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Moodle staff accounts guide

Overview of how staff accounts are activated and how to enrol staff on modules.

About staff roles in Moodle

The tabs below provides information on the capabilities of each of staff roles available in Moodle. The permissions are generally hierarchical, i.e. Lecturers have all the permissions of Teaching Assistants; Programme Administrators have all the rights of Lecturers. Note that in Moodle a role is assigned to a user in a context - that context could be an activity, a module, a category or the whole site.

The tabs also provide information on who is responsible for enrolling staff in different roles and the training available.

Staff role capabilities

 E-Learning Admin role reserved for Educational Technologists.

Contexts

Category

This is a category-level role for Educational Technologists. E-Learning Admins can create PlaySpaces, and assign category-level enrolments to new E-Learning Administrators and to staff with lower-level Moodle permissions.

Responsibility for enrolment

Category-level E-Learning Admins are responsible for the enrolment of new E-learning Administrators. E-Learning Admins are only enrolled on the Moodle categories required for them to complete their role.

Training 

E-Learning Administrator training, including responsibilities around the protection of personal student information is covered as part of the Digital Education team's induction process. 

Contexts

Module, category.

This is a school role for Course Officers and other administrative staff.

Role capability

Programme Administrators are automatically enrolled on all modules in their category or sub-category and can edit (add, change or delete) the content of these modules.

Enrolment capability

This role can enrol other staff and students on modules, ensuring that students are not manually enrolled on SITS modules. This role can unenrol students by updating SITS. This role can also use the log-in feature to log-in as a student to troubleshoot technical issues. For this reason, staff with this role must receive training on how to use this role effectively before they are enrolled to it and they should be clear of their responsibilities to protect personal student information.

Limitations

This role is enrolled directly on modules so provides access to star modules and to filter modules by academic year in the Module overview block. Users with this role will have to manage notifications from modules. Your name and email displays to lecturers and students via module Participants.

Responsibility for enrolment

Requests for category level or module-level Programme Administrator enrolment should be logged via the Programme Administrator enrolment request via IT Self Service Portal. This provides access to the Programme Administrator Training module. Staff in the E-Learning Administrator role will enrol staff as a Programme Administrator on the relevant category.

Training

Please note, enrolment to this role is subject to successful completion of the training module, and requires confirmation of allocation to the role by a senior member of the School team.

In addition to the online Programme Administrator training, you can log a request in IT Self Service Portal to arrange 1-1 training session.

Contexts

Category.

This is a category level role for administrative staff who do not need access to star modules or to filter by academic year.

Role capability

Programme Administrators can edit (add, change or delete) the content of modules within a category. This role is not directly enrolled on modules..

Enrolment capability

This role can enrol other staff and students on modules, ensuring that students are not manually enrolled on SITS modules. This role can unenrol students by updating SITS. This role can also use the log-in feature to log-in as a student to troubleshoot technical issues. For this reason, staff with this role must receive training on how to use this role effectively before they are enrolled to it and they should be clear of their responsibilities to protect personal student information.

Limitations

Staff in this role have access to search for modules within a category, but they cannot star modules they use on a regular basis or filter by academic year.

Responsibility for enrolment

Requests for category level or module-level Programme Administrator enrolment should be logged via the Programme Administrator enrolment request via IT Self Service Portal. This provides access to the Programme Administrator Training module. Staff in the E-Learning Administrator role will enrol staff as a Programme Administrator (Category only) on the relevant category.

Training

Please note, enrolment to this role is subject to successful completion of the training module, and requires confirmation of allocation to the role by a senior member of the School team.

In addition to the online Programme Administrator training, you can log a request in IT Self Service Portal to arrange 1-1 training session.

Contexts

Module

This was a module-level role to indicate key module contacts to students. This role was then used to provide a lower level of admin access to professional services staff. LEaD and IT are reviewing this role in academic year 2023-24 as it has been used for purposes that were not initially intended

Role capability

This role is to be used in association with programme or school level Programme Admin access.

Enrolment capability

Course Officer role does not enable student enrolment. To manage student enrolment you require programme or school level Programme Admin access.

Limitations

Course Officer role cannot:

  1. Enrol users into the student role on modules.
  2. Enrol external examiners.
  3. Send Quickmail messages to students.
  4. Complete rollovers.

Responsibility for enrolment

Staff in the role of Programme Administrators can enrol themselves and others as Course Officers on a module.

Training

Please note, enrolment to this role is subject to successful completion of the Programme Admin training module, and requires confirmation of allocation to the role by a senior member of the School team.

 In addition to the online Programme Administrator training, you can log a request in IT Self Service Portal to arrange 1-1 training session.

Contexts

Activity, module, category

This is a module role for academic staff.

Role capability

Lecturers can edit (add, change or delete) content in modules they are enrolled on, provide grades and feedback on assignments, and communicate with students via tools such as News Forums and Quickmail.

Enrolment capability

  • Lecturers cannot enrol a user to a Student or Student Observer role in modules.
  • Lecturers can enrol staff as Lecturers, Teaching Assistants or Staff Observers.

Responsibility for enrolment

Lecturer enrolments are rolled over each year. New Lecturers should be enrolled onto the relevant modules by Course Office staff with the Programme Administrator role.

Training

Register for a New to Moodle (Academic) workshop or log a request in IT Self Service Portal to arrange 1-1 training for a new Lecturer.

Additionally, your Educational Technology School Liaison Team will be in touch with new staff to provide an overview of LEaD services.

Contexts

 Activity, module, category

This is a module role for academic staff or teaching assistants such as PhD students.

Role capability

Teaching assistants can give grades and feedback on assignments and can edit (add, change or delete) the contents of modules.

Responsibility for enrolment

Teaching Assistants should be enrolled onto the relevant modules by staff with category or module level Programme Administrator role or staff with Lecturer role.

Limitations

Teaching Assistant role cannot:

  1. Enrol users on the module.
  2. Complete rollovers.
  3. Use the "switch role to" function.

Training

Register for a New to Moodle (Academic) workshop or log a request in IT Self Service Portal to arrange 1-1 training for a new Lecturer.

Additionally, your Educational Technology School Liaison Team will be in touch with new staff to provide an overview of LEaD services.

Contexts 

Module

This is a module role for External Examiners. External Examiners can view module content and activities including student participation in activities.

Role capability

This role can view and edit (add, change or delete) assignment submissions, grades and feedback in Moodle Assignment and Quiz. The role can view assignment submissions, grades and feedback and can edit (add, change or delete) grades and feedback in Turnitin assignment and Video assignment, and preview quizzes.

Responsibility for enrolment

  • Once the External Examiner process is completed, you can request an External Examiner account via IT Self Service Portal.
  • External Examiners need to login to Moodle once to activate their account.
  • External Examiners are enrolled by staff in the Programme Administrator role.

Unenrolment

External Examiners should be manually unenrolled from Moodle modules on completion of their external review.

Contexts

 Module, category

This is a module role for academic staff.

Role capability

This role provides the same permissions as the Lecturer role in Moodle, but you also get access to some new features. Pilot role can edit (add, change or delete) content in modules they are enrolled on, give grades and feedback on assignments, and communicate with students via tools such as News Forums and Quickmail. New Moodle functionality is released to staff in the Pilot role.

Enrolment capability

Pilot role cannot enrol students onto modules.

Responsibility for enrolment

Please log a request on IT Self Service Portal using the Pilot Role on Moodle Form, with information on module codes you are teaching on to request access to this role. Staff in the E-Learning Administrator role will enrol you to the Pilot role.

Training

Log a request in IT Self Service Portal to arrange 1-1 training for how to use the pilot functionality

Contexts

module, category

This is a category or module role for staff. You must request permission of the module leader prior to being enrolled as a Staff Observer on a colleague’s module.

Staff who require category-level access to modules for auditing or review purposes, or staff who need to review individual modules, should be given Staff Observer role. This should be discussed and agreed with academics so that they are aware who can view their modules and why these staff have access.

Responsibility for enrolment

Staff Observers are enrolled by staff in the Programme Administrator role. If a Staff Observer needs access to category please contact LEaD via the IT Self Service Portal. If a Staff Observer needs access to over 20 modules that are not in a category, please contact LEaD via the IT Self Service Portal and we can help you with enrolment.

Please note that LEaD cannot help with the maintenance of enrolments of staff observers (i.e. enrolling a whole department as staff observers on a module and managing ongoing enrolment and unenrolment).

Role capability

  • Staff Observers can view some module content.
  • Staff Observers can view Forum contributions.
  • Staff Observers can view Lecture Capture recordings in a module.
  • Staff Observers can view modules which are not yet available to students.
  • Staff Observers appear in the role filter in the Quickmail block and can be included on emails from a module.

Role limitations

  • Staff Observers do not have any editing rights for modules on which they are enrolled.
  • Staff Observers cannot view the following content or features:
    • hidden content,
    • submitted assignment activities and
    • submitted Quiz attempts,
    • Name or description of Moodle assignment activities,
    • Grader Report,
    • Turnitin Assignments
    • Peer Assessments.
    • Participants enrolled on module.

Programme Administrator roles comparison

Comparison of Programme Admin roles
Capability Programme Admin module-level New Category only Programme Admin 
Can star modules for quick access Yes No
Can access modules via Module overview block on Dashboard and My Modules page Yes No
Can filter modules by academic year Yes No
Can access visible modules via the Recently accessed modules block Yes No
Can add the Modules block to search for modules within a category Yes Yes

Can search for modules within a category from https://moodle4.city.ac.uk/course/

Yes Yes
Can enrol staff as Lecturers, Teaching Assistants, Staff Observers at module level Yes Yes
Can enrol staff as Staff Observers at category level Yes Yes
Can enrol users as External Examiners at module level Yes Yes
Can enrol students as Student Observers at module level Yes Yes
Can enrol students as Students on non SITS coded modules Yes Yes
Can login as enrolled users on the module Yes Yes
Your name and email displays in list of Participants on module Yes No
Notifications are received from Forum Posts, Quickmails and Assignment notifications on modules within a category Yes No
Can add content and activities to module Yes Yes
Can see student's name in anonymous Moodle assignments Yes Yes
Can manage module settings and visibility Yes Yes
Can run import or rollover Yes Yes
Can access Grade Book Yes Yes
Can access module Reports Yes Yes

 

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