Accessibility

Moodle Accessibility Statement

This VLE is run by The Courtauld. Moodle is The Courtauld’s Virtual Learning Environment hosted by CoSector. The VLE (Moodle), is a platform on which teaching and learning resources and activities are hosted.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this VLE. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts using in-browser tools
  • navigate most of the VLE using just a keyboard
  • zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of our online forms using just a keyboard
  • listen to most of the VLE using a screen reader. Moodle maintains a list of compatible screen readers. These include:
    • NVDA Screen Reader (Windows)
    • JAWS Screen Reader (Windows)
    • Chromevox Screen Reader (Linux, Chrome OS, Windows, Mac OS X)
    • Orca Screen Reader (Linux)

We advise authors to consider their use of language, the readability and accessibility of the content they create.

The VLE contains downloadable documents in PDF format. Our newer PDFs are best viewed in the free Adobe Reader tool, allowing you to magnify (with reflow to fit the page), navigate via the bookmark bar, change colours via preferences and listen using Adobe’s inbuilt text to speech or any other 3rd party tool.

AbilityNet (Opens in new window) has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. AbilityNet is a UK charity that exists to change the lives of disabled people by helping them to use digital technology at work, at home or in education.

In addition, major operating systems produce the following guidance:

  •     Windows users: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/
  •     Apple users: http://www.apple.com/accessibility/
  •     Linus users: https://community.kde.org/Accessibility
  •     Android users: https://support.google.com/accessibility/android

How Accessible is the VLE?

The Moodle platform is an ‘open source’ system maintained by Moodle HQ and a community of volunteer developers. It consists of ‘core’ functionality, developed and incorporated by Moodle HQ, and plugins created by Moodle HQ, companies and individuals. Updates and new versions are released regularly.

This accessibility statement will be updated as the platform evolves.

Moodle aims to be accessible, to provide equal functionality and information to all people. Moodle was built following WCAG 2.0 guidelines.

Moodle HQ maintains a list of known accessibility issues.

Content Hosted on the VLE

At The Courtauld, faculty staff design and populate their VLE spaces. Lecturers may create and upload, link to or embed materials of their choosing to their VLE spaces. Whilst we aspire for all teaching, learning and assessment resources hosted on the VLE to be fully accessible to all users, it is not possible to guarantee this.

As a result, we know we cannot guarantee that:

  • all content, activities and interfaces are navigable using just a keyboard
  • all files and content uploaded by authors is fully accessible to screen reader software
  • all non-text content has a text alternative
  • video and audio transcripts/captions have been checked and corrected for accuracy
  • text will reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
  • you can modify the line height or spacing of all text
  • a colour contrast of 3:1.

Students encountering accessibility difficulties should contact their module lecturer as it may be necessary for an alternative format/activity to be provided.

Feedback and Contact Information

  • If you need information on the VLE in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille: email support@courtauld.ac.uk.
  • If you are a student with existing support arrangements, please contact SAS@courtauld.ac.uk.

Reporting Accessibility Problems with the VLE

  • If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, email: wellbeing@courtauld.ac.uk
  • When you contact us by email you will receive a response to acknowledge your query, tell you who is dealing with it and give you a timescale by which you can expect a reply. 
  • If you have reported a problem with our VLE or have asked for an alternative format, but are not happy with our response, you can contact SAS@courtauld.ac.uk to register your difficulty. Your query will be escalated to the Academic Registrar: Daniel Hutchinson

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 the VLE's Accessibility

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

Compliance Status

  • This VLE is not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. The non-compliances and exemptions are listed below.

    Platform

    Moodle as a platform is designed to be accessible with full WCAG 2.1 AA compliance coming in version 3.10. Whilst we are able to ensure Moodle is an accessible platform, the customisability and ability to upload content means the VLE may be customised or host content that is not accessible.

  • Non Accessible Content

    The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

    Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

    Students encountering any of the potential accessibility issues below can report it to wellbeing@courtauld.ac.uk.

    Display

    The Moodle platform is designed for responsive display. However, there are some circumstances where accessibility is more limited:

    • Due to the nature of the content that might be hosted in Moodle it cannot be guaranteed that text can be resized without assistive technology up to 200 percent without loss of content or functionality. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 1.4.4 (resize text).
    • It cannot be guaranteed that content can be presented vertically and horizontally without needing to scroll. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 1.4.10 (reflow).

    Assistive Technologies

    The Moodle platform is designed to support screen readers and other accessible tools. Moodle maintains a list of supported screen reader and browser configurations. However, it cannot be guaranteed:

    • that input fields collecting information about the user can be programmatically determined (e.g. read by screen reader software). This does not meet WCAG success criterion 1.3.5 (identify input purpose).
    • that the language of each passage or phrase in the content can be determined programmatically (e.g. read by screen reader software). This does not meet WCAG success criterion 3.1.2 (language of parts).

    Images, Graphics and Visual Elements

    The Moodle platform provides facilities to make content accessible (e.g., addition of ALT text for images). However, due to the nature of the content hosted on the platform and the choices made by those authoring content, it cannot be guaranteed:

    • that text and images of text have a contrast ration of at least 4:5:1 or that large-scale text and images have a contrast ratio of at least 3:1. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 1.4.3 contrast (minimum).
    • that images of text have not been used. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 1.4.5 (images of text).
    • that all user interfaces and graphical objects meet the necessary contrast ratio. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 1.4.11 (non-text contrast).

    Navigation and Access

    The Moodle platform is designed to provide accessible navigation, however, due to the content, possible customisations and choices of authors, it cannot be guaranteed:

    • that all headings and labels describe topic or purpose. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 2.4.6 (headings and labels).
    • that the keyboard focus indicator is always visible. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 2.4.7 (focus visible).
    • that navigation mechanisms (how you move around the VLE) are consistent. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 3.2.3 (consistent navigation).
    • that all components with the same functionality will be labelled consistently. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 3.2.4 (consistent identification).

    Statuses and Error Messages

    The Moodle platform alerts users when an error has been made for example, not entering text into a required field. However, we feel the error messages need to be improved. At present, we cannot guarantee:

    • that all input error messages are accompanied by suggestions for correction. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 3.3.3 (error suggestion).
    • that all status messages, such as error messages, can be read by assistive technologies such as screen readers. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 4.1.3 (status messages).

    Audio and video content

    It cannot be guaranteed that all pre-recorded audio and video content is accompanied with a text alternative, captions or audio description. This does not meet the following WCAG success criterion:

    • 1.1.1 (non-text content)
    • 1.2.1 (audio-only and video-only - pre-recorded)
    • 1.2.2 (captions – pre-recorded)
    • 1.2.3 (audio description or media alternative - pre-recorded)
    • 1.2.5 (audio description - pre-recorded)

    Third Party Services and Systems
    Turnitin

    Moodle currently integrates with a similarity checking and feedback service, called Turnitin. Turnitin generates Similarity Reports on submitted assignments via the Feedback Studio Interface. For information on the accessibility of the Feedback Studio interface, please see Turnitin’s accessibility guidance.

    Microsoft Stream

    Video and audio content may be uploaded to Microsoft Stream and shared via links or embeds in Moodle. For more information on the accessibility support for Stream, please see Accessibility support for Microsoft Stream.

    Microsoft Stream supports transcripts and captions. Automated transcripts and captions can be requested and made available to viewers. It cannot be guaranteed that transcripts and captions will be available on all content or that they are checked and corrected for accuracy.

    Disproportionate Burden

    Whilst we aim for content hosted on Moodle to be accessible, ensuring the items below are fully accessible would place a disproportionate burden on content authors and the University. We will continue to review this list and seek out efficient and cost-effective solutions.

    Audio and video transcripts and captions

    Automatically generated transcripts and captions, generated automatically by the hosting platform, are unlikely to be 100% accurate with many factors impacting the accuracy of machine transcription.

    The cost of checking and correcting automatically generated transcripts and captions is under assessment, but we believe that doing so would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. This decision will be annually reviewed.

    This does not meet the following WCAG success criterion:

    • 1.1.1 (non-text content)
    • 1.2.1 (audio-only and video-only - prerecorded)
    • 1.2.2 (captions – prerecorded)
    • 1.2.3 (audio description or media alternative - prerecorded)
    • 1.2.5 (audio description - prerecorded)

    Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

    The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 section 4.2. Application.

    PDFs and other documents

    Older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they are accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

    The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services.

    Pre-recorded Audio and Video content published before 23 September 2020

    Pre-recorded audio and video content is unlikely to be accompanied with a text alternative, captions, audio description or sign language interpretation. This does not meet the following success criterion:

    • 1.1.1 (non-text content)
    • 1.2.1 (audio-only and video-only - pre-recorded)
    • 1.2.2 (captions – pre-recorded)
    • 1.2.3 (audio description or media alternative - pre-recorded)
    • 1.2.5 (audio description - pre-recorded)
    • 1.2.6 (sign language - pre-recorded)
    • 1.2.7 (extended audio description - pre-recorded)
    • 1.2.8 (media alternative - pre-recorded)

    We do not plan to create a text alternative, captions, audio description or sign language interpretation to pre-recorded audio or video content that was published before 23 September 2020 because pre-recorded audio and video content published before 23 September 2020 are exempt from the regulations.

    Live Audio and Video

    Live audio and video streams do not have captions. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions - live).

    We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

    Third Party Content

    Content embedded or integrated into the VLE, such as SCORM interactive content or packages purchased from third party companies, could fail multiple WCAG 2.1 success criterion. We do not plan to redevelop or edit content we have not developed, funded or have no control over because third party content is exempt from the regulations.

    Reproductions of Heritage Items

    Reproductions of heritage items refers to content or items that could include, archaeological items, archives, books, estate records, manuscripts or paintings for example. These items, when reproduced on this VLE, could fail multiple WCAG 2.1 success criterion.

    We do not plan to create accessible reproductions of heritage items where there is no automated and cost-efficient solution, or it is not possible to safely or authentically reproduce the item because reproductions of heritage items are exempt from the regulations.

    Archives

    VLE spaces that act as an archive, for example spaces for the previous academic year or that are no longer active, could fail multiple WCAG 2.1 success criterion.

    We do not plan to create accessible content for archives which are no longer active and have not been updated after 23 September 2019 because archives which are no longer active (for administrative purposes) and have not been updated after 23 September 2019 are exempt from the regulations.

    What we are doing to Improve Accessibility

    We are dedicated to improving the accessibility of this VLE for all users. To do so we will:

    • upgrade Moodle to version 3.10 in 2022 which is WCAG 2.1 AA accredited
    • Conduct a disproportionate burden assessment on the cost of checking and correcting automated transcripts and captions in 2022
    • provide guidance and training to authors on designing and creating accessible content in the VLE
    • assess, and redevelop where it is possible, practicable and cost-efficient, existing features, integrations, interfaces and developments based on the WCAG 2.1 success criterion
    • assess proposed new features, integrations, interfaces and developments based on the WCAG 2.1 success criterion.

    Preparation of this Accessibility Statement

    This statement was last reviewed on 15th February 2021.

    The VLE at https://vle.courtauld.ac.uk was last tested in February 2021. The test was carried out by The Courtauld Institute of Art. We used the WAVE accessibility checker on a sample of VLE pages. The samples tested included:

    • Activities
    • Resources
    • Course Formats
    • Commonly used third party content and integrations

    Results are used to improve our theme, submit issues to Moodle if they relate to core code and to inform guidance for staff.