Automating Accessibility at Scale: From Moodle Audits to Document Pipelines

Automating Accessibility at Scale: From Moodle Audits to Document Pipelines By Mrisho ‘M’ Omary, UCL School of Management Conference Stream: Digital Ecosystems for Lifelong Learning Digital accessibility is widely recognised as an essential component of inclusive education. Yet for many higher education institutions, ensuring that digital learning environments remain accessible is a persistent challenge. Every year, thousands of pages of content are created, updated, copied, and shared across virtual learning environments. Course teams upload documents, add resources, create activities, and revise content throughout the academic cycle. While accessibility guidance, training, and support continue to improve, the reality is that identifying accessibility barriers at scale remains difficult. One of the questions that has increasingly shaped my work as a Learning Technologist and Faculty Accessibility Champion is: How can institutions move from reactive accessibility fixes towards a more proactive and sustainable approach? This question ultimately led to the development of a proof of concept of an automated accessibility auditing solution for Moodle, which I will be showcasing at ALTC26 through my session, Automating Accessibility at Scale: From Moodle Audits to Document Pipelines. Why Digital Accessibility Matters When people think about accessibility, they often associate it exclusively with learners who have declared disabilities. While accessibility is certainly important for these students, its benefits extend much further. Accessible digital learning environments support learners with: Permanent disabilities Temporary impairments Situational limitations Undisclosed conditions Age-related needs Accessibility can influence how effectively learners navigate content, complete activities, access information, and participate in their courses. Barriers such as poor heading structures, missing alternative text, insufficient colour contrast, inaccessible forms, or keyboard navigation issues can create unnecessary obstacles for many users. These barriers may particularly affect learners who use screen readers, keyboard-only navigation, voice recognition software, or other assistive technologies. Accessibility is therefore not simply a compliance requirement. It is fundamentally about ensuring equitable access to learning opportunities. The Challenge of Scale Manual accessibility auditing remains an important practice. It allows us to evaluate usability, learning design, content quality, and the real experiences of learners. However, manual auditing also presents challenges. Reviewing large numbers of Moodle pages requires significant time and effort. Content changes frequently. Courses evolve. New resources are added. Existing materials are revised. Repeating audits across extensive collections of content can quickly become difficult to sustain. This raises an important question: Can automation help us identify and prioritise accessibility barriers more efficiently while still preserving the need for human judgement? Rather than replacing accessibility expertise, I became interested in how technology might help focus that expertise where it can have the greatest impact. Building an Automated Moodle Accessibility Audit The solution I am working on uses Playwright and the axe-core accessibility testing engine to automate accessibility auditing of Moodle pages. Rather than evaluating uploaded documents, the current implementation focuses specifically on Moodle webpages and user interfaces. The process automatically: Navigates Moodle pages Evaluates accessibility issues Captures evidence Produces structured reports Supports remediation activities Importantly, this is not an attempt to create a new accessibility checker. Several excellent accessibility tools already exist. Products such as Axe DevTools, Accessibility Insights for Web, and Anthology Ally provide valuable accessibility testing and monitoring capabilities. Axe DevTools enables browser-based accessibility evaluation, Accessibility Insights combines automated and guided assessments, and Ally provides LMS-integrated accessibility checking, alternative formats, and institutional reporting. My interest was slightly different. Rather than developing a new rules engine, I wanted to explore how automated testing, evidence gathering, and reporting could be orchestrated specifically around Moodle auditing workflows. The focus therefore became creating a repeatable process that could support accessibility reviews at scale while preserving traceability and supporting evidence-based remediation. Automation Has Limits One of the key themes I will discuss during the session is the importance of recognising what automated testing can and cannot do. Automated tools can identify many repeatable technical issues. They can help detect missing alternative text, poor heading structures, inaccessible form elements, and other issues that may create barriers for learners. However, accessibility is about much more than technical compliance. Automation cannot determine whether: Alternative text is educationally meaningful Learning activities are inclusive Instructions are clear Content supports effective learning A learning experience works well for every learner Human judgement remains essential. The most effective approach is therefore not automation instead of people, but automation working alongside accessibility expertise. Looking Beyond Moodle While the current implementation focuses on Moodle webpages and user interfaces, the longer-term ambition is broader. Future developments being explored include: Auditing Word documents Auditing PDF documents Workflow integration through Power Automate Accessibility reporting through SharePoint-based processes Institution-wide monitoring and continuous improvement workflows The goal is not to automate accessibility itself. The goal is to automate repetitive processes that can help institutions identify barriers earlier, prioritise action more effectively, and build accessibility into ongoing course development practices rather than relying solely on periodic review exercises. Join the Conversation at ALTC26 Digital accessibility continues to be one of the most important challenges and opportunities facing higher education. In this showcase session, I will demonstrate the Moodle auditing solution, discuss lessons learned during development, reflect critically on the strengths and limitations of automated testing, and share thoughts on how accessibility auditing might evolve into broader accessibility pipelines in the future. Whether you are a learning technologist, accessibility specialist, educational developer, academic, or digital education leader, I hope the session will spark discussion about how we can move accessibility from a reactive activity towards a more sustainable and scalable institutional practice. I look forward to continuing the conversation at ALTC26.