Blackboard Ally

• Check your overall Blackboard Ally score in each of the courses you are currently teaching. Don’t worry about courses you’ve taught in the past or courses that you will be teaching in the future. Focus on the present needs that you can fix for the upcoming semester. 
• Identify the types of resources that are in your course. Very few courses made use ALL resource types. You don't need to look at every single document and document type in a course. Instead, survey which document types you work with most. 
• Identify and focus on a representative sample of these document types. We recommend that you identify documents that you can edit in their original software/programs - Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, etc. 
• Check the Blackboard Ally guidance for each of the items you have chosen. What issues does Ally identify for your content? What terminology do you need to know?  You don’t have to fix anything yet. Get acquainted with the terminology and issues; you can't hope to fix what you don't know. 

• Eliminating outdated or irrelevant content helps streamline the user experience by ensuring that only essential and accurate information is presented. This makes it easier for assistive technologies, such as screen readers, to navigate the document without distractions. 

• Replace PDFs and Spreadsheets with more accessible file types like Word or PowerPoint. PDFs are incredibly difficult to make accessible; remediation requires considerable time, talent, and finances. 
• Replace PDFs with Permalinks. If you've downloaded a PDF from the UND library system's database or another website, use a permalink. Permalinks offer an alternative to sharing inaccessible PDFs on your course page. Rather than uploading a copy of an inaccessible article, you can link learners directly to an article’s bibliographic record in a database. 

• Implement suggestions outlined under Improve Content Accessibility. Utilize built-in features in Blackboard Ultra to enhance your course content. Learn how to apply several simple, actionable steps that will help ensure everyone, including people with disabilities, can effectively access and understand your content.
• Explore Common Accessibility Issues. This page breaks down the common accessibility issues that affect various types of content, including websites, PDFs, and other document formats. Understanding these fundamental issues can help you make changes that ensure all users can access and engage with your content effectively.  

• Enroll in TTaDA's 10-Step Accessibility Challenge. This self-paced Blackboard Ultra course is designed to introduce you to Blackboard Ally and some of the common accessibility issues it identifies. There is no set path through the 10-Step Accessibility Challenge – you can pick and choose whichever issue you are tackling, watch the video content, and apply the fix to your own document or resource. This is really a choose your own adventure. The course is free to use.

• Participate in accessibility trainings and workshops. Not only does TTaDA offer the 10-Step Accessibility Challenge, TTaDA staff also routinely offers a range of workshops designed to support your accessibility journey

• Consult the Blackboard Help Center. The Blackboard Help Center provides articles, tutorials, and videos on how to utilize Ally in Blackboard Ultra. 
• Seek help from your department’s Instructional Designer if you don’t know where to start or run into issues. Each college at UND has a designated Instructional Designer. These staff members are well-versed in accessible pedagogies and practices that you can use to build accessibility into your courses as you create them. 

Accessible course content benefits everyone by improving readability and ease of access, while also enhancing the overall quality and usability. There are many simple adjustments you can make to begin creating more accessible content.

See the following checklists for suggestions on where to start: 

• Blackboard's Content Accessibility Checklist
• The Accessibility Checklist for Blackboard Ultra 

Both physical and digital classrooms today are comprised of students with diverse needs. Alternative file formats provide greater opportunity for everyone to access necessary information in the way that they need or want it.

With alternative file formats, all students can meet the same learning objectives using resources that are built to target their individual needs. For example, Blackboard Ally creates audio and electronic braille alternatives for students with visual impairments.

However, alternative formats aren’t just for a select group of students. Alternative formats benefit everyone. For example, your students may be prone to eye strain, or maybe they are an auditory learner. With alternative formats, students can access content in the following formats:

• A tagged PDF (improves use with assistive technology)
• HTML (for viewing on mobile devices)
• ePub (for reading as an e-book on e-readers)
• Electronic braille
• Audio (MP3 version for listening)
• Immersive Reader (interactive tool aiding in reading and comprehension)
• BeeLine Reader (enhanced version for easier and faster on-screen reading)

See the Alternative Formats help page for more information on the types of formats that are available within Blackboard Ally.

Ally provides detailed feedback and support to help you become an accessibility pro. Learn about accessibility issues, why they matter, and how to fix them. 

After you upload files in your course, Ally produces an accessibility score for each file. In lessons with multiple files, the accessibility score is shown for each file. In areas where you access files, the accessibility icon is located to the right or left of the file.

See the Instructor Feedback Panel help article for more information on Ally's step-by-step guidance.

Add a rich description to images and graphs to improve comprehension. Images can be a great way to engage your learners with different modes of learning, and they can help communicate complex ideas to students.

• Blackboard's Add Image Descriptions help article
• The Alternative Text (Images) section under Common Accessibility Issues
• Workshop on Making Images Accessible
• Workshop on Making Complex Images Accessible

Everyone should be able to read your text. It is crucial that all text in your course materials be visible and legible, as students need to be able to read it in order to understand it. Text with poor color contrast can be difficult to read for everyone- but especially for students with visual impairments such as color blindness.

Ally can help you ensure that your text is visible and legible to all students. Ally actually checks color contrast to verify that there is enough contrast between the text color and its background. It uses the contrast requirements specified under the WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines.

• Images should have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1.
• Normal sized text should have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
• Large sized text should have a contrast ratio of at least 3:1. Large sized text consists of an 18 pt font or higher or a 14 pt. font bolded.
• Text in logos do not have a contrast requirement.

Fix color contrast issues in your presentation or document software, and then upload a new file to Blackboard when complete. If you get stuck, you can select the Accessibility Score Indicator to learn more. Select "What This Means" for an explanation.

For more help with Color Contrast, check out the following resources:

• Blackboard's Fix Text Contrast help article 
• The Color Contrast section under Common Accessibility Issues

Headings make navigating documents easier for all. Reading documents with long, dense text can be a daunting task for learners. Well-structured documents help students organize and process text. By using headings in your document styles, you can design sections and sub-sections for your documents. Headings  are essential for screen reader users. 

For more help, see the following:

• Blackboard's Add Headings to a Document help article
• The Headings section under Common Accessibility Issues

Using tables in your documents can be a great way to help organize complex information for students. However, tables can pose significant challenges for keyboard navigators. To improve table navigation, especially for screen reader users, be sure to add headers to your tables.

Check out the following resources for more help:

• Blackboard's Add Headers to Document Data Tables help article
• The Tables section under Common Accessibility Issues

Descriptive links guide students to valuable external resources. When a link is broken, the navigation process is disrupted, creating obstacles to learning. Ally can help overcome these obstacles by identifying broken links. This ensures that instructor course content remains accessible, improving the overall learning experience for students.

• Blackboard's Fix Broken Links help article.
• The Descriptive Link Text section under Common Accessibility Issues. 

Preparing to teach a course is a lot of work, and sometimes you might be left with a scanned copy from a book in your files. Unfortunately, scanned texts are often inaccessible and create significant challenges for all students in reading and studying effectively. They typically receive a low accessibility score. When you encounter a scanned PDF, do your best to replace it with a proper digital text document.

For more information and tips to making scanned PDF's accessible, see the following:

• Blackboard's Scanned PDF's help article 
• TTaDA's PDF page

There may be times when you simply can't find a fully accessible version of your course file. As a last best effort, Ally allows you to add some more bibliographic information to the file. Adding this info helps students work with your campus office to find or create an accessible version of the file.

For more information on linking to library resources, see the following: 

• Blackboard's Add a Library Reference help article 
• The Permalinks section under Creating Accessible Content

Ensure that your documents and presentations stay accessible when converting to PDF. Although keeping your content in the original source file is the best way to ensure the document remains accessible, many instructors prefer to export their documents and presentations as PDFs. When exporting as PDF, it's important to check your export settings to make sure that the PDF will be tagged. 

For more help on exporting documents to tagged PDFs, check out the following resources:

• Blackboard's Tag a PDF help article
• TTaDA's PDF page

Digital media can trigger unexpected responses from students. The Internet is full of fun content, and adding creative media elements to your course can boost student engagement. However, GIF's and other rapid-movement or flickering media- even overly complex still images- have the potential to trigger seizures or other harmful responses in students.

Ally identifies these files and scores them as low. Follow Ally's instructions to help ensure all students can safely interact with your course content.

See the Remove Potentially Harmful Content help article for more information.