Making learning accessible for all

As we mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2020, it’s easy to see that accessibility is more important than ever in our digital world. The COVID-19 pandemic has made technology and digital communication an even bigger part of our everyday life. We’re now using technology to keep in touch with loved ones; for teaching and learning remotely; and for working collaboratively online. And at Coleg Gwent, we’ve made every effort to embrace technology and promote accessibility for all.

We strive for excellence in this area, because an accessible website means everybody is included.  We’ve worked hard to make sure our new website meets digital accessibility regulations, while also meeting Welsh language standards too. So, we’re really proud that TES picked up on how we achieved regulatory compliance, even with the additional challenge of providing a fully bilingual website. In fact, we’re the only college in Wales that currently meets government regulations and one of only 11 in the UK, highlighting Coleg Gwent as an example of best practice!

As an inclusive college that offers something for everyone, an accessible website means as many people as possible can use it – whether you have a hearing or vision impairment, learning disability or motor disability. It’s about adapting our content and tweaking the design of web pages.  Using specialist software like screen readers and speech recognition software. And offering content in alternative formats such as audio recording. All these things make for a website that works for everyone who needs it… and that is our goal!

The most accessible web pages are often faster and easier to use and we make our text as simple as possible for you to understand.  Our site has been built using the latest tools to optimise accessibility which means you can:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts within your browser
• zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader.

We pride ourselves in being an inclusive college offering something for everyone, and the accessibility of our website is a key part of this.

For more information about how we’ve made our website accessible, take a look at our accessibility statement.