University College London (UCL) accessibility statement for UCL Extend

This accessibility statement applies to UCL Extend (https://extend.ucl.ac.uk/) and the related systems contained within it:

Each is managed by University College London (UCL), although Drupal, Course Merchant, and Moodle are each third-party platform. Please see the third-party section of this statement for more information.

Moodle is an Open-Source Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) which means that some aspects of its accessibility are outside of our immediate control.

The content on this website is designed for everyone to find, read, and understand. Where we have identified issues with the website’s accessibility or compatibility with assistive technologies they are listed in this statement.

View the site your way

There are a number of customisation options for your browser and device that could help you use this website and other websites more effectively.

AbilityNet provide advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

Feedback and contact information

Please contact us if you have an accessibility query including:

  • If you are experiencing issues with accessing information or using the website
  • If you find an accessibility problem not listed on this statement
  • If you have positive feedback on the accessibility considerations made. 

When you contact us there is a process in place that will acknowledge your contact, tell you who is dealing with it and give you a timescale by which you can expect a reply.

We aim to respond to all contacts within 5 working days.

Alternative formats

We’ve designed our content to be as accessible as possible. If you experience barriers, you can request alternative formats. For more information, please contact us.

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 us to register your difficulty. This helps us improve our systems. 

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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

University College London is committed to making this website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance Status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

We formally test the accessibility of key user journeys that represent the breadth of content across our website on a regular basis against WCAG 2.1 AA standards. 

Some parts of the website may not work for everyone. Below are known issues that we either need to fix, cannot fix, or do not need to fix right now. If you find something that we missed, please contact us.

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

This section covers issues that we need to fix and are working to do so.

The issues listed in this section refer to both UCL Extend (https://extend.ucl.ac.uk/) and the content hosted within it.

The UCL Extend learning experience is offered via a platform called Moodle. Moodle is an open-source Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), which means that some aspects of its accessibility are outside of our immediate control.

 Moodle has been working with an external auditor to review the platform since January 2020. Key pages within Moodle, which are representative of its overall accessibility and functionality, were audited with automated tools and user journey testing. The WCAG 2.1 Level A and Level AA issues raised from this audit have all been addressed in Moodle 3.10 and Moodle 3.9.3. On 30 June 2021, the Moodle app also received WCAG 2.1 Level AA accreditation. The accessibility conformance information for Moodle 3.11 reflects current levels of accessibility in the latest version.

In addition, the Moodle known issues page identifies reported issues with Moodle accessibility and the Moodle accessibility standards page outlines the design principles behind it.

We list below further areas within the UCL Extend learner journey that we know are not fully accessible. We plan to fix or provide alternatives for all issues that we are made aware of alongside our periodic internal testing and auditing processes.

UCL Short Courses website https://www.ucl.ac.uk/short-courses/

A project to replace portions of the UCL Extend learner journey, including finding courses via the UCL Short Courses website, is currently underway. As part of this work, we will review the site’s accessibility and address the issues highlighted here.

  • There is no Skip to Content function. This fails WCAG 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks (A).
  • Some images do not have alternative text descriptions. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A), and some may contain images of text which fails 1.4.5 Images of Text (AA).
  • Some form fields do not contain clear descriptive labels. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A), 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A), 1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose (A), 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A). Some field sets are missing a legend tag. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A), 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A), 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A).
  • Incorrect heading coding and structure is applied on some pages. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A) and 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (AA).
  • Some link styling is not consistent and may only be conveyed by colour which is sometimes low in contrast. This fails WCAG 1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics (A), 1.4.1 Use of Colour (A) and 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (AA).
  • Not all elements are correctly marked up. This fails WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A).
  • There are numerous examples of duplicate links to the same destination. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A) and 2.4.4 Link Purpose (A).
  • There are links that are not clearly described. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A) and 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (A).
  • There are HTML markup errors throughout the site. This fails WCAG 4.1.1 Parsing (A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A).
  • Duplicate IDs are used. This fails WCAG 4.1.1 Parsing (A).
  • There are numerous examples of colour contrast failings across the site. This fails 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (AA) and 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (AA).
  • Some elements do not receive sufficient focus visibility. This fails WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible (AA).

UCL Extend Course Merchant

A project to replace portions of the UCL Extend learner journey, including booking of and payment for courses (where appropriate) via UCL Extend Course Merchant, is currently underway. As part of this work, we will review the selected tool’s accessibility and address the issues highlighted here.

  • Some form fields do not contain clear descriptive labels. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A), 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A), 1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose (A), 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A).
  • Some buttons do not contain clear descriptive labels. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A), 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A), 1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose (A), 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A).
  • Some field sets are missing a legend tag. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A), 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A), 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A).
  • There are issues with form error handling. This fails WCAG 3.3.1 Error Identification (A), 3.3.3 Error Suggestion (AA), 3.3.4 Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data) (AA) and 4.1.3 Status Messages (AA).
  • Incorrect heading coding and structure is applied on some pages. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A) and 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (AA).
  • There are links that are not clearly described. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A) and 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (A).
  • There are HTML markup errors throughout the site. This fails WCAG 4.1.1 Parsing (A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A).
  • Duplicate IDs are used. This fails WCAG 4.1.1 Parsing (A).
  • There are numerous examples of colour contrast failings across the site. This fails 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (AA) and 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (AA).

 UCL Extend Moodle

  • Some images do not have alternative text descriptions. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A), and some may contain images of text which fails 1.4.5 Images of Text (AA). We are reviewing top level platform imagery to fix this issue and review course content, inclusive of images, for alternative text descriptions.
  • Incorrect heading coding and structure is applied on some pages. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A) and 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (AA). We are reviewing our Moodle platform theme to fix this issue.
  • There are HTML markup errors throughout the site. This fails WCAG 4.1.1 Parsing (A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A). We are investigating these errors within the core Moodle product to better understand and try to fix the issue.
  • There are numerous examples of colour contrast failings across the site. This fails 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (AA) and 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (AA). We are reviewing our Moodle platform theme to fix these issues.
  • The calendar block might not offer a good experience for learners with accessibility issues as, for example, there are long drop-down menus of every single minute when trying to add an event. These issues should be resolved with the update to the latest version of Moodle and we will be liaising with the Accessibility Office to resolve any remaining issues.
  • Some courses have links which are not clearly visible, “hidden” inside other activities, for example H5P packages. We will be liaising with the Accessibility Office on how to best deal with this case, but in the short term, we will be making all links underlined.
  • There are links with no descriptive text, which will cause issues for users with screen readers. This is a problem of the platform and we are liaising with the Accessibility Office to see what improvements we can make.
  • There are icons on entry to the course that do not consistently have descriptive text. This is about the icons on the dashboard and it is related to the platform, we are looking at a different theme in relation to the upcoming Moodle upgrade that could resolve the issue.
  • In some courses, the course home page link is in a place, which could confuse learners into navigating to UCL’s home page instead and they have no way to come back to where they were before. This is a platform issue and we are looking into the possibility of a new theme to resolve the issue.
  • There are two confusing links, “My Extend” and “My Courses”, making it difficult for learners to identify the one they need. This is, again, a theme issue that we are looking into in regards to the upgrade.
  • The icons on the dashboard have no alt text; they have a title, but this is visible on mouse-over, displaying only the title. This can be confusing for learners, although it follows accessibility guidelines, a theme issue again, which we are looking into in light of the upgrade.

If you have any difficulty accessing any content on [https://extend.ucl.ac.uk/] please contact us. We will acknowledge your contact, tell you who's dealing with it and give you a timescale by which you can expect a reply (this should be within 5 working days).

Disproportionate burden

This section covers issues that we cannot fix right now. We’ve assessed the cost of fixing these issues but believe that doing so would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the law.

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

This section covers issues that we do not need to fix right now. The law calls these exemptions.

Third-party content

Our websites contain third-party content. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the accessibility of this content, but we make best endeavours to work with the third-party to improve its accessibility. This may include:

  • links to non-UCL websites
  • content/functionality on our website
  • content hosted on other websites, such as social media sites.

To help accessibility compliance across the sector, University College London supports searchBOX , a centralised, independent directory of third-party accessibility information. 

searchBOX catalogues the contact information and accessibility statements of third-party suppliers, enables the sharing of community-generated accessibility statements, and allows users to map their supplier ecosystem. 

Users can access third-party accessibility statements using the free searchBOX Finder service. 

University College London encourages all our partners and suppliers to support this effort by ensuring that their accessibility information is included in the searchBOX directory. 

Our testing processes

The website was tested by an external accessibility consultancy called Shaw Trust.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are working with Moodle and the suppliers of related systems contained within it to ensure full compliance with accessibility regulations.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 03/03/2022.

This website was last tested on 18/02/2021. The test was carried out by Shaw Trust.

Last modified: Tuesday, 20 December 2022, 12:42 AM