Course creator role
A user assigned the role of Course creator may create courses, be assigned the role of teacher for these courses (or not, if preferred) and view hidden courses. From Moodle 1.7 onwards, additional capabilities may be allowed by an administrator. The role of course creator could be assigned to a master teacher, department head or program coordinator.
Creating a course
The "Add a new course" button can be found at the bottom of the page listing all courses.
When a course creator creates a course, they are automatically assigned the role of teacher (or whatever role is set in Administration > Users > Permissions > User policies) for the course. They may then assign additional teachers and/or assign other roles to selected users. They may also unassign themselves from the role of teacher, if preferred.
Note: If a user is assigned the role of course creator in the course category context, the "Add a new course" button only appears when the course category contains at least one course.
Role assignment
A user may be assigned the role of course creator as a system role (via Administration > Users > Permissions > Assign system roles) or in the course category context. It makes no sense to assign the role in the course context.
See also
Using Moodle forum discussions: