The course Roles works in conjunction with a user login system to allow or deny a user access to course content and various information or features of a course.
Roles are not fully implemented at this time. Currently, the only role that differs from the others in functionality is "instructor".
Instructors will appear in the "Instructors" list on the course overview and, if discussions are enabled, all comments from an instructor will be labeled as such.
Managers have full access to a course and its contents, editing capabilities, and so forth but are not listed or noted as such on the overview or elsewhere within the course as instructors are.