Roles for Dummies

Roles for Dummies

by Erlyn Baack -
Number of replies: 9

As a single teacher of a single class on a shared server, the roles available in 1.6.9+ work well, and it's very familiar territory:  (guest, student, non-editing teacher, editing teacher, course creator, and administrator).  The roles I do not use are crossed out, and with the exception of "student" role, the rest are blended, but mostly I suppose I function as an administrator who creates the course and teaches it.

If Moodle 1.6.9+ is eventually dropped, what is the EASIEST way to manage the roles in 1.9.4+, for example?  Any tips?

Thanks!    

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In reply to Erlyn Baack

Re: Roles for Dummies

by David Le Blanc -
  1. Everyone with an account in a Moodle LMS has the role of an authenticated user. As an authenticated user you can enroll in courses, enter calender events, use Moodle's blog feature and update your profile.
  2. The Guest role is used for Moodle sites and courses that allow guests a means to view the contents but do not allow interaction with the activities, nor with the registered participants.
  3. The Course Creator role is generally assigned to a participant(s) in a course category (i.e., Mathematics, Humanities, etc.). With this role assignment they can create courses in that course category and teach in them (or not). Someone assigned the Course Creator role can also assign others as teachers for the courses they create.
  4. Of course, the Teacher role permits the user to create learning activities within their courses, bring learners in by assigning users the Student role. They can also bring in assistants (Non-editing Teacher role) to their course, who have the capability to grade students' work and provide feedback; however, they cannot alter the course activities in any way.
    Note: Some teachers will assign the Non-editing teacher role to certain students for selected assignments, etc., which affords them the capability to grade peer's assignments, or moderate in the class forums.
The most remarkable difference of 1.9+ to earlier versions such as 1.6.9+, is that roles can be assigned site wide, at the course category level, the course level, for a single assignment or even a block. In other words, an individual may have a teacher role in one course, a student role in another, and even be given the Admin role over a block or discussion in another context such as on the site's Front Page.

After you upgrade, you have the flexibility to continue as you have before. Depending on your teaching context, you may want to use Moodle's Roles and Permissions features to afford your learners greater participation in their course's design and assessment. thoughtful
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In reply to David Le Blanc

Re: Roles for Dummies

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers
...but... personally, with the exception of assigning administrators, I would leave site-wide roles and site-wide role settings alone. Unless you *really* need to use these facilities and you *really* know what you are doing they are, IMHO, best avoided. Note the weekly, "I have lost my admin rights" posts for evidence smile
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In reply to Howard Miller

Re: Roles for Dummies

by Erlyn Baack -

Howard, about losing admin rights, in 1.6.9, it seems there is only one place that can happen, and there's a clear warning:  "Be careful with this setting; you could lock yourself out of your own site."  Simple enough, and so far I've not done that! wink

I hadn't noticed the frequent "I have lost my admin rights" posts because I've been avoiding the versions past 1.6.9.  It's a good precautionary warning, however, when setting roles in a newer version.

As the administrator, course creator, and teacher on a shared host, I'm looking for the EASIEST routine available, which is a little like "deny all privileges to all."

Thanks!

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In reply to Erlyn Baack

Re: Roles for Dummies

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers
it seems there is only one place that can happen, and there's a clear warning

You are a touch optimistic/trusting... despite the warnings people do manage to get into a mess. I just meant that there is usually little reason to change site-wide role settings as part of normal work-flow. Unless you have a very specific reason to do so you might be doing it wrong.
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In reply to David Le Blanc

Re: Roles for Dummies

by Erlyn Baack -

David said, "Depending on your teaching context, you may want to use Moodle's Roles and Permissions features to afford your learners greater participation in their course's design and assessment."

That's a good point and an excellent longer term goal, especially with my online classes.  It would give other teachers the chance to collaborate an their "ideal" curricular objectives, design their own materials to lead to those objectives, and write quizzes to test whether other participants accomplished the objectives.

In 1.6.9, however, in "site variables," I just click NO to "teachers assign teachers" because I'm the ONLY administrator, course creator, and teacher.  When I have to upgrade, I'm looking for that simplicity first.  Later, then, it might be possible to grant more permissions.

Until now I hadn't thought about it.

Thanks.

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In reply to David Le Blanc

Re: Roles for Dummies

by Barbara Kavanagh -

The above is very clear but what happens if you are a very inexperienced user (Dummy!) and manage to assign Course Creator role to someone for the whole site as opposed to just for a particular course?

I can't seem to undo this and the individual is now enrolled on any new course or forum I have set up since ...

Can anyone help, please?

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In reply to Barbara Kavanagh

Re: Roles for Dummies

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
Go to site admin>users>permissions>assign system roles and then look at course creator. YOurs is probably in there. Take them out of that role and then (if you want) just put them in the course creator role of the area you want them in.
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In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Roles for Dummies

by Barbara Kavanagh -

Thanks for the quick response.

I have tried this but he is till coming up as automatically enrolled on every new course. I must have clicked something else - perhaps within his profile.

I will have another look ...

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In reply to Erlyn Baack

Re: Roles for Dummies

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers
For the most part the standard roles in 1.9 are the same as those in 1.6. There are some small differences that you'll need to be aware of - e.g. you need to "assign roles" where you used to assign students and teachers and some activities (apparently) loose a bit of functionality due to that not making sense in the new regime (there is almost always a way around that though).

Basically, you probably won't have to worry about it much. If anything specific comes up you can ask here of course.
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