Coming soon for Moodle 4 - Ally Accessibility Toolkit!

This exciting addition for Moodle, Ally is a toolkit that helps you make course content in Moodle more accessible to all users. It does this by:

1. Automatically scanning course content to provide accessibility scores, easy to follow guidance and feedback on how and why teaching staff should improve the accessibility of the learning resources.

Figure 1: Course and content accessibility scores and guidance for Ally.

2. Automatically generating alternative accessible formats for uploaded files that students can download for their personal use e.g. tagged PDFs, audio (mp3), eBook (ePub), electronic braille and beeline reader. This video from Southampton University outlines some of the benefits of alternative formats.

Figure 2: Ally alternative formats availability and menu.

With Moodle being the primary digital learning environment for the majority of course content and learning materials, teaching staff and students will automatically benefit from being able to use the new accessibility toolkit seamlessly.

As educators, the toolkit helps us on the continuous journey of offering a more inclusive curriculum by being proactive rather than reactive with the availability of alternative file formats and the duty to make reasonable adjustments as outlined in the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 which builds on the 2010 Equality Act.

In preparation for the launch, a new course, “Accessibility of Online Learning” is available in Evolve, which outlines the main challenges facing students with a disability or learning difficulty with respect to online learning while considering what adjustments can be made when creating and/or evaluating learning materials to ensure they are accessible and usable.

This course is highly recommended for teaching staff and can be used as evidence of your professional learning for GTC Scotland.

Watch this space for more!