These statements apply to the services listed below, supported or developed by the Education Application Team, iSolutions, at the University of Southampton.
Introduction
Enabling everyone to realise their potential really matters at the University of Southampton. This requires a fair, equitable and mutually supportive learning and working environment. Being a diverse community strengthens us as “One Southampton”. It matters that we continually act to ensure the University is supportive and inclusive of everyone. Designing accessible learning materials is critical because it provides educational opportunities to all students. For example, a captioned video is not only helpful to a deaf student but also benefits non-native English speakers, and those who are unable to listen to a video, for example because they have no headphones and are travelling on a Unilink bus or working in a room shared with others. One of the key benefits of accessible learning materials is the sense of independence to students with disabilities that they can provide.
Assistive Technology and support
Find out about Assistive Technology locations on campus as as the AT Suite
Our colleagues in Student Disability & Wellbeing provide a wide variety of support for students who have disabilities, mental health conditions and/or specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia. Their expert team can provide advice and support relating to your studies, both while you are preparing for University and throughout your time here.
What to do if you cannot access parts of a Southampton education website or app
Where you find content or aspects of the site you are unable to access, let us know via ServiceLine.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
Accessibility problems can be reported via ServiceLine.
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you are not happy with how we respond to your notification or request, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Contact us
Contact us via ServiceLine.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
The Education Application Support Team have a number of work streams involved in improving accessibility:
- We are taking part in the ‘Enhancing Academic and Delivery Project’ on their inclusion and accessibility work stream.
- We welcome input on past and future projects from a number of stakeholder groups:
- Staff Disability Network
- Disability ICT SAT.
- ECS Accessibility Team.
- Student Communications.
- Internal Communication.
- Teaching Accessibility Research Group.
Our team also actively contributes to a local network within iSolutions, the ‘Digital Accessibility Community of Practice’. We are promoting digital accessibility within our department and running events and tutorials. Many are available on this YouTube channel.
Statement by service
Blackboard
This accessibility statement applies to the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), which comprises the following platforms:
- Blackboard Ultra, for hosting course content
- Blackboard Ally, for providing accessible alternative formats of learning content
- Blackboard Adopt, for providing in-course contextual help
This website is run by the University of Southampton. We want as many people as possible to use our virtual learning environment. For example, that means you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels, and fonts using browser or device settings
- zoom in up to 400 per cent without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the platform using a keyboard or speech recognition software
- listen to most of the platform using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver)
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
How accessible this platform is
We know some parts of this platform are not fully accessible:
- Screen reader users may hear background page content before modal content in Blackboard Adopt, making it difficult to identify actionable information.
- Alternative formats produced by Blackboard Ally may not preserve superscript, subscript, table headers, or mathematical notation correctly, which can change the meaning of content.
- Document headings in Blackboard Ultra skip levels, which may confuse screen reader users who expect a logical heading structure.
- Several keyboard navigation barriers exist across Blackboard Ultra, including focus traps, missing focus indicators, and inaccessible controls.
- Screen reader announcements for some question types in assessments lack the surrounding context needed to answer correctly.
- Some tooltips cannot be reached by keyboard, hovered over, or dismissed, creating barriers for keyboard and screen reader users.
- Text spacing adjustments can cause content to become misaligned or truncated in some areas of Blackboard Ultra.
- Alternative text added through the Ally remediation tool may not be communicated to screen reader users.
Feedback and contact information
If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: [provide contact details for the unit or person responsible for dealing with these reports].
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording, or braille:
- email serviceline@soton.ac.uk
- call 023 50 59 5656
We will consider your request and get back to you in seven days.
Enforcement procedure
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 how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
The University of Southampton is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Compliance status
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Blackboard Adopt
Guide modal announces background page content before modal content. When a guide modal opens automatically upon entering a course, screen reader users hear approximately 40 seconds of background page content before the modal content. No announcement indicates that a modal has appeared, so you cannot tell which content is relevant or actionable. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value) and 1.3.2 (Meaningful Sequence). We identified this issue through internal audit (ticket 6138798) and have reported it to Anthology.
Blackboard Ally
Alternative formats do not render superscript and subscript characters correctly. When a document uses superscript or subscript characters (for example, in mathematical or scientific notation), the alternative formats produced by Ally display these as ordinary text. For example, you may see “103” instead of “10Âł”, which changes the meaning entirely. This affects Tagged PDF, HTML, ePub, Audio, Beeline, and Immersive Reader formats. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). We identified this issue through internal audit (ticket 5564454) and have reported it to Anthology.
Alternative formats do not support table headers in PowerPoint. When a PowerPoint file includes tables with header rows, the Ally audio format does not convey the header information to you. You may struggle to understand which column each value belongs to when listening to a PowerPoint table in audio format. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). We identified this issue through internal audit (ticket 4931670) and have reported it to Anthology.
Decorative alternative text setting ignored in alternative formats. When an image is marked as decorative in Word or PowerPoint, Ally’s alternative formats incorrectly report that the image has no description. This can mislead you into thinking you are missing important information when the image carries no meaning. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.1.1 (Non-text Content) and 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). We identified this issue through internal audit (ticket 5293064) and have reported it to Anthology.
Download original file button not visible at certain resolutions. When staff view Ally’s accessibility feedback on a laptop or lower-resolution screen, the button to download the original file disappears. Staff who need to retrieve their original document to make corrections cannot do so without resizing their browser window or switching to a larger display. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.10 (Reflow). We identified this issue through internal audit (ticket 5503613) and have reported it to Anthology.
Ally removes accessibility information from PowerPoint files when creating alternative formats. When Ally creates alternative formats from PowerPoint files, it removes important structural information from tables. Table headers and the relationships between rows and columns are lost, and the content appears as plain paragraphs. You cannot interpret the table data in a meaningful way when relying on an alternative format. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value). We identified this issue through internal audit (ticket 5566307) and have reported it to Anthology.
MathJax does not support line breaks within list items. When a document containing mathematical formulas uses line breaks within list items, the Ally HTML alternative format with MathJax does not preserve those line breaks. Formulas that should appear on separate lines display as a single run of text. You may misinterpret where one formula ends and another begins. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). We identified this issue through internal audit (ticket 5693930) and have reported it to Anthology.
Blackboard Ultra
Document heading sequence is suboptimal. When a staff member adds headings to an Ultra document, the document title uses heading level 1, but the next available heading level jumps to heading level 4. This gap in the heading sequence can cause you to believe content is missing between heading levels 1 and 4 when using a screen reader, even though all content is present on the page. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). Ticket 5368336.
Drag and select is inconsistent when editing content. When editing text in an Ultra document, you cannot select text across multiple paragraphs by dragging upwards from the bottom of the page. This affects both mouse and keyboard users, making it difficult to select and manage larger sections of text. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard). Ticket 5391914.
HTML embed iframes lack meaningful names. When staff use the HTML embed feature in Ultra, the embedded content frame does not receive a meaningful title. If you use a screen reader, you encounter the frame without any description, making it unclear what the embedded content contains. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value). Ticket 5402243.
High contrast mode and focus indicators are inconsistent. When you use Windows High Contrast mode alongside keyboard navigation, focus indicators in Ultra are inconsistent. In some areas focus indicators appear clearly, in others they are difficult to perceive, and in some places they are missing entirely. This makes it hard for you to track where you are on the page when navigating by keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus Visible). Ticket 5488722.
Backwards tabbing ends in a loop. When navigating backwards through an Ultra course using the keyboard (Shift + Tab), the focus becomes trapped in a loop and cannot reach the close button to return to the main navigation. If you rely on keyboard navigation, you have no straightforward way to exit the course view. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 2.1.1 (Keyboard) and 2.1.2 (No Keyboard Trap). Ticket 5500412.
Help icon is not accessible using keyboard navigation within a course. Within an Ultra course, the help icon at the bottom left of the page cannot be reached using keyboard navigation, although it is accessible by keyboard in the main navigation area. If you navigate by keyboard alone, you cannot access help from within a course. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard). Ticket 5583300.
Heading font changed to a serif typeface. Following a recent update, Ultra now uses a serif font (Noto Serif) for heading styles, while body text remains in a sans-serif font (Open Sans). Serif fonts can create a barrier for many readers, particularly those with dyslexia, who may find headings harder to read than the surrounding content. While this does not fail a specific WCAG 2.2 criterion, it represents an accessibility barrier. Ticket 6051123.
Jumbled Sentence question context is not announced for screen reader users. In Jumbled Sentence questions, when you use a screen reader and move into a dropdown menu, the screen reader announces only the dropdown options without reading the surrounding sentence. You lose the context needed to choose the correct answer. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships) and 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value). Ticket 6091553.
Content visibility controls lack accessible names and trigger unexpected navigation. The controls that set content visibility (“Hidden from students” or “Visible to students”) on the course outline have three accessibility barriers. Each visibility control does not identify which content item it belongs to. The dropdown menu also lacks identification of the associated content item. When a screen reader user activates a visibility control, the page simultaneously opens the content item for editing, causing unexpected navigation. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value) and 3.2.2 (On Input). Ticket 6131835.
Progress tooltips not announced by screen reader. When navigating the page with a screen reader, the progress tracking status tooltips are not automatically announced. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.2 (Meaningful Sequence). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Authored documents skip heading levels. Some documents created within the product skip heading levels. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.2 (Meaningful Sequence). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Tooltips not keyboard navigable. Several tooltips are not navigable by keyboard, including the tooltip that appears over the course name in the Course Schedule tool and the tooltip over the progress tracking completion bar. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Expanded image not keyboard scrollable. You cannot scroll an expanded image page using the up and down arrow keys. If you rely on the keyboard alone, you may not be able to scroll to see the entire image depending on its size. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Access code tooltip not keyboard navigable. The tooltip that appears over the information icon next to a test’s access code input is not navigable by keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Focus lost after calendar checkbox interaction. When creating a personal calendar item using the keyboard to select or unselect the “All Day” and “Repeat Event” checkboxes, the focus indicator disappears after either of these interactions. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3 (Focus Order). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Knowledge Check radio group has unexpected Tab navigation. The radio group in a Knowledge Check can be navigated using both the up and down arrow keys (as expected) and the Tab key (not expected). This may confuse or frustrate you as it does not follow the expected keyboard behaviour. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3 (Focus Order). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Submission modal focus escapes to background. When the “Your submission was successful” modal opens for a Group Assignment submission, keyboard navigation moves away from the modal after the download button. This also occurs on the “Submit assignment?” modal. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3 (Focus Order). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Student attempts panel has illogical focus order. The focus order of the student attempts list panel for a multiple-attempt assessment is not logical. After activating the “submitted” link, the submission panel opens and focus moves first to the close button and then to the browser settings. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3 (Focus Order). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Focus jumps away after setting course complete. After setting the course to complete in the course settings using the keyboard, focus jumps away from this component to the heading and you must navigate back down to your place. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3 (Focus Order). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Pronunciation button nested incorrectly. For instructors, the name pronunciation button on student cards in the Groups tab is nested incorrectly within the component. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Focus indicator contrast fails on dark buttons. Some black and dark grey buttons do not meet minimum colour contrast requirements with the blue focus indicator. This occurs on the “Save” button on the calendar page and on the “Grade Now” button on the Gradebook Overview tab. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11 (Non-text Contrast). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Cloud import back button focus indicator has low contrast. On the submission modal for the Import from Cloud tool, the focus indicator on the back button does not meet minimum colour contrast requirements with the white background. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11 (Non-text Contrast). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Learning Module table of contents misaligns with text spacing. When you apply text spacing adjustments, a few elements on the table of contents for a Learning Module become misaligned and difficult to read, including the progress bar, content icons, and status indicator. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.12 (Text Spacing). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Questions misalign with text spacing. The multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank question types become misaligned and harder to read when you apply text spacing adjustments. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.12 (Text Spacing). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Text truncated with text spacing applied. Some text becomes truncated when you apply text spacing adjustments, including the text in the course faculty section. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.12 (Text Spacing). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Progress tracker tooltips not hoverable or dismissible. The tooltips that appear on the course progress status tracker on mouse hover and keyboard focus are not hoverable or dismissible. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.13 (Content on Hover or Focus). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Assignment details tooltip not hoverable or dismissible. When you zoom the browser to 200 per cent on an assignment, the right panel is hidden behind an information icon in the header. The tooltip that appears when you hover over this icon is not hoverable or dismissible. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.13 (Content on Hover or Focus). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Hot Spot question tooltip not hoverable or dismissible. The keyboard controls tooltip on the image for a Hot Spot question is not hoverable or dismissible. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.13 (Content on Hover or Focus). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Download icon tooltip not dismissible. The tooltip that appears on the download icon in the Flexible Grading interface is not dismissible. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.13 (Content on Hover or Focus). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Calendar picker focus indicator hard to see. The blue focus indicator on the calendar picker icon is difficult to see as it directly touches the grey outlines of the icons. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus Visible). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Message icon focus indicator hard to see. The focus indicator around the icon button that allows students to send a message to their instructor from the Course Outline is hard to see as it is directly adjacent to the black outline of the icon. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus Visible). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Roster menu item focus indicator disappears. On the Roster page, the focus indicator disappears from the Member Information menu item within the three-dot icon on a student. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus Visible). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Course content reorder requires drag. The reorder course content button on the Course Outline page cannot be used without a dragging motion. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.5.7 (Dragging Movements). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Multiple-choice reorder requires drag. You cannot reorder the options on a multiple-choice question without a dragging motion. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.5.7 (Dragging Movements). Stated in Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report.
Alternative formats button does not appear when opening content from a search link. When you search for a file within an Ultra course and open it from the search results, the alternative formats button does not appear. The button only becomes available if you navigate to the file’s location in the course and open it directly. If you depend on alternative formats, you may not realise these are available when you reach content through search. While this does not fail a specific WCAG 2.2 criterion, it represents an accessibility barrier. We identified this issue through internal audit (ticket 5376981) and have reported it to Anthology.
WIRIS equations may not convert correctly in alternative formats. When equations created with the WIRIS editor in Ultra are converted into alternative formats by Ally, the output may not match the original content, depending on how the equation was entered. You could receive incorrect or misleading versions of equations and learning materials. While this does not fail a specific WCAG 2.2 criterion, it represents an accessibility barrier. We identified this issue through internal audit (ticket 5394532) and have reported it to Anthology.
Alternative text added by Ally is not made available to screen reader users. When you add alternative text to an image in Ultra using the Ally remediation tool, the alternative text is not communicated to screen reader users viewing the image. You receive no description of the image, even though alternative text has been provided. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content). We identified this issue through internal audit (ticket 5442729) and have reported it to Anthology.
Disproportionate burden
We are not claiming disproportionate burden for any accessibility issues at this time.
Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
We have not identified any non-accessible content that falls outside the scope of the accessibility regulations at this time.
What we are doing to improve accessibility
We have reported all issues identified through internal audit to Anthology, the vendor responsible for the Blackboard platform, and we continue to track their progress through our support tickets. We raise accessibility as a priority in all our communications with Anthology and advocate for timely resolution of the issues listed in this statement.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 13 February 2026. It was last reviewed on 13 February 2026.
This platform was last tested in 2026 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.
We carried out internal testing using Firefox, Chrome, Windows 11, NVDA, and JAWS. The iSolutions Blackboard Ultra Project Team conducted this testing over the past year. We also reviewed the Anthology Accessibility Conformance Report provided by the vendor.
Blackboard Collaborate
BOB TV
Eassignments
This accessibility statement is currently being drafted.
Education Dashboards
This accessibility statement is currently being drafted.
Elearn
Our user documentation website www.elearn.soton.ac.uk is a WordPress website using KnowAll Knowledge Base Theme with several customisations and plugins.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
We have raised these issues with KnowAll or are working on a custom fix for the following:
- Site has no skip link (used by screen readers) – fix in progress 17/06/2022
- Hamburger button (when the site is loaded on mobile or small screens) has no focus indicator
- Hamburger button does not announce expanded /collapsed state to screen reader user
- Poor contrast ratio in breadcrumb trail – fix in progress 17/06/2022