Advantages Of Having Multiple Instructors On Your eLearning Website
To have multiple instructors or not? That is the question. Since the advent of eLearning, multiple course authors have been a bone of contention in the teachers’ world. Some say that having two instructors can be disruptive and confusing for students, while others argue that having more than one instructor is useful in maintaining a productive atmosphere in the classroom. Having multiple instructors is a proven strategy to improve student attention and retention in physical classrooms at schools, colleges, and universities. Here are 7 reasons why you should think of extending this functionality to your eLearning course.
1. Efficient Course Management
They say two heads are better than one; well, here we have a whole bunch of them! One of the main reasons why administrators are wary of having multiple instructors is because they are apprehensive about the confusion this might lead to. However, nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, having a number of instructors makes it easier to manage your courses as each instructor can create, conduct, and manage their own course independently. Streamlined management of instructors can go a long way in handling numerous courses with ease.
2. Diversity In Teaching Methodology
Given the variety of the fields of expertise, backgrounds, and interests of the instructors, their teaching methodology is bound to vary accordingly. This diversity adds a much-needed change of pace to your website, encouraging students to try out new courses time and again.
The process does not stop here, though. Diverse teaching methods give you an edge over your competitors, who employ the same age-worn formula of online lecture delivery. Having only two or three instructors can quickly get monotonous for students. More importantly, there is a logical limit to the number of courses they can design and the number of fields they can tap into. This is where having multiple instructors can save the day!
3. Leveraging Team Teaching
One of the principal advantages of having multiple instructors is that you can leverage the power of team instruction for your students. The Administrator can effectively combine the expertise of two or more instructors and create unique courses that offer exclusive content on any given topic.
If you are working with a WordPress-based LMS, you can consider using the Co-Authors Plus plugin to allow multiple authors to edit a single post - lesson/topic/quiz.
4. Flexible Schedules
Multiple instructors provide for flexible schedules. This is especially significant if you host live classes across multiple countries and time zones. Having more than one Subject Matter Expert allows you to conduct multiple live lectures for the same course, without compromising on the subject quality.
The idea is intriguing, as eLearning systems try to emulate physical classroom lectures to the maximum extent possible to encourage student retention.
5. Reduced Workload
You have probably thought of this one already by now, but it is worth mentioning nevertheless. If you have 10 different instructors, your workload is effectively reduced to 1/10th of the total quota.
Even considering some extra things you might need to take care of, as the Administrator, it still takes the weight of handling dozens of different courses and managing hundreds of students all by yourself!
6. Increase In Sharing Of Insights
A qualitative advantage of having multiple instructors on your eLearning website is that there is continuous interaction between students, as well as instructors. The free flow of thought leads to a lot of ideas bouncing back and forth, and uninhibited sharing of insights about how the courses can be made more and more better.
WordPress plugins like BuddyPress or bbPress can be immensely helpful here, as they let you create forums and groups for smoother discussions. All instructors can have a common area where subject expertise can be shared freely.
7. Consistent Improvement Due To Feedback
This is important from the instructor’s as well as the website’s perspective. Integrating multiple course instructors into your course website and encouraging regular feedback from students goes a long way in improving the overall standard of courses and the efficiency of every individual instructor.
A Throwback
So much for the advantages of having multiple course instructors, but how do you actually integrate them on your eLearning website? That’s easily answered.
For the WordPress+LearnDash combination, you can use a nifty little addon called, Instructor Role for LearnDash. The plugin adds a new user role, Instructor, to your website, which can be used to create course authors having access to their courses and course-related analytics, but not the entire core backend. In addition, it has a slew of other features that make it invaluable when it comes to adding instructors to your website.
Want to restrict backend access completely? Check out Front-End Course Creation for LearnDash. It works similarly to Instructor Role, but lets course authors create courses only from the front end!
What is your opinion about having multiple authors creating courses on your website? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
