9. Material

What does that mean?

All course materials have unique and descriptive names that indicate their content and file format.

Why is it important?

Correct file naming is crucial to ensuring that students who use speech output or screen readers can obtain information about the type of files and recognise them efficiently. By following these file-naming practices, you can ensure that your Moodle course materials are accessible and easy to understand for all students, including those who rely on assistive technologies.

How can you put this into practice or check it?

Here are some best practices for naming files:

• Use file names that clearly and concisely describe the content or subject of the file. For example: “Accessibility_in_Moodle_Word.docx” or “Accessibility_in_Moodle_PDF.pdf”. Avoid generic or meaningless file names such as “Document1.docx” or “Image123.jpg”.
• Include the file format in the file name to indicate what type of file it is. For example: "(PDF)" for PDF documents, "(PPT)" for PowerPoint presentations, "(XLS)" for Excel files, or "(JPG)" for images.
• Take care not to use special characters, spaces or umlauts in file names. These can cause problems when interpreted by screen readers. Instead, use underscores or hyphens to separate words.
• Keep file names as short as possible, whilst ensuring they are sufficiently descriptive. This improves readability and user-friendliness.
• If you have several versions of the same document, add a version number or a date to the file name to make it easier to distinguish between them. For example: “Accessibility_in_Moodle_v2.docx” or “Accessibility_in_Moodle_2023.pdf”.

What does that mean?

Course content should be designed and formatted in such a way that it is easily accessible and understandable to all students, including those with various disabilities or challenges. This includes, for example, providing alternative text for images or using clear, easy-to-understand language.

Why is it important?

The accessibility of course materials is crucial to ensuring that all students can benefit equally from the content of teaching. It promotes equality of opportunity and inclusivity by ensuring that students with different needs or disabilities can effectively access and use the materials. The implementation of accessible materials therefore helps to make educational content available to a wide range of learners and to enhance their learning opportunities.

How can you put this into practice or check it?

Here are some best practices and considerations for creating accessible materials in Moodle:

• When creating text documents and PDFs, you should ensure that the text is well structured and that headings, lists and alternative text for images are used. Avoid using images containing text, as these are unreadable to screen reader users. Ensure that hyperlinks have meaningful descriptions.
• For PowerPoint presentations, it is important that you type text directly onto the slides rather than simply using images. Use colours that contrast well and ensure the text is legible. Check that the slides have a clear structure and use headings for sections.
• Videos should have subtitles or transcripts to make them accessible to students who rely on subtitles or have difficulties with auditory perception. Ensure that videos have clear audio and good picture quality.
• Use meaningful alternative text (alt text) for all images and graphics so that they can be recognised and described by screen readers.
• As mentioned earlier, tables should be properly structured and labelled to make navigation and interpretation easier for screen reader users.
• Check your materials for accessibility by using the accessibility checklists and tools available in Moodle. These enable you to check the accessibility of your materials and make any necessary adjustments.

Further information and detailed instructions can be found under "Documents".