Working with Custom Roles
This section explains how to create and manage custom context-specific roles.
How To
Use this procedure to create a role for any of the following:
Your course context.
Any other context that you manage, such as a Campus Group context.
Any subsection that you manage.
Note
When you create a role for a context, the role will not be available for use within the child subsections of the context you are working in (if any exist). Similarly, if you create a role within a particular subsection, it will not be available outside of that subsection.
You can create a context-specific role from either of the following places:
Context Manager
Access screen
The following two procedures explain how to add a context-specific role from both of these locations.
To create a context-specific role from the Context Manager:
Log in to the portal and navigate to the course context or subsection where you want to create a role. For example, if you want the role to be available to the main pages in your course section, such as Attendance, Coursework, and the Gradebook, you could navigate to any one of those pages, or to the default page for the course section. If you want to create a role for use in a subsection, just navigate to any page in the subsection.
Click Course Manager.
The system displays the Context Manager page, with the Properties tab selected.
Click Permissions.
The system displays the Permissions page.
Click Add context role.
The system displays a form.
In the Role name field, enter a name.
If you want any existing roles (and their users) to be automatically assigned to this role, use the available checkboxes to select the roles. Note that you may select either from the global roles or from any other context-specific roles that you might have created, both here and in other contexts.
If you want to add individual users to the role, complete the following steps:
Click Add individual users.
A drop-down selector displays.
In the left column, click the users you wish to add to the role. Note that you can use the Filter by field and the drop-down list of roles to filter the names that show up in the left column. The users that you select are added to the right column.
Click Save.
To create a context-specific role from the Access screen:
Log in to the portal and navigate to the course context or subsection where you want to create a role. For example, if you want the role to be available to the main pages in your course section, such as Attendance, Coursework, and the Gradebook, you could navigate to any one of those pages, or to the default page for the course section. If you want to create a role for use in a subsection, just navigate to any page in the subsection.
Click the wrench icon in the upper-right corner of the page.
The admin bar displays.
Click the Access link in the admin bar.
The system displays the Access screen, which lists all the roles defined for this context as well as all the global roles.
Click the adding a new role link.
The system displays the Access – Add a new role screen.
In the Role name field, enter a name.
As you enter the name, the system performs a check to make sure the entered name contains no illegal characters.
Do either or both of the following:
If you want to add individual users to the role, click the link labeled Choose the individual members of role name and use the popup to select users. If you need help with this, see Select Users with the People Chooser.
If you want any existing roles (and their users) to be automatically assigned to this role, click the Choose other roles to be included in role name link and then use the available checkboxes to select the roles. Note that you may select either from the global roles or from any other context-specific roles that you might have created, both here and in other contexts. Click OK when you are finished.
Click Save.
The system creates your role and again displays the Access screen, which now displays the new role in the list of roles. You can now define permissions for the role, as explained in Managing Page and Context Permissions. Note that in the future, to add any additional users (or to remove users) from this role, you will need to modify the role, as described in Modify a Custom Role.
At times you may need to modify a custom role. For example, you may want to change either the name or users of a role.
Note
If you are looking for information on how to add users to a Faculty or Students role, see Context-Specific Faculty and Students Roles. If you are looking for information on how to add users to a Group or Leaders role, refer to the Campus Groups Directory section.
Log in to the portal and navigate to the appropriate context.
Click Context Manager.
The system displays the Context Manager screen, with the Properties tab selected.
Click Permissions.
The system displays the Permissions screen, which lists all the roles in the system on the right and the permissions for the currently selected role on the left.
From the list of roles on the right, select the context-specific role you wish to edit.
Permissions for the selected role display on the left.
In the Context role box, click the Edit button.
A form displays.
If appropriate, use the Role name field to modify the name of the role.
If desired, select or deselect any roles that you want to add or remove from the role you are currently editing.
If appropriate, select (or remove) individual users from the role as follows:
Click Add individual users.
A drop-down selector displays.
Add users to the role by clicking their names in the left column, or remove users from the role by clicking their names in the right column. Note that you can use the Filter by field and the drop-down list of roles to filter the names that show up in the left column.
Click Save.
Log in to the portal as a member of the Administrators role or as someone with Can Admin privileges for the appropriate context. Navigate to the context.
Click the wrench icon in the upper-right corner of the page.
The admin bar displays.
Click the Access link in the admin bar.
The system displays the Access screen, which lists all the roles defined for this context as well as all the global roles.
Click the context-specific role that you wish to modify.
The system displays the permissions available in each of the features found on the page.
Click the View or change the members of role name role link at the bottom of the list of permissions.
The system displays the Access – Edit Role Name screen.
If appropriate, use the Role name field to modify the name of the role.
If you want to add individual users to the role, complete the following steps:
Click Choose the individual members of role name link.
The system opens a new dialog titled Add or remove members.
In the left column, locate the user(s) you want to add to the role and click their name(s) to move them to the column on the right.
Note
You can filter names displayed in the left column by entering text in the Filter by text box and/or by selecting a role from the drop-down list.
When you have added all the appropriate users to the right column, click OK. The system again displays the Access - Add a new role screen.
If you want to assign any existing roles (and their members) to this role, complete the following steps:
Click the Choose other roles to be included in role name link.
The system displays the Add or remove members dialog. Any context-specific roles are shown at the top of the dialog, and global roles appear in the lower portion.
Select the roles you wish to add to the new role. To select all roles, select the Everyone in JICS checkbox.
To include guests in the new role, select the Include guests checkbox.
Click OK when you are done.
Click Save.
The system updates the role and again displays the Access screen.