In addition to conversations within course content, course members can start group or one-on-one chats to have discussions that are not connected to a piece of content.
Group chats are chats that are either open (available to all students in the course) or private (available to only certain students). Examples of open chats include discussion of class projects, papers, non-Perusall assignments, or topical discussion; examples of private chats include collaboration on group projects or other team assignments. Instructors can create open group chats, and both instructors and students can create private group chats.
One-on-one chats are private chats between two course members (instructors or students). One-on-one chats can be initiated through the left course navigation sidebar (click the + button under the One-on-one heading and then select who to start a conversation with), or within a document (click the avatar of another group member who is currently inside of the course content you are viewing to start a one-on-one conversation with them).