Course creator role

The course creator role

A user assigned the role of course creator can (as the name suggests!) create a course. If the setting "Creators' role in new courses" (creatornewroleid) in Site administration / Users / Permissions / User policies is left as default (teacher), then the course creator is enrolled as a teacher in the course they have just created and can then edit the course settings and enrol other users.

A course creator can also view hidden courses.

The role of course creator could typically 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 enrolled in the course as a teacher, or whatever role is set in Administration > Site administration > Users > Permissions > User policies.

Note (1): 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.

Note (2): Course creators are not automatically assigned the role of teacher in a course they have not created, even if it is in a category where they have course creator rights.

Deleting a course

Course creators can delete courses they have made (for 24 hours from the creation, hardcoded hack in Moodle code you cannot prevent this prohibiting moodle/course:delete) from the UI. This can be done by accessing administration-block -> site administration -> courses -> Manage courses and categories and by clicking the delete-button on the course-row.

Role assignment

A user may be assigned the role of course creator as a system role (in Administration > Site administration > Users > Permissions > Assign system roles) or in the course category context.

Restoring course backups

If the course creator needs to create courses by restoring course backups, the restore course capability should be allowed for the course creator role. In addition, the course creator role should be allowed to assign any roles included in the backup.

Role permissions

If you require a course creator to have additional permissions, it is recommended that the Manager role is used, rather than changing the course creator role permissions. Otherwise, allowing additional capabilities for the course creator role may result in course creators having access to courses which they have not created.

The role of course creator is ONLY intended for enabling users to create courses; it is not intended for enabling users to edit existing courses!

Documentation