1. Promoting document
accessibility for the
Virtual Learning
Environment

2. About Massey University
• 3 Campus in North Island:
Auckland, Wellington and
Palmerston North
• 33,000 students (18,000 internal
and 15,000 study extramurally)
• 50 students registered with RNZFB
• 135 have identified themselves with
a Specific Learning Disability

3. Virtual Learning Environments
• What is a Virtual Learning
Environment?
• What is Moodle?
• What is Stream?

4. Components of Moodle
• Activities: Up to 19 modules
that the student can interactive
with. For example…
–Chat module
–Quiz module
• Resources: Content that is
inserted by the teacher. Can
included study material, lecture
notes, web links and extra
readings.

5. Accessibility Issues
• Functionality: How well the
environment can be accessed
and utilised.
• Content: Accessibility issues that
relate to the content that the
Course Controller uploads onto
the environment.

6. Functionality
• UK Open University 2006
–Modified Moodle to address
accessibility issues
• Randell Hansen 2009
–Testing Moodle on behalf of the
CANnect consortium.
–“the vast majority of Moodle is
technically accessible”
–but the details need more
attention
–Recommendations of report
currently being addressed

7. Content Accessibility Issues
• Course controllers can place any
material at anytime onto the
environment
• No guarantee that the material
will be accessible to all students
• Alternative Format Coordinator
would not be able to monitor and
convert course material

8. Proposed solutions to content
accessibility issues.
To encourage course controllers to
author accessible documents and to
give them the necessary recourses
that will enable them to do it.
• Creation of how to guides
• Promote the adoption of
accessibility guides by academic
staff

9. The Guides
• Easy to follow how to guides
• Interlinking HTML documents
• Format specific
• Authoring tool specific
• Cover major accessibility issues

10. Implementation Strategy
• Working with existing academic
teaching groups
• Incorporating accessible guidelines
within Stream
• Accessibility compliance linked to
performance review
• Lobbying various decision makers

11. Implementation Progress
• CADel: Centre for Academic
Development and eLearning
• Stream 4 Staff
• Other developments

12. Summary