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Learn about Ally, a tool available in Blackboard courses that improves the accessibility of your course content. Attend this session to see Ally's remediation capabilities and file conversion tools that generate alternative formats for you and your students.
This workshop will offer ideas for developing a strategy to improve your course usability and accessibility and how to get started with Blackboard Ally. Ally scans content in Blackboard and provides feedback and tools to identify and fix accessibility issues.
Leverage Ally's powerful alternative format options yourself, and let students know they can download content in multiple formats that give them choices in how they watch, read, or listen.
Upon completing this online session, participants will be able to:
Run the Ally Accessibility Report for your course (Original or Ultra) to identify accessibility issues
Use Ally's Instructor Feedback Panel to preview content and prioritize remediation
Follow Ally's step-by-step guidance to fix accessibility issues
Deploy Ally's alternative formats to support diverse learning preferences
This session will be facilitated by Drs. Peter Ariev and Susan Biro, members of the Instructional Technology team.
RSVP details are in the original my UMBCpost, click on the link below
In response to institutional and educator priorities for making education accessible for all learners, the Quality Matters peer community created the Accessibility and Usability Resource Site (AURS). (If you would like to access the original content from Instructional Technology, to add these tools to your instructional toolbelt, click the website link below)
Free and open to everyone, AURS provides the online community with important information on addressing key accessibility and usability concerns, including:
Each topic features different resources to assist you with your accessibility challenges. Videos show you step-by-step changes you can make to increase the accessibility of your course. Examples highlight best practices. Articles provide you with additional information and resources. And forums allow you to connect directly with accessibility experts --peers who have expertise in designing accessible courses. There is also a General Accessibility and Usability Questions' Forum where you can ask any question that is unrelated to the listed topics.
Accessing AURS
Anyone can register for the site for free by logging into MyQM and selecting "Workshop - Register" in the side navigation and choosing "Register for Accessibility & Usability Resource Site." Need a QM account?
If you've already registered, the AURS link can be found on your Dashboard in the QM Classroom after you log in.
A photo of a leather toolbelt with a hammer and wrench accompanies this post. Credit: Jesse Orric via unsplash.com
Some good news from the Association of Higher Education and Disability/AHEAD (one of the professional associations that UMBC's ADS/SDS Staff belongs to)
"AHEAD is happy to share that on the 33rd Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) have reintroduced the Pell Grant for Students with Disabilities Act! (HR 5739 for those wanting to reach out to their Federal Representatives)
This reintroduction is due to AHEADs continued efforts to work with Congress to address an issue that has been raised time and time again by our members as a stumbling block for students with disabilities to successfully complete college. Students are in the position of having to decide whether to follow their recommended course load or ignore the recommendation and go with a full-course load in order to qualify for the full Pell Grant amount for which they are eligible.
The Pell Grant for Students with Disabilities Act, like its predecessor in the last Congress, would allow students with disabilities to take the recommended course load without losing Pell Grant funding by having the U.S. Department of Education consider the recommended course load as equivalent to a full course load (which is 12 credits)." -AHEAD listserv post 7-27-23
Don't be shy about reaching out to your elected officials. Closer to home, resources for campus members and visitors with disabilities include: Student Disability Services, Accessibility and Disability Services (Employees and Visitors), and UMBC's online form for reporting accessibility concerns. As Disability Pride Month comes to a close, please know we honor and celebrate people with disabilities every day, and have more events planned, especially for October, Disability Employment Awareness Month.
A photo of three women conferring over their laptops while seated accompanies this post. Credit: Christina Wocin via unsplash.com