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Thread: FW: Moodle and accessibility
Number of posts in this thread: 5 (In chronological order)
From: Glenda Watson Hyatt
Date: Thu, Aug 04 2005 6:00AM
Subject: FW: Moodle and accessibility
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I am working on a proposal to develop a website for an online self-help
community. They would like to use Moodle for online learning. I haven't
used Moodle much, so I thought I'd ask here first before doing some
searching: is anyone familiar with the level of accessibility of Moodle?
Are there any accessibility issues that I should be aware of?
Also, the potential client requires the ability for participants to start
their own online support groups or action team sites with a secure subsite
with its own resource area, chat room, and message board. They want
something simple to use and open source. Is this another place Moodle could
be used? Any other suggestions? Of course it has to be accessible, both
in terms of disability/capability and slower, older technology.
Looking forward to hearing any ideas or comments.
Cheers,
Glenda
Glenda Watson Hyatt, Principal
Soaring Eagle Communications
Accessible websites. Accessible content. Accessible solutions.
www.webaccessibility.biz
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From: John Foliot - WATS.ca
Date: Tue, Aug 09 2005 11:08AM
Subject: RE: FW: Moodle and accessibility
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All,
Not sure if this is relevant, but A-Tutor (http://www.atutor.ca/) from
the University of Toronto's Adaptive Technology Resource Centre. While
I have not really mucked about with it, I *do* know the folks behind it,
and they're some of the "good guys" <smile>.
>From their website:
"What is ATutor? - ATutor is an Open Source Web-based Learning Content
Management System (LCMS) designed with accessibility and adaptability in
mind. Administrators can install or update ATutor in minutes, and
develop custom templates to give ATutor a new look. Educators can
quickly assemble, package, and redistribute Web-based instructional
content, easily retrieve and import prepackaged content, and conduct
their courses online. Students learn in an adaptive learning
environment."
Cheers!
JF
--
John Foliot = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Web Accessibility Specialist / Co-founder of WATS.ca
Web Accessibility Testing and Services
http://www.wats.ca
Phone: 1-613-482-7053
From: Glenda Watson Hyatt
Date: Tue, Aug 09 2005 11:09AM
Subject: RE: FW: Moodle and accessibility
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Hi Michael,
I appreciate your feedback. It is somewhat encouraging. However, I am
concerned when you mention there are accessibility issues with the
installation and configuration. Once it is installed and configured, is
there a need to go back in there to tweak anything? An online community
wishes to use Moodle, so there will be a wide range of computer skills and
disabilities involved, and I'm wondering how simple this will be for them to
use and maintain.
Please feel free to contact me offlist to discuss this further.
Cheers,
Glenda
Glenda Watson Hyatt, Principal
Soaring Eagle Communications
Accessible websites. Accessible content. Accessible solutions.
www.webaccessibility.biz
-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
[mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]On Behalf Of Michael Roush
Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 12:03 PM
To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Subject: [WebAIM] FW: Moodle and accessibility
Ive been using Moodle for about 6 months now. I found out about it when
the organization I work for was presented with an opportunity to make use of
a system called BlackBoard. We were very interested, but I was
concerned about what I felt were some accessibility issues with the system
when I started learning about it. Someone in a PHP users group I am part
of suggested I check out Moodle, and thats what we have gone with.
As of Moodle v1.5 (released in June), they have made some advances in the
realm of accessibility, but arent all the way there yet. They do have as
a goal that all of Moodles pages out of the box will comply with US
Section 508 guidelines by version 1.6. The worst accessibility barriers I
have found with it have been with the installation and configuration of it
more so than the student-side use of it. All that the developers really
knew about testing for accessibility when I started using it was running the
code through Cynthia Says. Before you scoff, realize that their
bug-reporting forum has been open since day one for anyone to go in and
supply information.
For me, the best part of the Moodle system is that it is open source
software. If you find something that isnt accessible, you can do more
than just complain about it or sue someone over it. You can fix it. And
the lead developers are dying to have people use Moodle and report the bugs
they find so it can be improved. If anyone out there would like to spend
some time working on an open-source online learning environment to make
online learning more accessible for people, Moodle is waiting for you.
Michael D. Roush, Technology Consultant
Hopewell SERRC
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From: Michael Roush
Date: Tue, Aug 09 2005 11:09AM
Subject: FW: Moodle and accessibility
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Ive been using Moodle for about 6 months now. I found out about it when the organization I work for was presented with an opportunity to make use of a system called BlackBoard. We were very interested, but I was concerned about what I felt were some accessibility issues with the system when I started learning about it. Someone in a PHP users group I am part of suggested I check out Moodle, and thats what we have gone with.
As of Moodle v1.5 (released in June), they have made some advances in the realm of accessibility, but arent all the way there yet. They do have as a goal that all of Moodles pages out of the box will comply with US Section 508 guidelines by version 1.6. The worst accessibility barriers I have found with it have been with the installation and configuration of it more so than the student-side use of it. All that the developers really knew about testing for accessibility when I started using it was running the code through Cynthia Says. Before you scoff, realize that their bug-reporting forum has been open since day one for anyone to go in and supply information.
For me, the best part of the Moodle system is that it is open source software. If you find something that isnt accessible, you can do more than just complain about it or sue someone over it. You can fix it. And the lead developers are dying to have people use Moodle and report the bugs they find so it can be improved. If anyone out there would like to spend some time working on an open-source online learning environment to make online learning more accessible for people, Moodle is waiting for you.
Michael D. Roush, Technology Consultant
Hopewell SERRC
From: Eoin Campbell
Date: Tue, Aug 09 2005 11:09AM
Subject: FW: Moodle and accessibility
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Moodle 1.5.2 claims to have improved accessibility support
cf. http://download.moodle.org/ and click on the "release notes" link.
moodle.org uses 1.5.2, and I ran the Home page through a validator and
the WebXact accessibility checker. Numerous errors were reported,
including missing alt attribute, absolute sizing and positioning, etc.
At 19:00 04/08/2005, you wrote:
>From: "Glenda Watson Hyatt" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>I am working on a proposal to develop a website for an online self-help
>community. They would like to use Moodle for online learning. I haven't
>used Moodle much, so I thought I'd ask here first before doing some
>searching: is anyone familiar with the level of accessibility of Moodle?
>Are there any accessibility issues that I should be aware of?
--
Eoin Campbell, Technical Director, XML Workshop Ltd.
10 Greenmount Industrial Estate, Harolds Cross, Dublin, Ireland.
Phone: +353 1 4547811; fax: +353 1 4496299.
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ; web: www.xmlw.ie
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