Roles and capabilities: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 07:39, 30 May 2011

Moodle1.7

Roles and capabilities in Moodle 1.7 onwards provides great flexibility in managing how users interact. Prior to Moodle 1.7, there were only six roles possible: guest, student, non-editing teacher, editing teacher, course creator, and administrator. Whilst these roles may still be used, it's now possible to create additional roles, and to change what a given role can do in a particular activity.

Definitions

Role

An identifier of the user's status. The status depends upon permissions given for one or more capabilities in a context.

For example Teacher and Student are standard user roles. The identifier indicates they probably have different capabilities in some contexts.

When Moodle is first installed, a number of Standard roles are created automatically.

Capability

A description of a particular Moodle feature. A list of many capabilities can be seen in the capability category index page.

For example moodle/blog:create(writing blog entries) or "Backup course" are two capabilities. Note the "mod/blog:create" notation is a common to identify a capability.

Permission

A setting for a capability. Can be any one of four: not set/inherit, allow, prevent or prohibit.

Context

A "space" in Moodle.

For example: a course, activity module or block can each be a context.

Some contexts can contain multiple contexts in their space, For example, a course can contain a lesson, assignment, forum and quiz modules, plus blocks.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Roles}}
+{{Roles}}{{Moodle 1.7}}Roles and capabilities in Moodle 1.7 onwards provides great flexibility in managing how users interact. Prior to Moodle 1.7, there were only six roles possible: guest, student, non-editing teacher, editing teacher, course creator, and administrator. Whilst these roles may still be used, it's now possible to create additional roles, and to change what a given role can do in a particular activity.
-{{Moodle 1.7}}
-==Roles==
+==Definitions==
+;Role
+:An identifier of the user's status. The status depends upon permissions given for one or more capabilities in a context.
+::For example Teacher and Student are standard user roles. The identifier indicates they probably have different capabilities in some contexts.
+:When Moodle is first installed, a number of [[Standard roles]] are created automatically.
+;Capability
+:A description of a particular Moodle feature. A list of many capabilities can be seen in the [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Category:Capabilities capability category index page].
+::For example [[Capabilities/moodle/blog:create|moodle/blog:create]](writing blog entries) or "Backup course" are two capabilities.  Note the "<nowiki>mod/blog:create</nowiki>" notation is a common to identify a capability.
+;Permission
+:A setting for a capability. Can be any one of four: not set/inherit, allow, prevent or prohibit.
+;Context
+:A "space" in Moodle.
+::For example: a course, activity module or block can each be a context.
+::Some contexts can contain multiple contexts in their space, For example, a course can contain a lesson, assignment, forum and quiz modules, plus blocks.
-Previous Moodle versions had predefined, fixed roles.  There was no easy way to change what a teacher, or student, for instance, could do.  While fixed roles are adequate for many users, others require greater flexibility in regulating how users see and interact with the system.
+==See also==
-With Roles, authorised users can [[Adding/editing_roles|create]] any number of customised roles and assign them to users.  From 1.7, an organisation can create multiple roles  so that, for instance, students assigned Role A could post to forums, while students assigned Role B are prevented from posting.
+*[[Useful things a teacher can do with roles]]
+*[[Development:Roles administration improvements for Moodle 2.0]]
-Definitions
+*[[How permissions are calculated]]
-*A '''role''' is an identifier of the user's status in some context. For example, teacher, student and fourm moderator are examples of roles.
+*[[:Category:Capabilities]]
-*A '''capability''' is a description of some particular Moodle feature. Capabilities are associated with roles. For example, mod/forum:replypost is a capability.
-*A [[Adding/editing_roles#Permissions|'''permission''']] is some value that is assigned for a capability for a particular role. For example, allow or prevent.
-*A '''context''' is a "space" in the Moodle, such as courses, activity modules, blocks etc.
-==Capabilities==
-Capabilities are aggregated and controlled via roles.  Stated another way, a role consists of a list of capabilities for different possible actions within Moodle (eg delete discussions, add activities etc).  With 1.7 it's now possible to have sophisticated yet flexible levels of control over participants and what they can or can't do.
-==Upgrading to 1.7==
-A smooth upgrade will be provided with 1.7. The existing roles (admin, teacher, student, etc), and the existing capabilities will be automatically retained. This is done by creating default roles at site/course levels, and assigning the current users to these roles accordingly. The default roles will have default capabilities associated with them, mirroring what we have in 1.6. With no modifications, Moodle will operate exactly the same before and after the upgrade.
-==See also==
-*[[Development:Roles]]
 *Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=6826 Roles and Capabilities forum]
-[[Category:Teacher]]
-[[Category:Administrator]]
 [[Category:Roles]]
+[[cs:Role]]
+[[es:Roles y capacidades]]
+[[eu:Rolak]]
+[[fr:Rôles et capacités]]
+[[ja:ロールおよびケイパビリティ]]
+[[ru:Роли и возможности]]
+[[de:Rollen und Rechte]]

Documentation

Roles and capabilities: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 07:39, 30 May 2011

Definitions

See also