Intro to Instructor Role
The Instructor Role allows multiple instructors to create and manage LearnDash courses without granting full WordPress admin access. It is designed for teams, guest instructors, and external partners who need access to course creation, reporting, and learner management—while keeping the rest of the site secure.
Instructors see only their own courses and data, making collaboration easier and safer.
Installation, Activation, and Prerequisites
Before using Instructor Role, ensure the following are installed and activated:
- LearnDash LMS
- Instructor Role add-on
- (Optional) WooCommerce and LearnDash WooCommerce Integration for selling courses
Instructor Dashboard
The Instructor Dashboard is a restricted, instructor-only dashboard. Instructors are redirected here automatically after login and can manage courses, learners, reports, and submissions in one place.
Instructor Dashboard Capabilities
| What you can do | How to do it |
|---|---|
| Access the Instructor Dashboard | Log in as an Instructor. The dashboard loads automatically after login. |
| Restrict backend access | Instructors only see instructor-specific pages; WordPress admin pages are hidden. |
| View instructor-specific data | The dashboard shows only courses created or shared with the instructor. |
| Navigate the site from the dashboard | The dashboard menu mirrors the site’s Primary Menu by default (v4.2.1+). |
Instructor Dashboard Menu
The Instructor Dashboard can display a different menu than the public site.
| What you can do | How to do it |
|---|---|
| Use the site’s Primary Menu | Leave default settings enabled (v4.2.1+ behavior). |
| Create a custom instructor menu | Go to Appearance > Menus, create a new menu, and assign it to Instructor Dashboard Menu. |
| Restore older menu behavior | Assign a different menu to the Instructor Dashboard Menu location. |
Instructor Overview Page
The Instructor Overview page provides a high-level snapshot of instructor activity.
| What you can see | Description |
|---|---|
| Courses | Total number of courses created or shared |
| Students | Number of learners enrolled in instructor courses |
| Earnings | Commission-based earnings (if enabled by admin) |
| Reports | Course-level learner progress |
| Submissions | Assignment and essay submissions |
Adding and Managing Instructors
Admins can add instructors in multiple ways.
| What you can do | How to do it |
|---|---|
| Create a new instructor | Go to Users > Add New, create a user, set role to Instructor, then save. |
| Convert an existing user | Edit the user under Users > All Users, change role to Instructor, then save. |
| Register instructors via a form | Use the Instructor Registration Form workflow described in the related documentation. |
Multiple Instructors (Course Collaboration)
Courses can be shared with multiple instructors for collaboration.
Sharing a Course
| What you can do | How to do it |
|---|---|
| Share a course with other instructors | Edit the course, find Share Course, select instructors, then save. |
| Share as admin or author | Admins and course authors can share courses. |
| Access shared courses | Instructors see shared courses in their course list (check author to differentiate). |
Co-Instructor Permissions
| Allowed | Not Allowed |
|---|---|
| Edit lessons, topics, quizzes, and settings | Trash the course |
| Manage course structure | Share the course with additional instructors |
Instructor Commissions
Instructor Commissions allow admins to reward instructors for course sales.
Commission Management
| What you can do | How to do it |
|---|---|
| Set commission percentages | Go to LearnDash LMS > Instructor, set a commission % per instructor. |
| View commission reports | Go to LearnDash LMS > Instructor Commission Report, select an instructor, then submit. |
| Mark earnings as paid | Click Pay, enter the paid amount to update records. |
| Export commission data | Go to LearnDash LMS > Instructor Commission Export. |
| Disable commissions | Go to LearnDash LMS > Instructor Settings and disable commissions. |
Note: The Pay button records payments only; it does not process transactions.
Selling Courses with WooCommerce (Optional)
Instructors can sell their courses using WooCommerce.
Requirements
- WooCommerce
- LearnDash WooCommerce Integration
WooCommerce Actions
| What you can do | How to do it |
|---|---|
| Allow instructors to sell courses | Install and activate WooCommerce + LearnDash WooCommerce Integration. |
| Create a product as an instructor | From the Instructor Dashboard, go to Products > Add New, set pricing, associate a course, then publish. |
Student–Instructor Messaging (Doubts)
Students can message instructors directly from lessons and topics.
Messaging Workflow
| What you can do | How to do it |
|---|---|
| Send a doubt | On a lesson/topic page, click the bottom-right button, enter subject and message, then send. |
| Auto-link to content | The lesson or topic is preselected automatically. |
| Reply as an instructor | Open the BuddyPress private message inbox and reply. |
| Continue conversations | Students and instructors can reply from the lesson/topic page. |
| View all doubts | Recent doubts are accessible from the site header. |
Multiple Instructors Shortcode
Use shortcodes to display instructor information on the front end.
| Purpose | Shortcode |
|---|---|
| Display all instructors | [all_instructors] |
| Hide instructor images | [all_instructors display_img=0] |
| Set avatar size | [all_instructors size=32] |
| Hide instructor names | [all_instructors display_name=0] |
| Limit instructors shown | [all_instructors visible=3] |
| Exclude course author | [all_instructors exclude_author=1] |
| Use on non-course pages | [all_instructors course_id=36] |
Summary
The Instructor Role enables secure collaboration, scalable course creation, and flexible instructor management—without exposing the full WordPress admin area. With dashboards, course sharing, commissions, messaging, and optional frontend tools, it provides everything needed to support multi-instructor LearnDash sites at scale.