SLAN
For professors

Get your course live with an AI tutor

Follow these steps in order. Each one shows the screen you will see, so you always know where to click.

Before you start

About an hour in all

Have these ready and you won't have to stop halfway.

  • New to SLAN? Watch Understanding SLAN first. It takes a few minutes.
  • Your syllabus, as text you can copy and paste.
  • Your slides and readings, as PDF files.
  • A few sentences about you, for your Creator Biography.
  • A list of your students' email addresses (optional).
  • About an hour. Step 3 is mostly waiting, and step 8 is optional.

Create your course

About 5 minutes

Your course is the home for everything: your files, your frameworks and your AI tutor.

  1. Open Creator Space. On the Courses tab, click Create Course.
  2. On Basic Info, fill in Course Name and Description. Set Access Level to Registration Code. Add your Creator Biography. Click Next.
  3. On Syllabus, paste your syllabus. Don't have one ready? Click Load example and edit it. Click Next.
  4. On Summary, check your details, then click Create Course.

Course names can only use letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens and underscores. “Finance-101” works. “Finance 101: Valuation” does not.

Access Level starts on Private. Registration Code means students need your class code to join. Some screens call it Restricted. Choose it now, because a class with a code cannot use a Private course.

Creator Biography is optional. Students see it on your course page. If your profile already has a bio, SLAN fills it in. If not, write two or three sentences. Tick Save to my profile settings for future courses on Summary, and your next course starts with it.

Creator Biography

I am a ____ at ____. I teach ____ because ____.

For example: I am a finance professor at Northfield Business School. I teach valuation because numbers only matter when you can defend them.

You can also add modules on the Syllabus page. Or leave them and add them in step 2.

You're done when a box says Your course is ready. Click I'll do it later. Your course opens on its Assistants tab. You will make your AI tutor in step 4, after your files are in.

If it doesn't work: Create Course stays grey? Course Name, Description and Syllabus must all be filled in. A red * marks them.

Go deeper: Access levels · Delete a course

Upload your slides and readings

About 10 minutes

Your AI tutor reads these before it answers your students. Without them, it falls back on general knowledge instead of your material.

  1. In your course, click Files in the left menu.
  2. Click Create first module. A module is one week or one topic. Fill in Module name and Description, then click Create module.
  3. On your module, click Upload file. Leave File category on Required. Drop in your files.
  4. Click Sync Files at the top of the page.

Repeat for each week or topic. Modules you added in step 1 are already here. Required files are the ones Sophia reads in step 3. Optional files are extra reading.

The upload box lists PDF, Markdown, text and images. While a file uploads, a box shows Processing... and then Completed. That means it arrived. Sync Files lets your tutor use it.

You're done when each file appears under its module, and the Processing... message at the top of the page goes away.

If it doesn't work: Sync Files is grey? SLAN is still processing. Wait until Processing... goes away.

Go deeper: Add or change files later

Let Sophia draft your frameworks

About 25 minutes, mostly waiting

A framework is a note about one topic, concept or decision you teach. It is written down so your AI tutor can walk a student through it the way you would. Sophia is SLAN's helper. She reads your files and drafts the frameworks for you.

  1. In your course, click Frameworks in the left menu.
  2. Click Update frameworks.
  3. Under What should I read?, keep Read everything. Click Start update. A new tab opens while Sophia reads. Most courses take about twenty minutes.
  4. When she is done, go back to Frameworks. Open a draft and read it. If it is right, click Approve.

Nothing reaches your students until you approve it. Not right? Click Decline, then Delete framework. Want to steer Sophia? Use the box Anything else I should know? before you start.

You're done when the frameworks you want to keep say Approved.

Go deeper: Review, edit or delete a framework · Every framework field

What a framework looks like

Every framework has the same five parts. Press a part to see the fields inside it. See every field.

Market-entry decision

Module 4 · Entry strategy

Approved
  1. 1

    Basics

    Which decision it covers, the kind of reasoning it uses, and whether learners have to master it.

  2. 2

    Inputs & Outputs

    What the assistant has to know about the learner's case, asked outright or picked up from the conversation, and what the learner leaves with.

  3. 3

    Logic Structure

    The questions you'd ask, in your order. The assistant takes the learner through them one at a time.

  4. 4

    Relationships

    What it builds on, what it leads to, and the course files it draws from, so a learner meets your frameworks in the order you teach them.

  5. 5

    Advanced

    The situations it's meant for, and the ones where it doesn't hold.

Create your AI tutor

About 5 minutes

An assistant is the AI tutor your students chat with. It reads your course files before it answers.

  1. In your course, click Assistants, then Create Assistant.
  2. On Basics, fill in Name and Description. Under Mode, choose Single stage. Set Access Level to Registration Code. Click Next.
  3. On Purpose, fill in Purpose and Global Context. Click Next.

Single stage means one set of instructions the tutor follows every time. It is marked Recommended and works for most courses. Access Level starts on Private, so change it.

Purpose

After using this tutor, my students can ____ without help.

For example: value a company they have not seen before.

Global Context

This is a ____ course. Students have covered ____. They have not seen ____ yet.

For example: second-year finance. They have covered DCF. They have not seen comparables yet.

You're done when you reach a step called Instructions.

If it doesn't work: Next stays grey? Fill in every field with a red *. Mode is one of them.

Go deeper: Assistant settings · Multi stage assistants

Tell it how to teach

About 10 minutes

The instructions decide what your tutor does in every chat. SLAN fills in Steps, Rules and Tutoring Approach for you, so you only have to write the Task.

  1. On Instructions, write the Task. The Tutoring Approach box already holds a default. Edit it so it sounds like you. Click Next.
  2. On Conversation, replace the two starters with questions your students would really ask. Click Next.
  3. On Summary, check everything, then click Create Assistant.

Task

Walk the student through ____. Ask them to try it before you explain.

For example: valuing a company of their choice.

Tutoring Approach (your voice)

Teach the way I do: ____. When a student is stuck, ____.

For example: ask one question at a time. When a student is stuck, give an example from a real company.

Tutoring Approach is where your voice lives. SLAN loads a default for you: ask questions instead of giving answers, and use analogies and examples when a student is stuck. Click into the box and edit that text. Change the words, add your own habits, or delete what does not sound like you.

Conversation starters are the buttons students see when they open the tutor. You need at least one and can add up to five. Keep the Steps and Rules for now. You can change everything any time. A message says Setting up your assistant, then your tutor opens.

You're done when your tutor's page opens and shows Draft.

If it doesn't work: Create Assistant only appears on the last step. Keep clicking Next until you reach Summary.

Go deeper: Assistant settings

What your tutor is made of

Here is one tutor taken apart. Press a part to see what is inside it. See the settings.

Market-entry coach

Multi Stage

Active
  1. 1

    Overview

    Its name, what it's for, and the conversation starters a student sees when they first open it.

  2. 2

    Stages

    A Multi stage assistant walks the student through stages in order. Each has its own instructions, the frameworks it applies, and a criteria of done that tells the assistant when to move on.

  3. 3

    Guardrails

    Rules it keeps to in every conversation.

  4. 4

    Final Report

    What the student leaves with at the end. Multi stage assistants only.

  5. 5

    Relationships

    The course it belongs to, the files and frameworks it draws on (Related Context), and the assistants it can hand a student over to.

  6. 6

    Advanced Parameters

    How it tutors (its Tutoring Approach) and the example exchanges that ground it.

  7. 7

    Access Control

    Who can use it: the access level, the cohorts it's assigned to, and any widgets that embed it on another site.

Try it, then publish it

About 5 minutes

Students cannot see your tutor until you publish it. Try it yourself first.

  1. A new tutor opens in edit mode. Click Save changes to leave it. A message may say No changes. That is fine.
  2. Click Preview. A chat opens beside the page. Ask what a student would ask.
  3. Not right? Click Edit, make your change, and click Save changes. Then preview again.
  4. Happy with it? Click Deploy. After a save you can also click Deploy now in the bar at the bottom.

Deploy publishes your latest saved version to your students. Preview shows the last saved version, not edits you have not saved. Your tutor already searches all your course files. To point it at specific frameworks, open Relationships and look under Related Context. Later, if you change your files, a banner may say Your assistants are out of date. Click Sync Now.

You're done when a message says Deployed and the status says Active.

If it doesn't work: Deploy is grey? You are still in edit mode. Click Save changes or Cancel first.

Go deeper: Change your tutor and publish it

Create your class and share the code

About 5 minutes

A cohort is your class: the group of students, and the code they use to join.

  1. In your course, click Cohorts, then Create Cohort.
  2. On Details, type a Cohort Name, like “Spring-2026”. Click Next.
  3. On Access & Course, leave Access Level on Registration Code. Your course is already chosen. Under Assistant Assignment, choose All from course. Click Create Cohort.
  4. Open your cohort. On Overview, copy the Registration Code and give it to your students.

Cohort names must be different from each other. All your classes live on the Cohorts tab of Creator Space. A Registration Code class is joined with the code. On a Private class, students only get in if you add their emails. Want to add students yourself? Open Members, click Add Members and type their emails. SLAN does not email them, so still send them the code. Then point them to the student guide.

You're done when your cohort shows a Registration Code.

If it doesn't work: Cannot create cohort? Your course is still Private, or you already have a cohort with that name. Your tutor must also be Registration Code, or SLAN will not add it to the class.

Go deeper: Add students to your class · Access levels

Put it on your website (optional)

About 10 minutes

A widget puts your AI tutor on a web page of your own.

  1. In your course, click Widgets, then Create widget. On an empty page it reads Create Your First Widget.
  2. SLAN fills in a name and your first tutor. Check them. Under Allowed Domains, click Add Domain and type your website, like example.com. Click Create widget.
  3. Open the widget from the list. Under Embed Widget, click the HTML tab and copy the code.
  4. Paste the code into your web page.

Type the plain domain. Do not use a star like *.example.com, because it is rejected. The domain list is a convenience, not a lock. Because your tutor is Registration Code, visitors sign in with an account in your class. Skipping sign-in, called guest mode, only works for a Public tutor.

You're done when your tutor's chat shows up on your page.

Go deeper: Put your tutor on your website

Stuck somewhere?

No Creator Space

Write to hello@slan.co and ask for creator access.

A student cannot join

Check they typed the code exactly. If they already have an account, they sign in, open My Access, and click Join Cohort.

Students see an old version

Click Sync Now in the banner at the top of your course, then Deploy your tutor if it asks.

Anything else

Read Fix a problem, or write to hello@slan.co and tell us what you tried.