Udemy courses can have more than one instructor, as co-instructors can be added and assigned various permissions, which enable them to access certain information and features related to the course.
This article outlines how instructors can invite co-instructors to their courses and manage their instructor permissions and settings.
- Note: Before adding co-instructors to your course, please read our Rules and Guidelines for managing co-instructor relationships.
Table of contents
- How to send a co-instructor invitation
- Pending invitations
- Managing instructor permissions
- Assigning revenue share to a co-instructor
- The course owner
- Teaching assistants
- Removing a co-instructor
How to send a co-instructor invitation
To invite someone to join a course as a co-instructor, follow the steps below.
1. While accessing Udemy on a browser, navigate to the applicable course management page, and click the course settings gear icon at the top right.
2. Scroll down the page to the Manage instructor permissions section and click Add instructor on the right-hand side.
3. Enter the email address that is associated with the Udemy account of the person you wish to invite, and select the applicable permissions (see below for more information).
4. Finally, click Send invitation.
- The invitee will receive a notification via email, in which they can accept or decline the invitation to join the course as a co-instructor. The invitee will also be notified of the invitation on their course management page.
- If the person accepts the invitation to join the course as a co-instructor, the instructor, and any other co-instructors with manage permissions for the course, will be notified by email.
Pending invitations
Instructors can view pending invitations they have sent by accessing them on the course management page. The pending status will also be reflected in the Manage instructor permissions section for the course.
If you need to revoke a pending invitation you have sent, click Revoke.
Managing instructor permissions
Below is a list of the various permissions you can enable for co-instructors. As outlined above, the instructor permissions for a course can be accessed by navigating to the course settings page.
Visible: The instructor will be publicly listed as an instructor for the course to students. Their profile picture and name will appear wherever the course is visible on Udemy and students will be able to send a message to the instructor if direct messaging is enabled.
- Instructors must be listed as visible in order to respond in the Q&A.
- To send promotional emails and educational announcements for a course, instructors must be listed as visible and have the manage permission enabled (see below).
Manage: A co-instructor with the Manage permission can modify course content, settings and instructor permissions. They have full visibility and editing access to all course management functions, including the ability to upload and delete lectures, make changes to how the course displays in the marketplace, and create coupons for the course.
- In addition, instructors with the Manage permission enabled can edit the revenue share for the course (more information is below).
Captions: Instructors with this permission enabled can edit, upload and disable closed captions for the course. Please note that instructors with the Manage permission enabled will automatically receive the Captions permission.
Performance: instructors with this permission enabled can access applicable data and information related to that course in their Performance tabs.
Q&A: This permission controls whether visible instructors can view and answer questions from students in the instructor Q&A dashboard.
Reviews: Instructors with the Reviews permission will be able to view and respond to student course reviews in the Reviews section of the instructor dashboard.
- Please note: in order for an instructor to respond to reviews, they must also be enabled as a visible instructor.
Assignments: Instructors who are enabled with the Assignments permission will receive notifications when students submit assignments, and will be able to provide feedback for them if they wish.
Revenue Report: If co-instructors are assigned a revenue share (above 0%), they will automatically have permission to view the Revenue Report, which details student purchases. This permission cannot be toggled off. The co-instructor will need to earn revenue from the course before they can access the revenue report.
Assigning revenue share to a co-instructor
For paid courses, the course owner, or instructors with the Manage permission, can assign a revenue share to co-instructors on the instructor permissions page.
- Once an instructor is designated to receive a revenue share, they will have access to the Revenue Report for all new purchases of the course, and will see their share generated in the “Your Revenue” column on the report.
- Only co-instructors who are approved premium instructors can receive a revenue share greater than 0%. The share you assign will determine the proportion of the total instructor share they receive. The sum of all instructor shares must add up to 100%.
The course owner
The original course creator is considered the ‘owner’ of the course and their access cannot be removed.
- Only the course owner can edit their own permissions and they will automatically have the Manage permission enabled (and this cannot be toggled off).
- Only the course owner is required to complete the instructor verification process and submit a test video in order for the course to be published onto the marketplace.
Teaching assistants
Instructors who are not marked as Visible in the course, but who do have permissions checked for Q&A will display with a Teaching Assistant designation whenever they reply to student questions in the course Q&A.
The Teaching Assistant designation is intended to give students additional context about these co-instructors, since they are not otherwise visible in the course.
Removing a co-instructor
Co-instructors can be removed from a course by clicking Remove under their respective name.
- If a course instructor has the Manage permission active, they will have the ability to remove co-instructors, including themselves. The course owner, however, cannot be removed from a course.
- Any co-instructor can remove themselves from the course, regardless of whether they have the Manage permission enabled or not.
- When a co-instructor is removed from a course the instructor, and any other co-instructors with the manage course permission enabled, will be notified by email.
