Accessibility Statement

RWTH Aachen University is committed to making its websites and mobile applications accessible, in accordance with national legislation transposing Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

This accessibility statement applies to:

  • Product description: RWTHmoodle, learning management system of RWTH Aachen, based on the open source learning management system Moodle

  • Version: 4.5

  • Link to the RWTHmoodle website

Compliance status

The website named above is partially compliant with WCAG 2.1, due to the exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is partially non-accessible:

  • A special feature of the learning platform is the creation of courses by lecturers and others, meaning that many different people contribute teaching materials to the RWTHmoodle learning platform.
    As not everyone involved has the same knowledge of accessibility design, the information stored in RWTHmoodle does not have uniform accessibility.
    RWTH Aachen offers lecturers testing tools, instructions and further training measures to support them in creating accessible content and media. This support continuously improves the quality of the content provided. An overview of the services offered by the various institutions at RWTH Aachen can be found on the page Accessible IT & Teaching.

The following success criteria Level AAA according to WCAG 2.1 are only partially fulfilled:

  • Contrasts: Text colors in Moodle in most places have a contrast ratio greater than 7:1 against their default background. There are some small amounts of texts with colors that meet the minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for WCAG 2.2 Level AA but do not meet the enhanced color contrast requirement of 7:1 for WCAG 2.2 Level AAA.
  • Re-authentication: In most cases, the user’s progress is saved, such as in assignments and quizzes. However, some pages do not support this, and data will need to be re-entered.
  • Timeouts: Timeouts are only for session timeouts, which are configurable for the system. Users are warned to refresh their session before they get logged out. In most cases, draft data already entered is saved and restored when the user resumes activity.
  • Link purpose: Most links are uniquely identifiable by the link text only. However, some known areas where the link purpose cannot be determined by the link text only are:
    • Edit, Delete, and Reply links in a list of posts within a forum discussion
    • The letter links for filtering a list of users by first name or surname do not make sense out of context
  • Target size: Most controls and clickable targets are larger than 44x44 CSS pixels. However, there are exceptions.
  • Pronunciation: The core Moodle system does not provide pronunciation support in most cases. However, Moodle does provide the facilities for user-created content to comply with this success criterion, including markup, automatic glossary linking, and the ability for a user to add additional content.
  • Error prevention: Form validation mechanisms allow users to correct their input whencompleting a form. Confirmation dialogues or pages are also present to prevent users from accidentally performing an irreversible action (e.g. data deletion, etc). However, there are some known instances where an irreversible action does not have a prior confirmation prompt, such as granting additional assignment attempts for students.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on February 03, 2025.

This statement was last reviewed on February 03, 2025.

Evaluation methods used

The data was taken from the official accessibility compliance report based on an audit of the official Moodle site version 4.2 by Grackle Docs (formerly AbleDocs). The following evaluation methods are mentioned in the report:

AbleDocs issued a Statement of Accessibility Conformance for WCAG 2.1 Level AA in Jan 2024. AbleDocs performed the accessibility audit on Moodle 4.2. [...] The evaluation was completed following the WCAG Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM). The audit testing was conducted manually and cross-checked using AbleDocs' team of accessibility auditors to ensure that the results and comments presented were valid and comprehensive.

Separate external testing of Moodle LMS has also been conducted by a group of trained testers with accessibility needs to increase the coverage of the system.

The following tools and applications were used as part of the audit:

  • Desktop browsers

    • Google Chrome

    • Firefox

  • Screen reader

    • JAWS

    • NVDA

  • Other tools

    • WAVE

    • NU HTML-Validator

Link to the full Moodle accessibility conformance report

In Germany, the BITV 2.0 (Barrierefreie-Informationstechnik-Verordnung – Accessibility in Information Technology Ordinance) was issued by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and defines the technical standards for barrier-free design. Most of the test steps correspond to the WCAG 2.1 guidelines. Some test steps also measure requirements that are additionally imposed by EN 301 549. A complete test of the above-mentioned website according to BITV criteria is still pending.

The test relates to the core elements of the LMS and does not cover additionally installed plugins.

Feedback and contact information

A review of the current Moodle version of the above site is pending, therefore the information contained herein is provided in good faith based on Moodle 4.2 at the time of the accessibility review and does not constitute a legally binding claim. Please contact Dr. Harald Schnurbusch to report any accessibility or compliance claim errors so that they can be re-evaluated and corrected if necessary:

Dr.-phil. Harald Schnurbusch
Department head Learning platforms – Evaluation – Assessment – Analytics (LEA)
CLS – Center for Teaching and Learning Services
RWTH Aachen University
Kackertstr. 15
52072 Aachen
Phone: +49 241 80-92680
Email: schnurbusch@cls.rwth-aachen.de

Enforcement procedure

If you have not received a satisfactory response to messages or inquiries about the accessibility of the RWTHmoodle website, you can contact the Ombudsstelle für barrierefreie Informationstechnik (Ombuds Office for Accessible Information Technology). With the involvement of all parties concerned, the Ombuds Office will attempt to determine the circumstances of the lack of accessibility so that the provider can rectify them.

It is assigned to the Representative for the Interests of People with Disabilities pursuant to para. 11 of the NRW Act on Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities and can be reached via the following contact:
Send an email to the Ombudsstelle für barrierefreie Informationstechnik NRW

Further information on the Ombudsstelle für barrierefreie Informationstechnik NRW can be found on the website of the Ombudsstelle für barrierefreie Informationstechnik (only available in German).