Creating a Course
How to set up a course, the top-level container for frameworks, thinking paths, and assistants.
What is a Course?
New to SLAN? Start with SLAN Building Blocks for an overview of how everything fits together.
A Course is your top-level container in SLAN. Everything you create, your source files, frameworks, thinking paths, and assistants, lives inside a course. Creating a course is the first step. From there, you upload materials, build frameworks that encode your reasoning, sequence them into thinking paths, and deploy assistants that learners interact with. Each step builds on the last.
Before You Start
You need a Creator account. If you don't see the Creator Dashboard, reach out to hello@slan.co for access.
How to Create a Course
Navigate to your Creator Dashboard, open the Courses tab, and click Create Course. A four-step wizard walks you through setup.
Step 1: Basic Info
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Course Name | The name learners and your team will see. Use letters, numbers, spaces, underscores, or hyphens. No special characters at the start or end. Pick something specific. "Strategic Decision-Making Fall 2026" is findable. "Course 1" is not. |
| Description | A short summary of what the course covers. |
| Access Level | Controls who can access this course (see below). |
Access Levels
| Level | Best for | Who can access |
|---|---|---|
| Private | Courses still in development, or internal/confidential content. | Only users you explicitly invite. |
| Restricted | University courses, paid programs, or any group that registers with a code. You attach the course to a Cohort and share the registration code with your learners. | Anyone with a valid registration code. |
| Public | Open-access content, demos, or freely available material. | All users. |
Start with Private while you're building. Switch to Restricted or Public when you're ready for learners. You can change the access level at any time from the Course Overview tab, and changing it does not remove learners who already have access.
Step 2: Author Bio
Write a short biography that learners will see alongside the course. This is also how the AI will reference you when assisting students. Whatever you write here is what the assistant uses to introduce your perspective, cite your expertise, and attribute ideas back to you. If you include your name, title, and area of focus, the assistant will use all three when guiding learners through your material. Two to four sentences is enough. Include your name, role, and the reason you built this course.
Step 3: Syllabus
The syllabus tells SLAN how your course is organised so it can route learners to the right material. It is not shown to learners directly.
Write your syllabus before you upload files. It forces you to think through the structure first, and SLAN uses it to understand which sections your content maps to.
Your syllabus should include the purpose of the course, the modules or sections, and the learning outcomes for each. You can also add key topics or concepts per module.
Example:
Purpose: This course teaches students to evaluate strategic sourcing decisions using structured frameworks.
Module 1: Foundations of Sourcing Strategy
Learning outcomes: Define sourcing models. Identify cost drivers beyond unit price. Distinguish strategic from tactical procurement.Module 2: Supplier Evaluation Frameworks
Learning outcomes: Apply weighted scoring to supplier selection. Assess supplier risk across financial, operational, and geopolitical dimensions.Module 3: Make vs. Buy Analysis
Learning outcomes: Structure a build-vs-buy decision. Quantify total cost of ownership. Present a recommendation with supporting evidence.
Step 4: Review
Check your details and click Create Course.
After Creating a Course
Your course opens to a detail page with five tabs:
| Tab | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Overview | Edit name, description, bio, syllabus, access level, thumbnail |
| Sources | Upload course files (PDFs, slides, notes, etc.) |
| Frameworks | Create and manage decision frameworks |
| Thinking Paths | Build guided learning workflows |
| Assistants | Create and deploy learner-facing assistants |
Upload your sources first, then build frameworks, then build thinking paths, then create an assistant.
A course with no files will still function, but the assistant will rely on general knowledge instead of your specific materials. Upload your content before deploying to learners.
Once your assistant is live, you can also embed it on an external site or LMS using a Widget.
Managing Your Course
Editing Course Details
Go to the Overview tab to update any field. Changes save immediately.
Uploading Files
Go to the Sources tab to upload your course materials. SLAN accepts PDFs, slides, and text documents. When you upload a file, SLAN extracts and indexes the full text so your assistants can search and reference it in responses.
Access Level and Cohorts
If your course is Restricted, you attach it to a Cohort with a registration code. Go to the Cohorts section on your dashboard to create a cohort, generate a code, and share it with your learners. For more on access configuration, see Managing Access Levels.
For university courses, Restricted with a cohort code is the most common setup. You control enrollment through the code and can revoke access by removing the cohort.
Deleting
Deleting a course performs a soft delete. Contact your administrator if you need permanent removal. Deleting a course removes learner access to its assistants.