Accessibility Statement for TutorHome

  1. How accessible this website is
  2. Feedback and contact information
  3. Reporting accessibility problems with TutorHome websites
  4. Enforcement procedure
  5. Contacting us
  6. Technical information about Student Support websites’ accessibility
  7. Compliance Status
  8. Non accessible content
  9. Disproportionate burden
  10. Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
  11. What we’re doing to improve accessibility
  12. Preparation of this accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the Open University’s TutorHome website used by Associate Lecturers (ALs). It describes the process by which we ensure the site is accessible. The site, accessed via www2.open.ac.uk/tutors, includes information for ALs about tutorials, student groups, staff development, managing expenses, news items and support articles. The site provides some personal information and is not available for access by either the public or students.

The TutorHome website consists of hundreds of individual pages and this statement covers all elements of the website.

Note that mobile applications will be included from 23 June 2021.

If you are concerned about accessibility of other Open University websites please visit the overall the Open University accessibility statement

We want as many people as possible to be able to use our websites, and accessibility is an essential part of our mission. To adapt the content to your needs or preferences in most cases you should be able to:

  • Change colours, contrasts levels and fonts.
  • Resize text up to 200% without impact on the functionality of the website.
  • Zoom in up to 400% without loss of information or functionality, or the need to scroll in more than one direction.
  • Navigate the website using just a keyboard.
    • tab to ‘Skip to content’ links at the top of the page to jump over repetitive information to the main content.
    • tab through the content; the current location will be indicated by a clear visual change.
    • control the embedded media player to play audio and video materials.
  • Use a screen reader (e.g. JAWs, NVDA) to :
    • listen to the content of web pages and use any functionality on the page.
    • list the headings and subheadings in the page and then jump to their location on the page.
    • bring up a list of meaningful links on the page.
  • Use transcripts or closed captions with most audio and video materials.
  • Download learning materials in alternative formats (e.g. Word document, PDF, ePub, Kindle eBook).

AbilityNet provides advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

It may be useful to know that the University provides SensusAccess to students with a print disability. This which is an automated service that converts files from one format to another, for example, PDF to text, audio, Word or Braille.

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How accessible this website is

We strive to exceed current accessibility standards. However, we know some elements of TutorHome are not accessible. These are highlighted in the ‘Non accessible content’ section below. We aim to provide accessible alternative content or activities where we can. For more information please visit What Support is Available and for more guidance please visit Studying on a Screen.

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Feedback and contact information

If you find that a section of the TutorHome website is not accessible and you can’t get access to the information that you need, please contact AL Services or your line-manager, as appropriate, and they will ensure you are provided with the information you require. We will normally respond within five working days, although this may be longer during peak periods.

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Reporting accessibility problems with TutorHome websites

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of the TutorHome website. If you find a problem that isn’t already listed on this page or you think we’re not meeting the requirements of the current accessibility regulations (Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018), please please email us at tutorhome@open.ac.uk which is monitored daily.

We will ask you for the web address (URL) of the page and a description of the problem. We will also ask for your name and email address so that we can contact you about your feedback. You should expect to hear back from us within five working days

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Enforcement procedure

If you have concerns about the accessibility of the TutorHome, please contact your line manager or the faculty Associate Dean responsible for ALs.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you are not happy with our response and all our procedures have been exhausted, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS). If you are based in Northern Ireland you can contact the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI).

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Contacting us

If you wish to contact us about anything not covered above, please use your usual contact point.

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Technical information about this website's accessibility

The Open University is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

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Compliance Status

The TutorHome website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

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Non accessible content

The vast majority of content elements in our websites are accessible. This has been confirmed by internal testing and auditing. This includes all pages except those accessed via the TutorHome and Students tabs on the top menu.

However, the content listed below, on pages accessed via the TutorHome and Students menu tabs is partly non-accessible for following reasons.

Navigation

Empty Heading (all tested pages): Keyboard and screen reader users navigate by heading elements. If this is absent, navigation is confusing. Ref 001.

Broken Skip Link (all tested pages): Allows keyboard users to navigate sequentially through content more directly and easily to the main primary content of the web page. Ref 002.

Contrast

There are a few areas that do not meet the minimum colour contrast criteria (all tested pages). This may make using the site difficult to use for those with low vision or a visual impairment. Ref 004.

Form Labels

On the Student Contact Form page there is an empty form label. Ref 005

On the Student Contact History Page there is a missing form label. If a form control does not have an associated text label, the function of that label will not be presented as it should be to screen reader users, making understanding of the page difficult. Ref 006

Keyboard

Broken ‘Aria menus’(all tested pages): Lack of ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) menu, makes for cumbersome navigation for keyboard users. Ref 003.

Language Missing

On the Student Contact Form page, language indication is missing, meaning that screen readers are prevented from automatic detection of the correct language. Ref 007.

We intend to fix all of the defects listed here by the end of 2022.

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Disproportionate burden

The TutorHome website was subject to a disproportionate burden claim up to June 2022. This was because TutorHome sat on an older platform and the consequent technical debt meant that the cost and time of making the site accessible would not have been justified since it was planned to be replaced in a relatively short period of time. However, this did not happen and instead all pages have been updated on the modern accessible SharePoint platform, with the exception of pages accessed via the TutorHome and Students tabs on the top menu, for which we now have a plan to fix the defects identified above. 

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Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDF's and other documents

PDFs or other documents that are not essential to providing our services and were published before 23 September 2018 are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations, and therefore we do not have plans to fix these. We are working to ensure that any new PDFs or other documents that we publish will meet accessibility standards.

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What we're doing to improve accessibility

For more information about what we are doing to improve accessibility across all the University’s web sites please see the overall Open University accessibility statement.

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Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 23 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 23 September 2020 and 30 August 2022.

The TutorHome website was tested during July to August 2020. The test was carried out by Open University staff. Testing was based on a sample of pages from the website. The pages were chosen to be representative of different types of content and platform. An emphasis was placed on pages that were either used by many people or would significantly affect particular groups of users, and these pages were tested first. Testing was undertaken mainly by manual methods with some automated testing.

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Version control

This page was last updated on 21th Sep 2022

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