Digital Accessibility at SOAS

 

Today, we're diving into an insightful presentation by Sultan Wadud, the Learning Technology Manager at SOAS, who shared at the Spring 2024 Moodle User Group Greater London (MUGGL) event hosted at King's College how the team has worked to introduce Digital Accessibility.

 
In his presentation, Wadud sheds light on the importance of digital accessibility, emphasising its role in ensuring that content, websites, and applications are usable by everyone, including individuals with disabilities. He also touches upon how digital accessibility contributes to compliance and standards, making online content more inclusive.
 
One of the highlights of Wadud's presentation is the introduction of Ally, a powerful tool aimed at enhancing accessibility in digital course content. He elaborates on how Ally scans content within the LMS, generates alternative formats, provides insightful analytics, and offers feedback to improve accessibility - truly a game-changer in the realm of digital accessibility.
 
However, Wadud doesn't shy away from discussing the challenges the team encountered along the way, including delays in contract negotiation, technical hurdles, and limited academic engagement. Despite these obstacles, he also shares some notable achievements, such as creating online guidance, conducting workshops, establishing a working group, and notably improving the institution's overall accessibility score.
 
Looking ahead, Wadud outlines the team’s plans, which include renewing the contract for Ally, ramping up training and awareness initiatives, collaborating with specific departments, producing more concise educational videos, and striving to reach and exceed the Ally sector average of a 78% accessibility score.
 
Link to recording:
https://soas.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=217a7127-6e73-45cb-88b7-b16b00cbe837