DIME Canvas Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to DIME Canvas (https://falmouth.instructure.com). DIME Canvas is a virtual learning environment (VLE) for the Detroit Institute of Music Education, who are an academic partner of Falmouth University. The University and Digital Learning provide the platform for DIME and are responsible from a technical and administrative point of view. The VLE is built upon third-party software called Canvas developed by Instructure.

The Digital Learning team wants everyone using our virtual learning environments and digital resources to have a positive experience. For example, that means you should be able to:

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

• Some images used in the CMS may have text in them, without an alternate format provided
• Some images may not have appropriate alt text
• Some input elements of the calendar do not have a description
• Not all elements on the site have sufficient colour contrast

All content presented on DIME Canvas, as well as its underlying system Canvas, has been developed to be as accessible as possible. However, if you experience difficulties and require an alternative format, please contact us Digital Learning for more information.

You can contact us via email at dlsupport@falmouth.ac.uk.

You may also contact us via phone on, (01326) 259187.

When you contact us a member of the team will aim to respond to you, via our Helpdesk, within three working days.

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 us using our online form. We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days with an acknowledgement and 20 working days with a full response.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Website 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).

Falmouth University and Digital Learning are committed to making its virtual learning environments accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reason(s):

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Canvas is a third-party platform which means that some accessibility issues are outside our immediate control. Any issues discovered with the platform are reported to Instructure for further investigation.

Instructure provide a Canvas Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) which explicitly states how compliant Canvas is as a system against each of the WCAG 2.1 AA criteria. At the time of writing, WebAIM certifies Canvas to be substantially conformant with the WCAG 2.1 AA criteria.

You can find out more about how Canvas are committed to accessibility by viewing the Canvas Accessibility Standards.

Manual auditing highlighted the following issues:

Issue	Description	Action
Is the image free of text? Level AA 1.4.5 Images of Text	This warning will appear for images, which need to be checked manually. Although there are occurrences of text in images it only relates to branding/logo’s so has no impact on accessibility.	Review images and address obvious issues, provide further guidance to content editors if needed.
Colour contrast is insufficient Level AA 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)	The colour of the text and the colour of the background are not in sufficient contrast to each other. The contrast ratio should be at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.  Text in left side navigation has a contrast ratio of 4.45:1 so misses passing by 1.1%.	Review and adjust contrast of elements.
Content not included in landmarks & Are landmarks appropriately applied? Level A 1.3.1 Info and Relationships	HTML5 or WAI-ARIA landmarks are used on the page, but not all content is included. A noscript tag is used at the top of the page, containing content displayed to users with JavaScript disabled. The noscript tag/content has no accessibility issues itself.	Platform issue – raise to Instructure for investigation.
Input field has no description Level A 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions	Input fields should always have a description that is explicitly associated with the field to make sure that users of assistive technologies will also know what the field is for. This applies to several of the form fields used for navigating the calendar.	Platform issue – raise to Instructure for investigation.

 

This statement was first prepared on 6 July 2022. The statement was last reviewed on 30th October 2023.

The site was last tested on 30th October 2023.

The site was tested manually using various accessibility related third party browser extensions (Siteimprove, aXe) on a sample of the most popular pages as well as a selection of random course pages.