What are roles in Moodle 

A role is a collection of permissions defined for the whole system that you can assign to specific users in specific contexts. The combination of roles and context defines a specific user's ability to do something on any page. The most common examples are the roles of student and editing-lecturers in the context of a Moodle module.

There are other roles that have access right limitations on them such as External Examiner and Non-Editing Lecturer. As editing lecturer on your module you can enrol a colleague or an external examiner to your module at any time. You can also remove them by clicking on the Trash icon beside their name.

Student versus lecturer 

The student role has limited permission, users assigned a student role (mostly students) can only view their own work such as submissions to Assignments, Feedback, Turnitin, etc. In some cases like in the use of forums, students will be able to see other student contributions unless the forum is a special type (Q and A Forum), whereas the Lecturer is assigned an editing role which means they can see all information and make changes, for instance, add, change or delete activities or resources inside a Moodle module.

How are users enrolled

Students are enrolled automatically as per their student registration details from the student registration system (Banner). Moodle runs background processes that import the student's registration details as per the modules (CRN) they are registered on and Moodle enrols the students on the matching module in Moodle.

Note: Editing Lecturers can manually enrol students and staff on their module, follow these steps. It's important that the student contacts Registration staff to make sure there registration is correct for exam shedules etc

Lecturers are enrolled in a couple of different ways. Moodle will enrol lecturers as per the data on the timetable twice a year, the first time is the week before semester one starts and the second time is the week before semester two starts. We also enrol lecturers on an ad-hoc basis through our helpdesk service where members of staff request access to a Module. You can enrol a colleague on any of your modules and assign them with a non-editing role. This is very similar to enroling a student on your module.

What happens next year?

Because we have new students each year Moodle will import new students onto the new instance of the module that was in place last year. The previous year's students still has access to the previous year's module along with the lecturer who taught that module last year. Moodle will also enrol the lecturer in the new instance of the Module as per the data in the timetable or on request from the lecturer.

If you have a Moodle query or need technical support or advice, please send an email to moodle@setu.ie. We operate a helpdesk from Monday to Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

If you have a password issue, you will need to send an email to the computer services team at computerservices.wd@setu.ie. 

If you have a registration issue, please contact the registration team at registration.wd@setu.ie.