This accessibility statement applies to Qube, the Harlow College VLE (https://redqube.harlow-college.ac.uk).

This website is run by Harlow College and is powered by Moodle third party software . Moodle maintains a list of accessibility issues and these are constantly being worked on. Moodle's goal is to be fully accessible and usable for all users regardless of ability, however it is also highly customisable. Authors are free to create and upload content and resources of their choosing. As a result, it is not possible to guarantee that all content hosted on the VLE is fully accessible. This statement has been written with that in mind.

 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’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

An Accessibility block is available on most pages which allows users to customise Qube to their visual needs.  It supports changing of text sizes and colour schemes.

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

How accessible this website is

Academic teams build the individual course pages and create and upload teaching, learning and assessment resources to them e.g. course documentation, assignment briefs, audio and video resources.

Although our aim is for teaching, learning and assessment resources uploaded to Qube to be fully accessible to all users, it is not possible to guarantee this.

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• Some older PDF and Word documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• the slider on the Qube front page is not fully accessible to screen reader software, or when using just a keyboard. (An alternative text version is provided)
• Scorm content is not fully accessible to screen reader software, or when using just a keyboard. This is mainly found in the Blended Learning Consortium materials.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

• Email: qube@harlow-college.ac.uk - please ensure subject starts Ref: Accessibility
• call: 01279 868000
• Any learner can contact their Learning Support for alternative formats, or their teacher will provide them.

We’ll consider your request and aim to get back to you in 10 working days.

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:

• Email: qube@harlow-college.ac.uk - please ensure subject starts Ref: Accessibility
• call: 01279 868000

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit, we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Find out how to contact us.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Harlow College is committed to making its VLE 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 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non accessible content

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

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

We have fixed all accessibility issues we are aware of.

Disproportionate burden

Navigation and accessing information

• There exists a failure for WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.5.3 - Label in name. This refers to the Language menu. This is produced by third party software (Moodle) and we are awaiting a fix in a future upgrade.
• There exists a failure for WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.1 - Parsing. This refers to duplicate ids in 

             a) the horizontal navigation menu at the top of the page. This menu is produced by third party software (Moodle) and we are awaiting a fix in a future upgrade.
             b) a workaround to improve screen reader experience to enable skip to main content . We do not plan to fix this.

• There exists a failure for WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 - Name role value. This refers to the use of a font awesome icon as a button for the search courses feature. This is produced by third party software (Moodle) and we are awaiting a fix in a future upgrade.  This affects users on small screen devices. As a workaround an additional item ‘Search courses’ has been added to the horizontal navigation menu.
• There exists a failure for WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.6 - Contrast enhanced. This refers to the Language menu. This is produced by third party software (Moodle) and we are awaiting a fix in a future upgrade.

Interactive tools and transactions

• There exists a failure for WCAG 2.1 success criterion  1.1.1 - Non text content.

This refers to the front page slider, and the absence of alternate text for images.  The slider is produced by third party software (Moodle) and we are awaiting a fix in a future upgrade. An alternative text version of the slider is provided

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

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

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. We are in the process of either fixing these or replacing them with accessible HTML pages.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix course content published before that date. However, we have a specialist department supporting learners with additional needs who can provide material in alternative formats if required.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 09/06/2021. It was last reviewed on 09/06/2021.

This website was last tested on 09/06/2021. The test was carried out by Harlow College.

We tested:

• our VLE, available at https://redqube.harlow-college.ac.uk