Every online instructor ends up creating a WhatsApp group, Telegram channel, or Discord server for their course community — and immediately regretting it. The group lives outside your course, so students have to context-switch between watching lessons and discussing them. You can't search the history (so the same questions get asked repeatedly). You can't moderate effectively (spam, off-topic conversations, harassment). You can't integrate chat with course content (pinning a message about Lesson 4's homework). And when a student churns, they leave the group — taking all their questions and your answers with them. Ukkera's Per-Course Group Chats solve all of this by putting the community inside the course, where it belongs.
Auto-Created, Auto-Joined — Zero Setup #
When you publish a course, the group chat is auto-created and ready. Students enrolled in the course automatically join the chat — no separate invite links to manage, no "request to join" approvals, no manual member lists. The chat appears inside the course interface, with a clear chat icon next to each lesson. Students can post questions about the specific lesson they're on, and other students (or you) can answer. This zero-setup approach means every course has a thriving community from day one, without any logistical overhead.
Three Posting Modes for Different Course Styles #
Different courses need different community dynamics. Ukkera offers three posting modes: Open discussion (everyone can post — best for cohort courses where peer interaction is the value), Instructor-only (only you can post, students read — best for announcement-style updates in self-paced courses), and Moderator-approved (students post, but you approve before messages appear — best for high-volume courses where spam control matters). Switch between modes anytime as your course evolves. Most instructors start with Open discussion for small cohorts and switch to Moderator-approved when enrollment exceeds 200 students.
Pin Important Messages — Announcements Stay Visible #
Pin important messages to the top of the chat so they stay visible regardless of how much conversation happens below. Perfect for: course announcements ("Live session moved to Thursday"), exam dates and details, FAQ answers to common questions, homework submission instructions, or welcome messages with course guidelines. Pinned messages appear in a dedicated section at the top, clearly separated from the flowing conversation. Students can dismiss pinned messages they've already read, but they'll see a notification dot when new pinned messages appear.
Moderation Tools — Mute, Ban, Warn #
When a student is disruptive, you have graduated moderation options: warn (private message that their behavior is inappropriate), mute (they can read but not post for a set time you choose — 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week), or ban (permanent removal from the chat). All moderation actions are logged in the audit trail with timestamp and reason. For high-volume courses, you can appoint student moderators — give trusted students the ability to mute or warn other students without giving them full instructor powers. This scales community management without scaling your workload.
Full-Text Search — Find Any Past Discussion #
Chat history is preserved for the lifetime of the course, and every message is fully searchable. A new student asking "How do I install Python?" can be pointed to the answer given three months ago with one search. This dramatically reduces repetitive questions — instead of answering the same thing 20 times, you answer it once and point future askers to the existing discussion. Search also helps you: when preparing course updates, search the chat for "confusing" or "didn't understand" to find concepts that need better explanation in the next revision.
Mobile Push Notifications for @Mentions #
The chat is accessible from both the web dashboard and the Ukkera Student mobile app, with push notifications for @mentions and instructor messages. When you @mention a student, they get a push notification on their phone — guaranteeing they see your message. When you post a general announcement, students can choose to receive push notifications or just see the banner next time they open the app. This mobile integration means the community stays alive even when students aren't at their computers — they can participate from their phone during commutes, breaks, or anywhere else.