Accessibility statement for the University of the Arts, London (UAL) Moodle

This accessibility statement applies to moodle.arts.ac.uk

Moodle is the University of the Arts London (UAL) and its subsidiaries’ Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Moodle is an open-source project, led and coordinated by Moodle HQ and this means that certain aspects of its design are not under UAL's control.

Moodle state that the VLE meets WCAG 2.1AA level compliance on version 3.10. UAL are using version 4.1 of the LMS. Moodle state that it meets WCAG 2.1AA level compliance on the current version (4.1) used by UAL. Read the Moodle Accessibility statement for further details. Moodle content can be produced by any teacher or student. As such will never be possible to say with 100% certainty whether all of Moodle is fully accessible or not. However, UAL and its subsidiaries aim to ensure that teaching, learning, and assessment resources built-in and/or uploaded to Moodle are fully accessible to all users.

Moodle includes an 'Accessibility Checker’ in Moodle’s default Atto Text Editor, which scans course content and alerts users to a range of accessibility issues that may be found within the text.

We commit to ensuring this website is as accessible as possible and we want as many people as possible to be able to use it. This means that you should be able to:

access the website regardless of the device and browser you are using
zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver). Find out about the screen readers that Moodle supports.
We have also tried to make the website text as easy to understand as possible although we recognise we have more work to do on this.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

If you need support, please contact the Disability Service for help and advice. More information on the Disability Service.

Recite Me

We use Recite Me on Moodle, which is a cloud-based assistive toolbar. Recite Me allows you to customise Moodle content so that you can consume it ways that work for you. The toolbar includes:

a screen reader
reading aids such as a ruler, magnifier, and dictionary
a screen mask
colour contrast options
text re-sizing
the option to download text as an audio MP3 file
alternative font options including OpenDyslexic
a language translation tool

A user guide is available on the Recite Me website.

Recite Me works by placing cookies on your device. Information about these cookies is available on UAL's Cookies page.

The Recite Me translation tool uses machine translation and text that is translated on the site may not be entirely accurate.

In some cases, Recite Me may not be entirely compatible with other technologies and plugins that we have on moodle. For example, we have found that Recite Me does not interact well with some of our course template designs. This is currently under investigation and further details will be published soon

Recite Me doesn't remove the need for an accessible moodle and we want to make it as accessible as possible so you can easily find and access the information you need.

We want you to have the best possible experience while navigating around our site and realise we have more to do to achieve this. UAL and its subsidiaries aim to ensure that teaching, learning, and assessment resources built-in and/or uploaded to Moodle are fully accessible to all users.

How accessible this website is

Moodle is a complex platform that contains a large quantity of user-generated content, third-party plugins and custom development.

At a platform level the Moodle Accessibility Statement addresses the core issues. Version 4.0 is currently WCAG certified as of May 2023. UAL uses Moodle 4.1, which is being updated to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards. Follow progress of the updates for model 4.1 and 4.2.

Outstanding issues at the time of writing this statement include:

The Moodle Grades User Report has doesn’t meet accessibility standards
Moodle currently doesn't provide feedback for successful completion of an action on the course page
The Moodle Grade Report doesn't successfully report user input errors

The Moodle system also supports the inclusion of third-party generated plugins, which may not meet WCAG accessibility criteria.

To provide clarity in relation to accessibility issues on the Moodle platform, this section of the accessibility statement makes a distinction between the core functionality of Moodle at a system level (i.e. content that isn't user-generated) and content that is created on or uploaded to Moodle by our users.

System level

Included in system-level issues are components which are controlled through core Moodle modules and not subject to updates or modification by users. This includes plugins installed on UAL's Moodle instance, UAL’s customised Moodle theme, and therefore content that isn’t covered by the Moodle WCAG audit.

For the purposes of this statement, system-level content is identified as:

The Moodle login page
Dashboard
My Courses
Help
UAL Resources
Course formats
Activities and resources
Supplementary user pages (e.g. Profile, Calendar, Gradebook,)

Content-level

Content on Moodle is generated by Moodle users. This includes content such as course information, learning materials, and assessment information. Although our aim is to meet essential accessibility standards within Moodle, it is clear from our reporting features that user-generated content on Moodle lacks accessibility.

Consequently, it is not possible to say that all content on Moodle meets accessibility criteria.

Below is a list of known areas that have accessibility problems:

Some media are lacking text alternatives
Not all video or audio content includes alternative accessible forms
Some content has problems with structure (such as.pdf and .doc)
Some content can't be correctly read by screenreaders (such as non-OCR pdfs, incorrectly formatted html tables)
Some content doesn't have sufficient contrast levels (images and text documents)
Some links lack clarity of purpos

Third-party accessibility links

Several third-party tools are integrated into or linked from Moodle.

Detailed information about the accessibility of these products and statements of compliance can be found below:

A VPAT, or Voluntary Product Accessibility Template, is a document prepared by a product developer or vendor which describes how well the product conforms to the accessibility standards of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in the USA. They evaluate how accessible a product is against WCAG 2.1 standards.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in an alternative, more accessible format please contact the Digital Learning Support team by email at dlsupport@arts.ac.uk

Please include details of the content you need and the required format or the service you are trying to access. We will then work with the team who own the content or the service to get you what you need.

We aim to provide you with an initial response within two working days and will provide clear information about how we will deal with your request.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements, contact Digital Learning Support team by email at dlsupport@arts.ac.uk

We aim to provide you with an initial response within two working days and will provide clear information about how we will deal with your enquiry or complaint

If you feel we have not answered your enquiry or complaint satisfactorily, please contact us again. We will escalate your enquiry or complaint to the Head of Product, Teaching & Learning, who will work with the team who provides the service/content to get you a response.

Enforcement Procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the 'accessibility regulations'). If you're not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website's accessibility

UAL is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

Moodle is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. Non-compliances and exemptions are below

Non-accessible content

The content below is non-accessible for the following reasons

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some images and other non-text content do not include text alternatives. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1
Not all video and audio content include suitable alternative media. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1
Not all time-based media is captioned. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2.
Not all video content is accompanied by suitable audio description or alternative. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.3
Incorrect structuring of uploaded documents (PDF, .doc) creates problems with determining relationships and sequence. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1
Not all Moodle content meets minimum contrast levels. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3
Tiles course format doesn't support keyboard-only navigation. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1.
Grid format doesn't support keyboard-only navigation when using Popout menu options. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1
Link purpose isn't always clear in links included within unit pages and uploaded documents. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4
Not all Moodle pages are accessible in multiple ways. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.5.
Not all headings and labels are descriptive. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.6
Tiles course format doesn't provide focus visibility when using keyboard navigation. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7
Some Moodle content doesn't correctly identify the language of parts. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.2
Parsing of markup languages may not always be correct. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.1

What we're doing to improve accessibility

The upgrade to moodle 4.1 in July 2023 brings further opportunity for UAL to improve on accessibility. The list below highlights key planned activities and improvements in relation to accessibility, over the next 12 months.

A Teaching and Learning Accessibility best practice group has been established to discuss and implement accessibility improvements on our digital learning platforms and across our colleges
Further investigation into the Recite Me accessibility tool and to promote its usefulness among students and staff, and to make clear its limitations on Moodle
Enhance and update out guidance to staff on how to ensure content uploaded to Moodle meets accessibility guidelines

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on Monday 25 September 2023