Accessibility in Open LMS

Accessibility Compliance

Open LMS is fully committed to ensuring all products and services we deliver are both usable and accessible to all users regardless of age, ability, or situation. In keeping with our strong tradition of leadership around accessibility, our products are designed and developed in accordance with the internationally recognized Web Content Accessibility (WCAG) Guidelines 2.1 Level AA as well as the Section 508 standards in the United States. 

Open LMS includes the following:

1. Full support of assistive technologies such as screen readers, text magnifiers, and speech-to-text solutions.
2. All functionality is designed to be keyboard accessible. Global keyboard shortcuts for common actions.
3. Compliance with ADA, XHTML and JavaScript standards is also important for accessibility and Web browser compatibility. Moodle has standard accessibility tests available on every page. These checks run the W3C’s Validator application to check for strict XHTML compliance, as well as the common “”Cynthia Says”” validation from Hi Software for both Section 508 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) compliance.
4. As an open-source project, more than 60 million users worldwide are continuously using and testing Moodle, and all issues identified are openly reported, discussed, and fixed. Likewise, a worldwide project, which has had major investments from the UK, Italy, New Zealand, etc., works to make Moodle the most accessible LMS in the world.

Certifications and Documentation

Our core is the open source platform Moodle™ which is also certified for WCAG compliance and maintains their own certifications. Both the core product Moodle™ and the mobile application are certified under WCAG 2.1 AA standards. More detailed information can be found at Accessibility - Moodle™ Docs (opens in a new tab).

A third party conducts regular audits of our software to ensure quality expectations are being met and maintained. We have review reports and a VPATs for our variations on that core solution; available in English only). 

• VPAT for Open LMS EDU with Snap
• VPAT for Open LMS WORK

About keyboard navigation

Industry-standard keyboard interactions are used throughout Open LMS. Keyboard navigation patterns differ between browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome), but the interactions within any particular browser are common and consistent.

If you are using a Mac with Firefox or Safari and are having difficulty navigating using your keyboard, review and update your operating system and browser settings. This ensures they are properly configured for keyboard navigation. To learn more, see the following information:

• Firefox keyboard navigation tips
• Mac general setup

Global keyboard shortcuts have been established for common actions within Open LMS.

Accessible chat interface

The Chat activity has a more accessible interface that gives a simpler chat room without frames and javascript.

Accessible course design

Of course the platform and related tools are accessible, but the content created needs to be accessible as well. The platform uses best practices and standards to guide content authors to make high quality, accessible content that is useful for all learners. Please see our articles on Web Accessibility and Accessible Course Design for additional insights and information.

Open LMS also offers courses on effective and accessible course design. Please visit our Academy site for current course listings.

Brickfield Education Labs integration

Brickfield’s Accessibility Starter Toolkit is included in Moodle™ 3.11 and later. It helps organizations create accessible content in their courses.

The Accessibility Starter Toolkit automatically analyzes Moodle™ courses against a set of common accessibility rules, checking the content inside of all core activities. The Toolkit then generates a report with a list of all detected accessibility errors, which can also be broken down by type of content or type of activity. The Accessibility Starter Toolkit is available in the platform and just requires an account and some configuration to enable. There is a paid version of Brickfield Education Labs that offers additional capabilities and features; Open LMS can help you find out more about that. 

See this article for more on the Accessibility Starter Toolkit.

Blackboard Ally integration 

Institutions can make their digital content more accessible with Blackboard Ally.

Blackboard Ally is a paid-for integration and must be purchased to be enabled.

1. Automatically checks course materials against WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards
2. Provides students with accessible alternative formats such as audio and electronic braille
3. Delivers guidance to instructors to improve accessibility of their course content