Moodle accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to all student-facing instances of Moodle (modules.lancaster.ac.uk), run by Lancaster University.

The content on this Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is designed for everyone to find, read, and understand. It is compatible with assistive technologies and developed to meet the accessibility standards outlined in this statement. Where we have identified issues with the website’s accessibility or compatibility with assistive technologies they are listed in this statement.

View Moodle your way

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

  • zoom in up to 200% 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

We also try to make the content as simple as possible to understand.

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

We have integrated Blackboard Ally, an accessibility tool, with Moodle to allow you to download resources in a range of alternative formats. Departments are responsible for ensuring that the pages and content they create within Moodle are accessible. Ally can help staff address accessibility issues in Moodle content. The overall accessibility of teaching materials is improving, the complexity and volume of documents means that achieving full accessibility of all materials will take time. If you have any difficulty using any teaching materials in your Moodle learning space, please contact your course convenor or departmental officer.

Moodle contains links to third-party content from a number of different providers. We do not have control over this content, but we make best endeavours to work with the third party to improve its accessibility. This may include:

  • Turnitin for similarity checking of assignments.
  • Links to Panopto for lecture recordings;
  • Links to external services such as Learning On Screen and Leganto.

Accessibility information for third-party services can be found on our Accessibility information for other applications webpage.

How accessible is Moodle?

We know some of the content within the Moodle area isn't fully accessible:

  • Live video streams and some videos may have poor quality or missing captions;
  • Some documents stored on Moodle (for example Portable Document Format documents (PDFs), spreadsheets, word documents or presentations) may not be fully accessible;
  • Some courses may be confusing to navigate;
  • Some elements need better colour contrast;
  • Some non-text elements do not have a text alternative;
  • In some parts of Moodle, ARIA labels and headings are missing or incorrectly applied;
  • The PDF created in the feedback download is not fully accessible to screen reader software.

Feedback and contact information

Please contact us if you have an accessibility query including:

  • If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or Braille.
  • If you are experiencing issues with accessing information or using Moodle
  • If you find an accessibility problem not listed on this statement
  • If you have positive feedback on the accessibility considerations made.

Reporting accessibility problems with Moodle

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 us to register your difficulty. This helps us improve our systems.

What to do if your problem isn’t dealt with satisfactorily

If you have contacted us about an accessibility problem (e.g. because you needed information in a different format, or you think we're not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations) but you feel that this has not been dealt with satisfactorily we want to know.

The first stage would be to raise your concern informally. The aim of this stage is to achieve a quick and easy solution for you. It would be appropriate to take the concern through the relevant contact listed above for reporting an accessibility problem.

But if we do not deal with your concern satisfactorily you can take it through to a formal complaint. See our Concerns, complaints and enforcement information.

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

Lancaster University 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

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

This section covers issues that we need to fix. The issues listed in this section refer to both the platform (https://modules.lancaster.ac.uk/) and the content hosted within.

Moodle platform issues

These issues affect the Moodle platform as a whole, across all pages.

Duplicate alt text

Some images have alternative text that duplicates the content of a text link inside or beside them (WCAG: 1.1.1).

Incorrectly structured lists

Some pages include lists which contain elements that will make the list difficult to interpret by screen readers (WCAG: 1.3.1).

Contrast Issues

Some pages may contain elements with low contrast between the elements and its background particularly when under focus (WCAG: 1.4.11).

Text contrast

The colour of some text does not sufficiently contrast with its background colour, so come people with moderate visual impairments may not be able to read it. (WCAG: 1.4.3).

Interactive component distance

Some components are not far enough apart from other interactive areas, which will make it easier for users to click on the wrong component by mistake (WCAG: 2.5.8).

Missing anchors

Some links point to anchors that do not exist (WCAG: 2.4.1).

Programmatic field purpose

Some optional fields on some forms do not identify their purpose programmatically. This means that not all fields will be able to autofill (WCAG: 1.3.5)

Individual page-related issues

These issues will only be found on specific page types, such as e.g. the forum page.

Frames without a title attribute

Some pages contain frames without a title attribute. Screen reader users rely on a frame title to describe the contents of a frame (WCAG: 2.4.1, 4.1.2).

Links without meaningful purpose

Some links have not been labelled clearly. This means that the links do not make sense when they are taken out of context, and for some links it is not possible to know what the purpose of the link is (WCAG: 2.4.4).

Table heading scopes

Table headers on some pages do not have a valid scope attribute, so it won’t always be possible for assistive technologies to tell what the header refers to (e.g. row or column) (WCAG: 1.3.1).

Duplicate ID attributes

Some elements on some pages have duplicate ID attributes which may affect the performance of some assistive technologies (WCAG: 4.1.1)

Missing fieldset legends

Some fieldsets may not have a legend that describes their contents (WCAG: 1.3.1).

Issues with Moodle content

These issues relate to content uploaded to Moodle by users.

Contrast issues

Some documents may contain text with low contrast between the text and its background. This can cause the text to be difficult to read, especially for those with low vision, poor eyesight, or colour blindness.

Images without a description

Some documents may contain informative images that do not have a description or alternative text. People with screen readers or other assistive devices rely on these descriptions to understand the image content and purpose.

Document untagged

Some PDF documents have not been appropriately tagged. PDF tags are hidden labels that clarify the structure of the document and define which elements are headings, paragraphs, tables, lists, etc.

Headings

Some documents may not contain marked-up headings which provide structure to a document.

Non-Optical Character Recognised (OCR)

Some documents are either entirely scanned or contain pages that are scanned. Screen readers may therefore be unable to convert these images into words, even if the image only consists of text. Users can create OCRed conversions of such documents using Ally.

Disproportionate burden

This section covers issues that we cannot fix right now. We’ve assessed the cost of fixing these issues but believe that doing so would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the law.

Captions

From September 2020, all video recordings included as teaching materials should have automated captions, and all recorded content created before September 2020 must have captions added if used for teaching after this date.

Audio-only content, such as podcasts, do not currently require captioning but a transcript of the content should be provided alongside the link to the audio.

Some recorded content may not have captions by default. All video recording applications used at Lancaster have the ability to produce auto-captions, the accuracy of which is generally good (i.e. > 90%) but can be affected by numerous factors. As with any automated speech recognition system, there may be some errors in the speech to text conversion process. Automatically generated captions are briefly checked for major inaccuracies and in most cases, any errors will be minor and won’t affect the overall learning for those who use closed captions. Fully accurate captions will be provided to any students who have disclosed an appropriate disability or impairment.

We have assessed the cost of fixing all incorrect captions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. Please see our disproportionate burden assessment for captioning.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

This section covers issues that we do not need to fix right now. The law calls these “exemptions”.

PDFs and documents

Some PDFs that are not essential to providing our services were published before 23rd September 2018. We provide a facility within Moodle whereby resources can be downloaded in a range of alternative formats via Ally.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 11 September 2024. It was last reviewed on 11 September 2024.

This website was last tested on 7 August 2024 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. The test was carried out by Lancaster University. A sample of pages were selected for testing based on the pages we would expect be most commonly used by staff and students, these were:

  • Moodle course page
  • Editing mode for Moodle course page
  • Course settings page
  • Announcements Forum page
  • Profile page
  • Editing page for profile
  • My modules page
  • Coursework submission page
  • My feedback page
  • Grading screen

Pages were tested using automatic and assisted testing via Silktide Accessibility Checker, Axe DevTools, and Accessibility Insights for Web. Screen reader compatibility was tested using NVDA and Silktide's built-in screen reader simulator.

Central Moodle testing and certification

Moodle 4.3 (the version we currently use) received WCAG 2.1 Level AA accreditation on 24 January 2024. An external audit against WCAG 2.2 AA is planned to take place soon. As things stand, Moodle have conducted an internal assessment and found that all WCAG 2.2 level AA criteria are supported besides 2.4.11, which is only partially supported. A solution to meet criterion 2.4.11 has been agreed.

The Moodle known issues page identifies reported issues with Moodle accessibility and the Moodle accessibility standards page outlines the design principles behind it, including information on supported browsers, screen readers and accessibility tools.