Lecturer vs. Instructor (Top 4 Differences Between Them)

Every educational institution has different people to play different roles. There are deans, academic advisors, professors, lecturers, instructors, etc. in any of the educational institutions. One of the most common roles that you will hear about is being an instructor or a lecturer. You may think that an instructor all the lecturers are the same but actually, they are different. Therefore to clear your confusion, here we will be discussing the complete guide on Lecturer vs. Instructor and will help you to know which one is better.

Quick Takeaways

• Instructors will have to guide the students in a particular institution. Whereas, the lecturer not only give lecture to the students in a particular institution but also have to go to different institutions.
• The salary that you get as an instructor is much less than the salary of a lecturer.
• As the instructor has to teach the students in the specific instruction, their working hours are fixed. Whereas a lecturer does not have a fixed working hour as they have to travel to a different institution.

However, you must read till the end so that you get a better understanding of the difference between the lecturer and the instructor. 

What are instructors?

Instructors are responsible for teaching the students in a specific subject in different types of institutions including public or private schools. As an instructor, you will be developing lesson plans and delivering the lectures. You will need to give instructions to the students regarding different things like giving the interactions about activities performed in the lab. Additionally, you may also need to do different duties in the institution you are appointed like attending the guest lectures or attending the meetings for the institutions. You may also need to advise the students and conduct research, etc.

What are the lectures?

As a name suggests lecturers are those who teach the students in the classroom. Being a lecturer means that you will need to teach the students, give them the course material, evaluate them, etc. Of Course, you will be responsible for how the students are performing in the classroom and what grades they are getting. You may also create research and may also publish your account. As a lecturer you will also need to advise the students on the coursework and what are the things that they can do for their career paths. 

Lecturer vs. Instructor: Difference between them

Most people get confused between the instructor and the professor. Similarly, there are people who will get confused between the lecturer and the instructor. Therefore to make you understand the difference between both of them, we have further discussed some of the important points-

1. Duties

The duties are almost similar between both of them. However, the additional duties may vary based on for what purpose they are hired. An instructor will most of the time develop the course in such a way that it will help to develop the skills of the student. You will need to give instructions to students to perform well in their academics. Additionally, you will perform other duties based on for what purpose your institution has appointed. Suppose you are also in charge of the lab you will need to give them the instructions for performing the experiment in the lab. Similarly, if you are a library instructor you will need to give them instructions to follow in it.

On the other hand, if we talk about a lecturer, they will also teach the students but the main difference will be they will be focusing on preparing presentations. They will be guiding the students to make them understand the concept of the subject. As a lecturer, you may be also responsible for working with the students on their research projects and mentoring them throughout it.

2. Requirements to become a one

In most cases, both the lecturer and the instructor will need a minimum of a master’s degree in the respective subject. However, in an extreme case, some institutions may also look for the phd. In addition to that some institutions may also ask you to have some kind of experience in it. Some institutions may ask you to have at least 1 year of experience and others may ask you to have more than one year.

3. Work environment

If you are an instructor you will be working most of the time in a classroom. You will be giving instructions to the students regarding different things. Whereas if you are a lecturer you will also be working in the classroom but will also travel to multiple institutions to give them lectures. The work environment of both the lecturer and the instructor is different as instructors do have specific hours whereas a lecturer may or may not have specific hours of duty.

It is because an instructor is always in the institution but a lecturer will need to go to different institutions and give lectures. Most of the lecturers have irregular schedules as they need to go to different cities and to different institutions.

4. Salary

The biggest difference between them is about the salary they get. Usually, the salary of the instructor is much lower than the salary of the lecturer. This is because most of the lecturers need to travel a lot to give lectures in different institutions. Whereas the instructor will have to be in a particular institution and have to perform all the functions over there. The average salary that an instructor gets is around $57,993 whereas the average salary of the lecturer is around $69,343.

Which one is better – An instructor or a lecturer?

Being an instructor means that you will have to teach students in specific fields and will also need to give instructions for different projects. Due to this the instructor have a fixed working schedule which revolves around their institution. Where is if we talk about a lecturer they may need to give lectures outside the institution. Therefore they may not have any fixed working schedule and have less flexibility. However, the best part of being a lecturer is that you will get a chance to connect with different students and work in different institutions which is not in the case of an instructor.

What is the salary that you get as a lecturer is way more than the salary you get as an instructor. Thus, if you love to travel then you must go for being a lecturer. Contrary if you are a person who loves enjoying a particular schedule then you can choose to become an instructor but you will be getting a lower salary.

Conclusion

An instructor is the one who will be teaching in the classroom and will be performing different duties within the institution. Whereas if you are a lecturer you will be also teaching the students but will also have to give lectures in different institutions. As an instructor, you will be getting a salary less than that of a lecturer. Also as the instructor is working in a particular institution, they will have a fixed working schedule. Whereas the lecturers have to travel and give lectures in different institutions, they most of the time have irregular schedules.