Accessibility

Accessibility statement for SCHOLAR

This accessibility statement applies to scholar.hw.ac.uk, a website is run by SCHOLAR, Heriot-Watt University. While some content is publicly available, access to most of the learning materials requires an account.

SCHOLAR wants widest possible audience to be able to use its resources and services.

For example, this means that you should be able to:

zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen on our public pages, visible prior to logging in
navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
navigate most of the website using speech recognition software (tested using LipSurf)
listen to much of the website using a screen reader (tested using ChromeVox, NVDA)
make use of close captions in our 'Using SCHOLAR' videos
use a suitable text equivalent for most images in course content
use the 'Alternative' toggle to replace animations within course materials with static, more accessible alternatives
download PDF versions of our course materials as alternatives to on-screen, interactive versions

My Computer My Way has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

when viewing course content, text may spill off the screen when you zoom in to greater than 100% magnification
you cannot modify the line height, colour or spacing of text
PDF documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader software
live video streams and recordings of live webinar sessions do not have captions
you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader

Our developers are actively working to increase the accessibility and usability of SCHOLAR and we have developed a new, more accessible version of our learning platform. This is currently under testing.

We have assessed the cost of fixing issues with the present website, which contains over 27,500 content pages. We believe that doing so now, while in development of our new, more accessible platform, would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We aim to transition onto our new, more accessible, learning platform by December 2020.

What to do if you can't access parts of this website

If you are unable to access the content you require due to the limitations of the present website, and would like to access the new website in order to take advantage of the improved accessibility features, please contact us at info@scholar.hw.ac.uk or telephone us on 0131 451 4759.

Feedback and contact information

You can contact us through the following methods:

phone +44 (0)131 451 4002 (Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 5:00pm)
email info@scholar.hw.ac.uk
Post can also be sent to the following address:

Katy Oag
Senior Administrator
Lyell Building
Heriot Watt University
Edinburgh, EH14 4AP