set so that students can read older posts, too. The channels are: “announcements,” “office hours info,” “german classes info,” and “german club info.”
The next set of channels is titled “Hilfe/Help” and has both a text channel for questions and an audio/video channel that we use for tutoring. We offer tutoring once a week on Discord and students can ask questions directly in the audio channel or type their questions in the text channel. The text channel can also be used while talking in the audio channel to give examples, demonstrate a specific grammar item etc.
Then, we have our “office” channels. Each instructor has a text channel where we can communicate with students in writing, synchronously or asynchronously. We also have two audio channels for each of us: a waiting room and an actual office space. Only those with the teacher role can enter the offices, students can only access the waiting room and can be pulled over into the office by the instructor. This set-up basically serves as an office door. That way, we make sure that we have a safe space and can talk privately.
The last area is a student set of channels that is not accessible to the teacher role. I have access but I don’t ever check into these channels, they are for students only. There are a general text and a general audio channel called “student chat” and “student hangout,” there is also a channel called “play” if students want to use the server for Discord’s original function (playing videogames together), and a “Lieblingsmusik” channel where students can share music recommendations. Lastly, there is an area for the German Club that also needed a new home and has held office hours and meetings on Discord.
The experience over the past two years has shown that most students are familiar with Discord and adjust to it easily. There are always a few students who don’t join the server but as an estimate at least 80% of students are there. Office hours are as well attended as they were when we were on campus but the additional opportunity of asking questions quickly in a chat has contributed to improved communication. Students also seem to be chatting with each other and I know of several additional servers that have been created from here.
The settings required a bit of work: for every channel I had to manually adjust the settings for each role. Adjusting settings included determining who should be able to edit, or how every role should be able to interact (e.g. posting, responding, attaching files, or for the office channels who could enter and who couldn’t).
Now, that it is set up, the server requires very little upkeep. I change the information for German classes and office hours each semester and assign roles to new students and that’s it.

I believe we will keep this space even when we fully return to campus because it allows more flexibility for students and gives us a new place for building community.