Using RWTHmoodle is essential for studying at RWTH: There you’ll find important documents and information for courses, learning materials, and much more.
Since this past August, RWTHmoodle has become even more accessible. The user interface has been updated to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This makes RWTHmoodle more accessible and thus available to an even wider range of users.
In this blog post, we’ll give you an overview of the WCAG and explain how its individual principles are already being implemented in RWTHmoodle.
Updates to RWTHmoodle
Since August, several changes have been made to further improve accessibility in RWTHmoodle: Linked pages are now more easily recognizable to users thanks to higher color contrast with the body text and new icons. An arrow icon next to a link indicates that it leads to a page outside of RWTHmoodle. An envelope icon indicates that an email address is linked. This makes it clearer to users where a hyperlink leads.
With these icons, RWTHmoodle complies with the WCAG. The WCAG is an internationally recognized standard for digital accessibility and forms the basis of the German Accessible Information Technology Ordinance. Its goal is to make the web more accessible to people with disabilities.
The WCAG are based on the POUR principles: these stand for Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. These principles had already been implemented in RWTHmoodle prior to the updates in August.
Perceivability
The principle of perceivability states that the content and structure of a platform must be recognizable to everyone. This often involves offering alternative ways to access the information.
When course content is made available as a video, RWTHmoodle offers learning space managers the option to add captions. This allows people with hearing impairments or those who have difficulty processing audio signals to still access the information.
For images and graphics as well, RWTHmoodle ensures that alternative text is available so that people with visual impairments can access them.
Usability
Whether using a mouse, keyboard, voice, or other assistive technologies, all users should be able to interact with every element of an online application.
RWTHmoodle can be operated entirely via the keyboard. By pressing the Tab key, users can navigate entirely via the keyboard through Moodle learning spaces. Selected elements are highlighted in blue, indicating that they are “in focus.” When using a screen reader, these focused elements are read aloud. Additional actions can be performed using the Enter key; for example, linked pages can be opened.
Comprehensibility
A comprehensible learning space is important for both accessibility and a positive learning experience. The principle of comprehensibility not only ensures that the complexity of the content is appropriate for the target audience, but a consistent structure is also a key foundation for a comprehensible learning space.
In RWTHmoodle, this is evident in the fact that all learning spaces have the same structure. On the left is the course index, which lists the sections of the course. On the right is the block bar, which contains, for example, the calendar or the Opencast block. The course content is displayed in the center.
Nevertheless, learning spaces can differ greatly from one another, which can lead to confusion among students. For this reason, the Center for Teaching and Learning Services (CLS) offers course templates to standardize the learning spaces. Of course, the templates can still be edited afterward to adapt them to the specific course.
Robustness
A platform is robust if it is compatible with common browsers, operating systems, and assistive technologies, and is updated regularly.
To ensure this, RWTHmoodle undergoes maintenance every Thursday between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. Occasionally, longer maintenance periods are scheduled. These are announced on our status portal. Changes are also announced on IT Center Changes.
Resources for Learning Space Managers
Although accessibility is a priority in the development of RWTHmoodle, a large portion of the content is provided by instructors.
The CLS offers learning space managers numerous resources in the Moodle learning space LehrBar, which explain how to design learning spaces and teaching in the most accessible way possible.
A list of additional resources to help learning space managers design their learning spaces to be accessible can be found on the IT Center Help page Accessibility in RWTHmoodle.
Responsible for the content of this article is Abigail Legras-Lecarpentier.
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