Accessibility statement for LearnNet (VLE)

This accessibility statement applies to the Dumfries and Galloway College VLE known as LearnNet. dglearnnet.com/moodle2/

The VLE is run by Dumfries and Galloway College on Moodle. We are committed to making the VLE as easy to use for as many people as possible, for any disability.

We are currently in the process of testing the VLE for accessibility issues and evaluating the learning materials provided. Where we find we are not compliant we will work towards making it compliant.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
You can also contact our Student Advisory Service via studentadvisor@dumgal.ac.uk

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • Some of our content is contained in older PDFs which are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
  • You can only change the contrast of the page using a browser plugin like the High Contrast Plugin for Google Chrome.
  • Some live video streams do not have captions.
  • Some of our older videos may not be captioned.
  • Some third-party content e.g. genial.ly may not work well with screen readers and may not be compliant.
  • Some videos are stored in deprecated formats which will not play on modern devices.
  • Banners on the Dashboard page do not appear in screen readers at present.
  • Menu Button needs an active outline added to it when in focus.
  • Some forms, boxes and buttons are missing appropriate labels and may be confusing.
  • Skip to Main Content misses out the top half of the page on Dashboard.
  • Menu Button does not have an appropriate title – it’s unclear what it does on a screen reader.
  • Voice Recognition is not labelling sub menu items.

Third-Party Content and How Accessible they are.

Dumfries and Galloway College uses a variety of third-party software to support Students Learning including:

We will continue to assess the software we use to support students for accessibility and where it is not compliant seek to use alternative formats or software.

Feedback and contact information

We are committed to making our content as accessible as possible. If you do experience any difficulties navigating our VLE, learning materials or any of our other digital services please do get in touch so we can work towards improving these areas.

If you need information or learning materials in a different format like an accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you as quickly as we can.

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:

Tel: (01387) 734 000
Email: studentadvisor@dumgal.ac.uk

And we will pass the information on to the relevant department to look into.

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment and you can use the free Contact Scotland BSL Service – www.contactscotland-bsl.org

Students can also contact the Student Advisors via studentadviser@dumgal.ac.uk so we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter or other appropriate support.

We would also recommend you contact the Student Advisors via studentadviser@dumgal.ac.uk if you need help with any disability you may have.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Dumfries and Galloway College is committed to making all websites and apps accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

The VLE is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 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.

We are currently auditing our VLE and learning materials and we will update this list with our findings along with our plan to correct by December 2021.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some areas of the VLE do not use a meaningful sequence when navigated via a keyboard or Screen reader which could be confusing to the user. This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.3.2 (Meaningful Sequence)

We are currently working on a new version of our VLE which will address these issues. This should be in place by the academic year 2021 / 2022 and will be fully compliant with WCAG Version 2.1

We are also looking into modifying the existing VLE to address these issues by December 2021

The side panel menu button does not display an active outline when selected via a keyboard. This makes it unclear when selected and confusing to the user. This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 3.2.1 (On Focus)

We aim to fix this by November 2020.

Some images are missing alternative text for screen readers. This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text content)

Our VLE has had many images added over the years and many of these images have not had alternative text added to them. We are working with staff to update existing images and any new images will always have alternative text added. The new version of the VLE will include an Accessibility Checker that will make it easier for staff to spot when alt text has been missed.

Some form labels and menu items are missing appropriate labels for screen readers. This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterions 1.1.1 (non-text content), 1.3.1 (info and relationships), 2.4.6 (headings and labels) and 3.3.2 (labels or instructions.

We are currently working on a new version of our VLE which will address these issues. This should be in place by the academic year 2021 / 2022 and will be fully compliant with WCAG Version 2.1

We are also looking into modifying the existing VLE to address these issues by December 2020.

Some elements have broken aria references. This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships) and 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value)

Some of our existing documents have diagrams that do not have a text alternative. The information in these diagrams is not available to people using a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

Some of our documents have diagrams that do not meet the colour contrast ratio of at least 3:1. These diagrams may be difficult to see or missed by people with a visual impairment. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.11 (non-text contrast).

Some of our documents have diagrams that use colour as the only means of conveying information. The information in these diagrams may not be perceived by users with colour deficiencies. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1 (use of colour).

Some of our documents are published in unstructured PDF. Headings, list items and paragraphs may not be recognised by a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).

Some of our spreadsheets may not be clearly structured with labelled tables and labelled headings. Columns headings may be blank. Workbooks tabs may not have a clear title. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).

Some of our documents are published using tables to lay out text in columns on the page. This often hides content from the navigation pane or table of contents. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.6 (headings and labels) or success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).

Learning materials for active courses are currently being reviewed and updated to meet accessibility guidelines.

Any new documents or learning materials published will be checked for accessibility and aim to meet the new guidelines.

Disproportionate burden

Our VLE contains a large number of PDFs and other documents created in previous years.

Where these PDFs are no longer being updated, we do not intend to recreate them in accessible versions as this would be a disproportionate burden. The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. We will make sure any new documents are accessible and meet the guidelines.

Many images have been uploaded over the years and do not have alternative text added. We are working towards updating these and we will make sure any new images have alt text added as well as training staff so they understand the importance of adding alternative text to images. Our new VLE will also include an accessibility checker which will make it easier for staff to spot when the alternative text has been missed.

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

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents.

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

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video

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

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Our accessibility roadmap shows how and when we plan to improve accessibility on this website.

We are working on producing a new version of the VLE to be launched the academic year 2021 / 2022 which will be fully compliant with WCAG AA 2.1. 1

Learning materials for current courses are currently being reviewed and where possible updated to meet accessibility guidelines.

Issues on the existing version of the VLE will be reviewed and where possible, updates will be made to meet accessibility guidelines.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 17th September 2020 It was last reviewed on 18th September 2020

This VLE was last tested on 18th September 2020. The test was carried out by Dumfries and Galloway College. We manually tested a sample of pages for accessibility issues using the following methods: