Website accessibility statement in line with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018
This statement applies to both the Instructure Canvas VLE platform and its associated mobile application. For a detailed assessment on the platform’s accessibility, please visit the Canvas platform’s voluntary product accessibility template.
The Canvas VLE website is run by St George’s, University of London, Instructure’s Canvas VLE platform. The Canvas Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) can be viewed at https://www.instructure.com/canvas/accessibility. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels and fonts
- zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
- navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
- listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
We have also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. The website contains images, downloadable documents in Word/PDF formats, audio and video files. The PDFs are best viewed in the free Adobe Reader tool, allowing you to magnify, navigate via the bookmark bar, change colours via preferences and listen using Adobe’s inbuilt text to speech or any other 3rd party tool.
Customising the website
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. You can access this advice by visiting their website here.
How accessible is this website?
The Canvas VLE platform is a complex system with many parts. Its code is always evolving. Modules can be enabled and disabled. The interface can be heavily customised using themes and thousands of settings. Actual content can be produced by any lecturer or programme administrator, or any student. As such it is impossible to say with 100% certainty whether the content in Canvas or any site based on Canvas is fully accessible or not. Accessibility is not a state, it is a process of continuous improvement in response to our users and the wider technical environment.
When deciding how Canvas should present its content for best Web accessibility, the WCAG 2.1 guidelines are followed.
For the latest information on compliance with accessibility guidelines, please see the Canvas accessibility statement: https://www.instructure.com/canvas/accessibility
The Canvas mobile App is supplied by the 3rd party Instructure and the accessibility of the technical infrastructure and user interface is the responsibility of the 3rd party supplier. The accessibility of the content is the responsibility of St George’s, University of London and we are actively working to increase the accessibility and usability and in doing so adhere to the available standards and guidelines.
How accessible is the mobile app?
We want as many people as possible to be able to use the Canvas mobile app.
In the Apple iOS and Android devices, you can use the built-in:
We recommend the following device and assistive technology combinations for the best user experience - TalkBack for Android and VoiceOver for iOS (iPhone and iPad).
What to do if you cannot access parts of Canvas VLE website or mobile app
We are always looking to improve the accessibility of Canvas VLE website and mobile app. If you need information on parts of the Canvas VLE website/app or resources in a different format like accessible PDF, large print or need subtitles for videos etc, please contact [[[NBSP]]] disability@sgul.ac.uk and we will endeavour to respond to you within 5 working days outside of our scheduled University closure days.
Reporting your experience will help us further enhance the accessibility of our Canvas website/app
We continue to work with the owners of the Canvas VLE website in making further improvements and enhancements to their accessibility features based on feedback from our users.
Please let us know if you encounter any problems, or if you find any of our features particularly useful. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, contact disability@sgul.ac.uk
When contacting us, please provide:
- Page URL (web page address)
- Issue encountered (and if on mobile or desktop)
- Any particular software or assistive technology being used (for example browser, screen reader)
If you need any help in reporting your difficulty with the website, please read the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) guide 'Contacting Organisations about Inaccessible Websites'.
Contacting organisations about inaccessible websites
There is additional government advice on contacting websites to report accessibility issues and what your rights are.
Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website
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 are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly.
Contact details for the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
St George’s, University of London is committed to making all websites hosted at the University accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
The Canvas VLE website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA
The full guidelines are available at:
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1
For the latest information on compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA please see the Canvas accessibility statement: https://www.instructure.com/canvas/accessibility
Non accessible content
The content listed below might be non-accessible for the following reasons.
PDFs and other documents
Canvas may contain PDF and Word documents that do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be accessible to a screen reader, have alternate text content and work well with text to speech software especially when they are images. Some of them may have colour contrast issues. In such cases, the following WCAG2.1 success criteria might not be satisfied:
- 1.1.1(non-text content)
- 1.4.3(contrast – minimum)
- 1.4.5 (images of text)
- 4.1.2(name, role value)
All new documents uploaded from September 2020 will be tested for accessibility using appropriate tools provided by Microsoft and Adobe, before being uploaded to the website.
Non-text content
This website might have a number of images that do not provide text alternative (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content)). Any new images published from September 2020 will be provided with text alternatives and be tested for accessibility standards wherever possible.
Link descriptions
Some of the hyperlinks in web pages may not be logical (for example, ‘click here’, WCAG2.1 success criterion 2.4.4(link purpose – in context)), and these will be fixed in all relevant web pages moving forward from September 2020. Before publishing new content, we will make sure that link text meets accessibility standards.
Pre-recorded media
In this website, not all pre-recorded media will have transcripts or subtitles. Any new media published from September 2020 will be provided with subtitles and/or transcripts wherever possible. Currently, the following WCAG 2.1 success criteria might not be satisfied.
- 1.1.1(non-text content)
- 1.2.1 (audio-only and video-only – pre-recorded)
- 1.2.2 (captions – pre-recorded)
- 1.2.3 (audio description or media alternative – pre-recorded)
- 1.2.5 (audio description – pre-recorded)
Colour-contrast of images
There may not be sufficient contrast between foreground and background colours (WCAG2.1 success criterion 1.4.1(use of colour)) for some images on this website. All such images will be tested for accessibility and if there are concepts or information conveyed using colours, these will be ensured to have an alternate way for communication.
How we tested this website
The testing is an ongoing process and is followed by manual prioritisation of issues, and we are working with the relevant team to further address the issues as soon as is realistically possible.
What we are doing to improve accessibility
We are continually improving the user experience for everyone and applying the relevant accessibility standards. We will be reviewing resources and test for its accessibility compliance on a regular basis. Further support, guidance and training will be provided to all staff who are involved in creating resources for this website and also to increase awareness of accessibility and our responsibilities. For third party products where we are not in control of the content or user experience, we will continue to liaise with the provider to ensure that improvements are being made.