The University of Portsmouth offers its students access to a digital learning environment called Moodle, which is an open source project led and coordinated by Moodle HQ. When we talk about Moodle, however, we broaden the meaning to include:
We want as many people as possible who use Moodle to be able to find, read and understand the content on it. This means, for example, that you should be able to:
We aim to create content to meet the accessibility standards outlined in our technical accessibility statement, and any content we create should be compatible with assistive technology.
If you have a disability, you might wish to contact the Additional Support and Disability Advice Centre, who support students who disclose a disability or require additional support for their academic studies.
Email: asdac@port.ac.uk or telephone: 02392 843462
There are two aspects to consider when looking at the accessibility of Moodle: the system (in other words, the Moodle platform) and the content on the system.
Moodle HQ aims to make Moodle fully accessible and usable for all users, regardless of ability, and was built in line with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. The platform, however, is a complex and evolving system: over time, new modules are added to the system and others are removed. The worldwide community of Moodle users maintains a list of general Moodle accessibility issues along with the steps being taken to resolve them and the likely timescale for resolution. This list is subject to continuous change and therefore we will regularly review and update this accessibility statement.
The University of Portsmouth aims to ensure that teaching, learning and assessment resources built in or uploaded to Moodle are accessible to all users. Each module has an accessibility statement that refers to the teaching, learning and assessment content on that particular module. However, the University of Portsmouth Moodle contains hundreds of thousands of pieces of learning content, authored and/or uploaded by thousands of academics and appearing in thousands of modules. It is therefore not possible to guarantee that all pieces of learning content will be fully accessible to all users. In this regard accessibility is not a state, but rather a process of continuous improvement in response to our users and the wider technical environment.
We know that some parts of Moodle are not fully accessible, but we are working hard to improve things. When using Moodle please bear in mind the following points:
We have enabled a service called Ally that provides alternative format downloads for most items of course content. Most documents should be available in a format that is most accessible for you, tagged PDFs, ePub, audio recording or electronic braille. Alternative formats are not available for documents originating in the Faculty of Technology because of the heavy use of mathematical notation in technically based courses.
If you have difficulties accessing content then please get in touch either by:
Email: cadi-digital@port.ac.uk
We are always looking to improve the accessibility of Moodle. If you have problems accessing different formats, if you find any accessibility problems that are not already listed on this page, if you have discovered a problem with automatically generated captions on a video, or if you believe we are not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, then please get in touch either by:
Email: cadi-digital@port.ac.uk
We will consider your message and get back to you as soon as possible.
If you need to escalate your issue further, the University has an established complaints 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, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
The University of Portsmouth is committed to making Moodle accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Moodle is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
| Issue | Details | Regulation Reference | Planned Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insufficient colour contrast | Light grey text and some checkbox labels do not meet minimum colour contrast requirements. | WCAG 2.1 AA 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) | To be addressed in the next theme update (expected Q4 2025). |
| Keyboard navigation | Some forms are not fully navigable by keyboard alone. | WCAG 2.1 AA 2.1.1 Keyboard | Identifying affected forms and updating templates by mid-2025. |
| Mathematical / chemical notation | Complex notation in some modules is not fully accessible to assistive technologies. | WCAG 2.1 AA 1.1.1 Non-text Content | Exploring use of MathML and other accessible notation systems. |
| Mobile app font scaling | The Moodle native app does not currently reflect font size changes in iOS. | WCAG 2.1 AA 1.4.4 Resize text | Reported to Moodle HQ; awaiting upstream fix. |
| Minor text overlap at high zoom | Some content overlaps slightly at 300% zoom. | WCAG 2.1 AA 1.4.10 Reflow | Under review for CSS layout adjustments in next release. |
Given the volume of legacy content on Moodle, it would be a disproportionate burden to retrospectively fix all historic course materials immediately. We prioritise accessibility fixes for active modules and newly created content.
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services. However, we aim to make all content as accessible as possible.
Lighthouse test results for a selection of representative Moodle pages (scores depend on page content).
| Moodle page | Test date | Lighthouse score |
|---|---|---|
| Dashboard | 94 | |
| My Courses | 95 | |
| Module Page | 97 |
This statement was prepared on 23 August 2019. It was last reviewed on 15 August 2025.
This website was last tested in August 2025. The test was carried out by the University of Portsmouth Digital Learning Team using a combination of automated tools (such as Google Lighthouse) and manual testing with assistive technologies (such as VoiceOver).
Our testing approach was to review representative samples of pages, content types, and interactive elements from across the Moodle platform.