Managing Collaborators

You don’t have to run your course alone. Lena lets you invite other teachers as collaborators so they can help manage content and grading. You can also add students as assistants to help with day-to-day course tasks.

Only the course owner (the teacher who created the course) can add, remove, or manage collaborators. If you’re a collaborator yourself, you can’t add other people.

Collaborator roles

When you add someone to your course, you assign them one of three roles. Each role has a different level of access:

Role	Who it’s for	What they can do
Teacher	Another teacher at your school	Full access — same as the course owner, except they can’t manage collaborators
Assistant	A staff member at your school	Moderate access — can help manage content and support students
Student Assistant	A student helping with the course	Limited access — can assist with basic course tasks

The Lecturer role also exists and has the same access level as Teacher. Both appear as full co-instructors on the course.

What each access level means

Teacher / Lecturer (Full access)
Assistant (Moderate access)
Student Assistant (Limited access)

Teachers and Lecturers have the highest access level and can:

View all course content, students, and grades
Create and edit study materials, assignments, and quizzes
Grade student submissions
Post announcements and participate in discussions
View all enrolled students

They cannot:

Add or remove other collaborators (only the owner can)
Delete the course
Transfer ownership

Adding a collaborator

Open the Collaborators tab

Navigate to your course → Settings → Collaborators. You’ll see any existing collaborators and pending invitations listed here.

Course Settings screen with the Collaborators tab selected, showing the current list of collaborators

Tap 'Add Collaborator'

A dialog will appear asking for the collaborator’s details.

Enter their email address and choose a role

Type the email address of the person you want to add. This can be:

An email of a teacher already registered at your school on Lena
An email of someone who doesn’t have a Lena account yet (they’ll be invited to sign up)

Then select the role from the dropdown:

Teacher — Add a second or additional teacher to take this course with you
Assistant — Add a staff member to help in managing this course
Student Assistant — Add a student to help in managing this course

Add Collaborator dialog with an email field and a role dropdown showing Teacher, Assistant, and Student Assistant options

Confirm

Tap Confirm to send the invitation. The person will appear in your collaborators list with a Pending status.

You can add multiple collaborators — just repeat the process for each person you want to invite.

What happens after you send an invitation

When you add a collaborator, they receive an email invitation with details about the course. What happens next depends on whether they already have a Lena account:

If they already have a Lena account
If they don't have a Lena account

They receive an email saying you’ve added them to teach the course 2. When they open the Teacher App, they’ll see the pending invitation 3. They tap Accept to join or Decline to reject 4. Once accepted, the course appears on their dashboard and they can start contributing

Lena sends the invitation by email, so make sure the email address you enter is correct. The invited person must use that same email to sign up or log in, otherwise they won’t see the invitation.

Viewing your collaborators

Go to your course → Settings → Collaborators to see everyone on your course team. The collaborator list shows:

Column	Description
Name	The collaborator’s display name (shows “You” next to your own name)
Email	Their email address
Role	Their assigned role — Teacher, Assistant, Student Assistant, or Owner (you)
Status	Current state of their membership

Collaborators table showing columns for Name, Email, Role, and Status with confirmed and pending members

Invitation statuses

Each collaborator or invitation shows one of these statuses:

Status	Icon	Meaning
Confirmed	✅ Green checkmark	They accepted the invitation and are active on the course
Pending	ℹ️ Info icon	The invitation was sent but they haven’t responded yet
Declined	❌ Red icon	They declined the invitation

Tap the menu icon on any collaborator’s row to see available actions. The options depend on whether they’ve accepted or are still pending.

Collaborator row with the three-dot menu icon expanded, showing Change role, Remove, and Transfer ownership options

For confirmed collaborators

Action	What it does
Change role	Update their role (e.g., change from Assistant to Teacher)
Remove	Remove them from the course entirely
Transfer ownership	Make them the new course owner (you become a regular collaborator)

For pending invitations

Action	What it does
Resend invite	Send the invitation email again (useful if they didn’t receive the first one)
Remove	Cancel the pending invitation

Transferring ownership is a significant action. The new owner will gain full control over the course, including the ability to manage all collaborators. You will become a regular Teacher on the course and lose the ability to add or remove collaborators.

Changing a collaborator’s role

Tap the menu icon on the collaborator’s row
Select Change role
Choose the new role from the dropdown
Tap Update to confirm

Change Role dialog showing the collaborator's email (read-only) and a dropdown to select a new role, with an Update button

The change takes effect immediately — the collaborator’s access level is updated right away.

Accepting a course invitation (for invited teachers)

If another teacher has invited you to collaborate on their course, here’s how to respond:

Check your email

You’ll receive an email from Lena with the course name, course code, and the name of the teacher who invited you. The email includes a link to the Teacher App.

Open the Teacher App

Log in to the Teacher App. You’ll see the pending invitation with details about the course — including the school name, course title, faculty/department or grade, and the number of students already enrolled.

Accept or decline

Tap Accept to join the course. It will immediately appear on your dashboard, and you’ll start receiving notifications for that course.
Tap Decline if you don’t want to join. The course owner will see your invitation status change to “Declined.”

After accepting, you’ll be subscribed to course notifications automatically — so you’ll get updates when students submit work, post in discussions, or when the course owner makes changes.

Notifications

Lena uses two channels to keep collaborators informed:

Email notifications

Invitation email — Sent immediately when the course owner adds you as a collaborator
Contains: course name, course code, inviting teacher’s name, and school name
Includes a link to the Teacher App to accept or decline

Push notifications

After you accept an invitation, you’re automatically subscribed to the course’s notification topic
You’ll receive push notifications for course activity (submissions, discussions, announcements) just like the course owner does
These appear in the Activity tab of the Teacher App

If you don’t receive the invitation email, ask the course owner to resend the invite from the Collaborators tab. Also check your spam or junk folder.

Troubleshooting

I sent an invitation but the teacher can't find it

Verify you entered the correct email address - Ask them to check their spam/junk folder for the invitation email - Use the Resend invite option from the Collaborators tab - They must log in with the same email address you invited

I received an invitation but can't see the course

Make sure you’re logged into the Teacher App (not the Student App) - Check that you’re signed in with the same email the invitation was sent to - If you just signed up, you may need to create a school profile first

I want to remove myself from a course I was added to

Only the course owner can remove collaborators - Contact the course owner and ask them to remove you from the Collaborators tab

Can I add a teacher from a different school?

No. Collaborators must be part of the same school on Lena. The invitation email is sent regardless, but the teacher must have a profile at your school to accept and access the course.

I transferred ownership by mistake

Contact the new owner and ask them to transfer ownership back to you. Only the current course owner can initiate a transfer.

Course Settings — configure grade weights, student groups, and more
Creating a Course — set up a new course from scratch
Glossary — definitions of collaborator roles, course owner, and other terms

Getting Started

Course Content

Assessments

Managing Collaborators