You likely already understand the benefits of collaborative learning in virtual training labs — at least from a learner’s perspective. It’s an excellent way to increase learner engagement, especially when paired with an interactive training platform. Instructors stand to gain a lot by working together, as well. 

That’s the core of CloudShare’s multi-instructor functionality.

What is the Multi-Instructor Capability?

CloudShare’s multi-instructor capability allows a number of instructors to work together within the same classroom. 

Through a unified console, instructors can simultaneously view and manage environments, monitor student progress, and lead lessons. They can also access overviews of each participant’s activity, join sessions for over-the-shoulder troubleshooting, and broadcast demonstrations. 

Any number of instructors can be added to a class, and each instructor gains equal rights to view, manage, and modify the classroom environment. They can also communicate and coordinate with one another in real time, exchanging files, demonstrations, and support tasks as needed. 

Each instructor is able to create and manage their own training or demo environment, sharing it with either other instructors or students. The console also provides instructors with comprehensive real-time analytics, usage insights, and progress tracking. 

Benefits of a Multi-Instructor Classroom

Having multiple instructors working collaboratively enhances teaching agility and training outcomes in several key ways. 

• Instructors can provide faster assistance to learners who are struggling, directly joining their sessions without disrupting the lesson.
• Because instructors can divide responsibilities and switch roles on the fly, they can quickly adapt to changes in classroom dynamics or training needs.
• Dividing roles allows each instructor to focus on a particular specialization or area of expertise, improving both the flow and quality of the instruction.
• Having more instructors means the capacity to support more learners — something which can be invaluable for scaling up a virtual training program.
• Collaboration through the Instructor Console supports coordinated, real-time decision-making about a course’s trajectory and subject matter.
• The presence of multiple instructors can enrich the training experience through diverse perspectives and shared expertise.
• Training programs can more readily support methods like team-based learning, with each instructor pairing off with a group.

One of the most significant benefits of multi-instructor training, however, lies in how it supports improved knowledge transfer — something which is broadly applicable across multiple training domains.  

Related Content: 5 Blended Learning Strategies for Engagement

How Multiple Instructors Enhance Peer-to-Peer Learning

There are a few key areas where multi-instructor training really shines: technical onboarding, partner enablement, and cyber training. All three are detailed below. 

Technical Onboarding

Involving multiple subject matter experts in the onboarding process helps to ensure that if a learner encounters a complex roadblock, there’ll be someone available to help them through it without disrupting the lesson. Instructors with expertise in different technical domains can also lead different onboarding modules, while over-the-shoulder access allows instructors to actively observe and coach participants. 

Partner Enablement

For partner enablement, instructors can rapidly troubleshoot and resolve technical issues as training progresses. They can also divide responsibilities across the program — one might facilitate a live demo, for instance, while another handles partner inquiries and a third manages more advanced scenarios.

Cyber Training

Cybersecurity training is arguably where multi-instructor functionality truly shines. Having multiple instructors involved in a training exercise allows an organization to conduct sophisticated scenarios such as simulated ransomware attacks and red/blue team scenarios. 

The end result is a more immersive, engaging, and realistic training experience, with more opportunities for interactive, hands-on learning.