In 2019-20, approximately 21 percent of undergraduate students and 11 percent of post baccalaureate students reported having a disability (National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Facts, 2023). Disability Awareness Month offers an opportunity to increase awareness about the variety of disabilities students may experience and help break down misconceptions. 

Inclusive Experiences for All

Disability awareness includes addressing physical environments and improving accessibility in buildings, classrooms, and public spaces to ensure all individuals can navigate and participate fully. This might involve installing ramps, widening doorways, adding signage, or improving lighting. The Office of Accessibility & Disability raises awareness about the lived experiences of people with disabilities and highlights services for faculty, staff, and students at UMBC. 

Instructors play an important role in recognizing the diverse needs of students with disabilities while striving to promote equity and access for all. This includes creating inclusive learning experiences for students with disabilities and might involve providing assistive technologies, flexible teaching methods, or individualized support plans. 

Creating more accessible courses also requires consideration of diverse learning styles and approaches that result in engaging learning for all students. Strategies grounded in Universal Design for Learning principles can leverage technology in ways that help all students succeed. Key practices that support accessible course design include the following. 

Universal Design for Learning 

One of the most impactful ways instructors can support students is by using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines, a framework that aims to provide multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression for learners. UDL benefits all students, not just those with disabilities, because it offers flexible ways learners can access content and demonstrate knowledge. 

UDL is a key practice that supports accessible course design. Instructors can get started in any of the following ways:

• Review UDL guidelines that support offering multiple means of representation to learners by employing various formats such as text, audio, and visual materials to accommodate diverse learning preferences. 
• Foster engagement by incorporating interactive elements, discussions, or hands-on activities that cater to visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. 
• Ask key questions about learner engagement, representation, action and expression when designing a module or unit in your course. 
• Implement UDL incrementally and intentionally. Refer to scholarly works like Behling & Tobin (2018) for guidance. They encourage faculty to think of UDL as “plus-one thinking about the interactions in your course” (p. 134). Is there just one more way you can help students stay on task, give them information, or demonstrate skills? 

Recent updates to federal guidelines for digital accessibility underscore the critical need for educators to ensure that all course materials are accessible to every student.

One of the most prevalent accessibility issues in digital course materials is the lack of proper descriptions for images. According to Anthology, nearly one-third of all images flagged by Ally are simply marked as decorative without any descriptive text, which creates a barrier for students who rely on descriptions for their studies.

Properly tagging images not only meets federal guidelines, but also plays a crucial role in creating an inclusive learning environment. Alternative descriptions serve as vital information for students who use screen readers, providing them with textual explanations for images that otherwise visually conveyed. This practice not only supports students with visual impairments, but also benefits those with cognitive disabilities who might struggle to understand the context of images with additional context. 

Ally will flag images that lack a description in a Blackboard course. Instructors can enter a description themselves, mark the image as decorative, or leverage AI tools, powered by Microsoft Azure AI Vision, to scan the image and generate a suggested description. Instructors retain full control over the image and can edit the content to make corrections or clarify the information before saving it.

Image 1: Example of Ally's AI generated image description.

Note: Alternative descriptions are not applied automatically. Each suggestion requires the instructor’s review and approval to ensure that the final output aligns with the instructor’s original purpose for that image.

If the alt text does not meet the instructor’s needs, such as a complex image or diagram, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot provide excellent tools to create detailed alternative text and long descriptions.

For example, this prompt was shared by the International Ally Users Group. It can be customized for the uploaded image according to context, function and prospective audience (e.g., students). 

When we integrate comprehensive and accurate alt text for all images, we adhere to accessibility standards and legal requirements. We also foster an inclusive and supporting learning environment where every student has the opportunity to succeed.

Creating accessible courses requires thoughtful consideration of diverse learning styles and strategies that result in fostering engaging learning experiences for all students. These strategies include leveraging Universal Design for Learning principles to guide course design that offers variety to all learners.

Faculty can utilize Blackboard Ally to provide multiple content formats and empower students to use Ally's alternative formats to meet their learning styles. Additional resources about course usability and accessibility, including the chance to connect with peers, can be accessed by using your QM login to enroll in the Accessibility and Usability Resource Site (AURS).

Highlights of these approaches include the following:  

Providing accessible images is a crucial step to ensure inclusivity and equal access to learning. When images are properly described, students using screen readers are able to access an equitable educational environment. We use the alternative text field when placing images in documents, presentations, and in our Blackboard courses.

There are several tools available to help faculty with accessible images. 

1. Ally Course Accessibility Report provides a big picture overview of your course's accessibility score, growing content by type and identifying issues in your course that is easiest to fix. Clicking the Start button will open a panel that helps you find the images and enter alternative text for those images in your course.
2. When using images in Google Slides or Documents, you can click on the image to activate a new menu, Format Options. Select Alt Text to enter a description. Repeat this process for every image.
3. When embedding images into Microsoft Word/PowerPoint files, you can improve accessibility with a simple right-click on the image. This action will activate a menu where you can find Edit Alt Text. If the image does not contain information, such as a stylistic border, you can mark it as decorative.

What if your course uses complex images, bursting with intricate details? How can you ensure that every student, regardless of visual ability, fully grasps their significance? 

ChatGPT 4* offers powerful image input functionality, allowing you to upload an image and generate complex descriptions. With its advanced language capabilities, ChatGPT can analyze an image, identify key elements, and produce informative alternative text that conveys the essence of the image. For example, we uploaded three complex images to generate extended descriptions of 100 words or less.

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). 

Free and open to everyone, AURS provides the online community with important information on addressing key accessibility and usability concerns, including: