'Digital Accessibility Foundations' is a virtual e-learning module hosted on the LMS platform Moodle and developed from a JISC learning package. This module aims to introduce City St George's University staff to digital accessibility, familiarise them with accessibility legal requirements (PSBAR), and outline roles and responsibilities across the university. Many staff members across the university are unfamiliar with digital accessibility and the regulations public sector bodies must abide by. Consequently, the module was deemed necessary and will be made mandatory during new staff inductions.
Step 1: User Research
JISC's learning package on digital accessibility was first offered to the digital accessibility team at City St George's at the end of 2024. Members of the Digital Accessibility Committee were invited to leave their feedback on the course through a quantitative and qualitative survey. Feedback was also provided orally.
Image 1. Survey re JISC's learning package on digital accessibility
Key findings from JISC package user research
A number of content and accessibility-related issues were uncovered:
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Robot-generated video detached users from the content
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Numerous scroll bars made the package difficult to navigate and frustrated users
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Tiny font used across the training would cause difficulty for some users, especially those with visual impairments
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Flashcards increased cognitive load by missing off titles.
As a consequence, it was decided that the JISC learning package would be redesigned and rebuilt in Moodle, City St George's learning management system. I was assigned the Project Manager role, leading the research and design of the Moodle module, and working alongside one other designer.
Step 2: As-is User Journey mapping
I created an as-is user journey to identify the interactive elements in JISC's learning package and highlight any opportunities for the Moodle module. This was done in Microsoft PowerPoint.
Image 2. As-is JISC user journey
Image 3. As-is JISC user journey (2)
Image 4. As-is JISC user journey (3)
Step 3: Establishing constraints
My co-designer and I explored the Moodle platform to understand the Moodle constraints- essentially, which interactive features did Moodle have on offer to allow us to recreate an interactive learning package similar to the original JISC package. We created a 'Mapping to Moodle' document, matching our requirements to Moodle's features.
Step 4: Conceptual Design- Sketches
My co-designer and I then each completed draft sketches of how we envisioned the Moodle module would look. We compared sketches and then decided to merge our work together to come up with a final draft look.
Image 5. My sketch of the module layout
Image 6. My co-designer's sketch of the module layout
Image 7. Our final joint sketch of the module layout
Step 5: Conceptual Design- Test versions in Moodle
From our sketches, we then built two draft versions of the module in a Moodle test environment, one with the default parallel format and the other with a grid format. Upon consulting with a learning designer, we opted for the grid format as this was more visually engaging.
Parallel format
Image 8. Module Home page (parallel format)
Image 9. Continuation of module home page (parallel format)
Grid format
Image 10. Module home page (grid format)
Image 11. 'Part 2: The Law' landing page (grid format)
Image 12. Section 4 of 'Part 2: The Law', 'Where standards apply'
Step 6: Usability testing- staff workshop
We then hosted a staff workshop to test our draft version of the module. Staff members were granted access to the module and given 20 minutes to navigate through the content. We requested that they make note of 1) how easy it was to navigate 2) the look and feel of the module, including image choices and layout 3) the content itself (was it informative enough? What else might they like included) 4) anything else that stood out to them about the module. We deliberately did not ask them to speak as they navigated through the module, as this might influence/distract other members of the workshop and prevent them finishing the module within the allotted time.
Once the 20 minutes was up, each workshop participant was given the opportunity to feedback on the module.
Key findings (Positives):
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Participants appreciated the layout and felt the Moodle 'Book' feature was a clever way to display the content
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Images were appropriate to the content
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Participants felt it gave a good introduction to digital accessibility
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Participants liked the grid format as opposed to the default parallel format
Key findings (Areas to improve):
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Inconsistent link behaviour- some links opened within the page, whilst others opened in a new tab
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Whilst the welcome video was appreciated, participants felt it would be better to have some text before/alongside the video to explain the module's purpose ('not every user will take the time to watch the video/have the resources needed to watch a video e.g. earphones if in a public place')
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Some participants were unclear about how to navigate to the quiz from the Part 1 and Part 2 'Books'- it would be better to URL link the quiz
I recorded each point made by the participants in Microsoft Word, before converting the points into actions in an action tracker.
Step 7: Design iteration
We are currently iterating the design based on the user feedback from the staff workshop. We will then be hosting 1-to-1 user testing sessions with other staff members (including members with disabilities/neurodiverse staff members). These sessions will be held over Microsoft Teams, and participants will be asked to think aloud where possible.