Roles FAQ
What is the definition of a...
- Role
- An identifier of the user's status in some context. For example, teacher, student and forum moderator are examples of roles.
- Capability
- A description of some particular Moodle feature. Capabilities are associated with roles. For example, being able to reply to a forum post is a capability.
- Permission
- Some value that is assigned for a capability for a particular role. For example, using the prevent permission to limit all students from posting to any forum.
- Context
- A "space" in the Moodle, such as courses, activity modules, blocks, forums etc.
Why isn't my role change taking effect?
Role changes only take affect after the next login from that user. Regarding testing new roles, please refer to the information in Manage roles.
Why are participants being added automatically when a new course is created?
If a user is assigned a role in the site/system or course category context then the user has this role in ALL courses in that context. Thus students, teachers and course creators appear as course participants.
Please check Administration > Users > Permissions > Assign roles and also the Assign roles link in course categories page and unassign users as necessary.
How can I prevent course creators being listed as course participants?
Click the Hidden assignments check box before assigning the role to the user.
How can I prevent administrators being listed as course participants?
Ensure that administrators are not assigned another role in addition to their admin role.
After upgrading, why are all course creators listed in every course?
The role of course creator is assigned in the site/system context and so applies site-wide.
This may be changed via Administration > Users > Permissions > Assign roles. Course creators may be unassigned then re-assigned hidden. Alternatively, the course creator role may be assigned in the course category context via the assign roles link at the top right of a course category page.
Hidden assignments are not hidden from admins or teachers i.e. users with the viewhiddenassigns capability.
What is a hierarchy of permissions?
This determines which permission wins or is going to be in effect if there is an apparent conflict. For example, the site allows all students the permission to to post in forums, but a teacher might prevent that right in a particular course. The hierarchy of permissions would allow a student to post in one course but not in another course.
