Hello,
I am putting together an RFP reponse in which we need to address whether Moodle 1.8 is compliant with Section 508. Can anyone point me to a Executive Summary-type of documentation that addresses this question? Your help is greatly appreciated! Thanks, Jeremy.
In reply to Jeremy Lundberg
Re: Accessibility: Is Moodle 1.8 compliant with Section 508?
le Joseph Rézeau -
Hello Jeremy,
Please note that Section 508 is a strictly US regulation, and that Moodle is a universal platform.
What is an RFP reponse?
Joseph
Please note that Section 508 is a strictly US regulation, and that Moodle is a universal platform.
What is an RFP reponse?
Joseph
In reply to Joseph Rézeau
Re: Accessibility: Is Moodle 1.8 compliant with Section 508?
le Tim Hunt -
Yes, but all the various standards/legistlation (e.g. US 508, UK DDA, W3C WAI, etc.) all say very similar things.
And if you are tying to get Moodle into some US institutions, they won't even look at it if it does not satisfy 508. So it is an important piece of legislation for us to comply with. (It is also good to be accessible for non-legislative/business reasons.)
And if you are tying to get Moodle into some US institutions, they won't even look at it if it does not satisfy 508. So it is an important piece of legislation for us to comply with. (It is also good to be accessible for non-legislative/business reasons.)
In reply to Joseph Rézeau
Re: Accessibility: Is Moodle 1.8 compliant with Section 508?
le Jeremy Lundberg -
Hi Joseph,
Thanks for getting back with me so soon. Yes. I am aware the Section 508 is limited to the US. But I had read some forum posts that moodle 1.8 was going to try to conform with that and other international laws in countries such as Italy. I just needed to know if they accomplished that goal with 1.8.
PS...RFP is a "Request for Proposal" that we receive from clients asking for bids on project.
Thanks for your help!
Thanks for getting back with me so soon. Yes. I am aware the Section 508 is limited to the US. But I had read some forum posts that moodle 1.8 was going to try to conform with that and other international laws in countries such as Italy. I just needed to know if they accomplished that goal with 1.8.
PS...RFP is a "Request for Proposal" that we receive from clients asking for bids on project.
Thanks for your help!
In reply to Jeremy Lundberg
Re: Accessibility: Is Moodle 1.8 compliant with Section 508?
le Martin Dougiamas -
The short answer is YES, go forth and RFP. 
The long answer is YES, but it's not a black and white issue. I feel comfortable saying it's VERY compliant, but uncertain I can say completely compliant:
1. We specifically addressed a lot of issues in 1.8 that S508 is concerned about here (drill down for details):
http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-7860
http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-7396
2. User-uploaded content may NOT be S508 compliant - there's nothing we can do about that except via education.
3. Moodle is huge with hundreds of pages and thousands of combinations. We've tested these as much as possible and feel pretty comfortable all the pages people are likely to use (99%?). You can do a test yourself of individual pages like this:
http://www.contentquality.com/mynewtester/cynthia.exe?rptmode=-1&url1=http%3A%2F%2Ftest.moodle.com%2F
4. If you find a page or some component in Moodle that is coming up as not compliant then it's simply a bug and should be filed in the tracker so we can fix it in 1.8.x and beyond. The fact that these reports have dwindled down to nothing is why I feel confident that 1.8 is very compliant.
The long answer is YES, but it's not a black and white issue. I feel comfortable saying it's VERY compliant, but uncertain I can say completely compliant:
1. We specifically addressed a lot of issues in 1.8 that S508 is concerned about here (drill down for details):
http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-7860
http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-7396
2. User-uploaded content may NOT be S508 compliant - there's nothing we can do about that except via education.
3. Moodle is huge with hundreds of pages and thousands of combinations. We've tested these as much as possible and feel pretty comfortable all the pages people are likely to use (99%?). You can do a test yourself of individual pages like this:
http://www.contentquality.com/mynewtester/cynthia.exe?rptmode=-1&url1=http%3A%2F%2Ftest.moodle.com%2F
4. If you find a page or some component in Moodle that is coming up as not compliant then it's simply a bug and should be filed in the tracker so we can fix it in 1.8.x and beyond. The fact that these reports have dwindled down to nothing is why I feel confident that 1.8 is very compliant.
We are in the process of implementing Quality Matters at our institution. (http://www.qmprogram.org/) This is a nationally (US and moving internationally) recognized program to provide a process to assure quality in online courses. In the process of submitting a course for review the faculty are asked to provide a statement of accessibility for the LMS.
It would be nice to have a general statement of accessibility from Moodle HQ.