Accessibility, UDL & Quality Matters: Your Blueprint for Inclusive Teaching and Quality Course Design Practical steps to make content accessible and inclusive As part of the 19th annual National Distance Learning Week (NDLW), Instructional Technology will offer a series of sessions that underscore the importance and context of digital accessibility, how to create your own digital accessibility action plan, and how proactively using Quality Matters General Standard 8 (Accessibility & Usability) with the core principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can support course accessibility and inclusive teaching practices.

Monday, November 3, 2025 (12 pm - 12:50 pm)

Digital Accessibility 101: Principles and Practices

What is digital accessibility, and why does it matter in your course? If a student couldn't access your materials, would you know what to do -- or how to fix it? Join this session to learn the foundational principles of digital accessibility, legal context, and core practices. We'll share tips for creating accessible images and Blackboard content, and where to find training support.

Session Objectives

  • Explain the importance of digital accessibility in higher education.

  • Describe basic steps faculty can take to improve course accessibility.

  • Define alternative text and best practices for writing descriptive alt text

  • Review accessibility settings available in Blackboard courses and organizations

Whether you're building a new course or updating old materials, this virtual session will give you practical steps to get started.

Tuesday, November 4, 2025 (12 pm - 12:50 pm)

Design Accessible Courses: Leverage UDL and Quality Matters Standard 8 for Content Remediation and Inclusive Learning Experiences

Creating accessible and inclusive courses requires thoughtful consideration of diverse learning styles and strategies that foster engaging learning experiences. The foundational concepts of Universal Design for Learning (UDL)—providing multiple means of Representation, Action and Expression, and Engagement—are strongly supported by the Quality Matters (QM) Higher Education Rubric, specifically General Standard 8: Accessibility and Usability. 

Session Objectives

  • Explain alignment between QM Standard 8 and the three core principles of UDL.

  • Apply remediation techniques for text and images (QM 8.3, 8.4) after identifying course barriers with a course accessibility report from Anthology Ally.

  • Develop a "plus-one" action plan to implement UDL by modifying one course component to offer flexible learning options.

By proactively reviewing QM Standard 8 and using UDL's core principles, you can move beyond accessibility compliance to intentionally building an inclusive learning environment for all students. 

Thursday, November 6, 2025 (12 pm - 12:50 pm)

Create your Digital Accessibility Action Plan

Whether you are beginning or continuing your journey to create or remediate accessible content, this session will help you define your personalized action plan to improve digital accessibility in your course. Participants will leave with clear next steps to implement digital accessibility best practices. 

Session Objectives

  • Identify technology tools like Anthology Ally for creating or remediating digital content 

  • Describe 3 easy fixes for common PDF accessibility issues identified by Ally

  • Recall strategies for creating or remediating PDF files to improve accessibility

  • Create an action plan to support accessibility goals in your course, including appropriate technologies

In this session, participants will have the chance to create an action plan that reflects on the changes they have already made and identifies next steps or resources to keep building an inclusive digital learning environment. 

Register for Free NDLW Events

This year's NDLW events take place November 3-7, 2025. All sessions are free to attend, but require registration via USDLA. 

Connect with Instructional Technology

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology, please consider the following options:

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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:  

Universal Design for Learning Guidelines

  • 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 yourself these 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). For example, is there just one more way you can help students stay on task, give them information, or demonstrate skills? The answers can help unlock a UDL strategy for your course. 

Bb Ally for Remediation, Alt Text

  • Explore accessibility tools and built-in features that allow you to cater to students with different  abilities. For example, Ally is a tool available in Blackboard Ultra that improves the accessibility of courses by scanning course content, generating an Accessibility Report, and providing tools to fix accessibility issues.
  • Use Ally's Instructor Feedback Panel to preview content and prioritize remediation.
  • Consider Ally's powerful alternative format options and let students know they can download content in multiple formats that give them choices in how they watch, read, or listen. 

QM's Accessibility and Usability Resource Site 

  • Register for free access to Quality Matters Accessibility and Usability Resource Site (AURS), the go-to resource for educators to address key accessibility and usability concerns. Log into MyQM, or create your QM account. After successfully logging in, use the side navigation menu to select "Workshop-Register" and self-enroll in AURS (last item on the workshop list).
  • Explore resources, videos, and best practices on topics like UDL, alternative text, captions, hyperlinks, accessible MS Office products, readability, accessible PDFs, accessible course design, and inclusive teaching practices.
  • Connect with colleagues through AURS discussion forums to seek and incorporate feedback to refine course design that supports an inclusive learning experience. 

Save the dates!

Instructional Technology will offer an accessibility workshop in January and a Bb Ally webinar in February to share best practices in course accessibility and usability. To learn more and register for an event, follow us on myUMBC.  

References

UMBC is committed to providing a consistent learning experience for everyone. The last day we will support Blackboard Original is December 31, 2024. Please check out our training and support:umbc.edu/go/ultra


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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:

  • Universal Design for Learning - Discover what you need to know about UDL and how it can assist you in creating accessible and usable content to meet the needs of diverse learners.
  • Alternative Text - Find out why alternative text is an important principle in accessible web design and how you can use it to help all learners understand the meaning of the image used in your content.
  • Video Captions and Audio Descriptions - Uncover the specific steps that must be taken to make video content accessible.
  • Hyperlinks - Gain an understanding of how to set up links in the most accessible way possible in order to create accessible content.
  • Accessible MS Office products - Explore the basics of Microsoft product accessibility, including alternative text, document best practices and utilizing built-in accessibility checkers.
  • Readability: Color Choice and Contrast - Dive into the topics of readability and discover why color choice and contrast play a major role in creating accessible digital resources.
  • Accessible PDFs - Take your readability skills to the next level and learn more about how you can make PDFs accessible for your learners.
  • Cognitive Accessibility - Increase your understanding of cognitive accessibility and uncover strategies to combat this common barrier to student success.
  • Inclusive Teaching Practices - Discover design and pedagogical practices to help you foster an inclusive and diverse online learning community.

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.

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DoIT and Student Disability Services hosted a "Candid Conversation on Enhancing Accessibility" on March 15th. The session highlighted ways that course accessibility benefits all students and results in inclusive learning and working environments. Student Disability Services and DoIT's Instructional Technology team collaborate to provide resources and support to enhance course accessibility. Proactively designing and teaching a course with accessibility in mind not only supports students with documented accommodations, but also supports Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and best practices in course design. In the session panelists shared several key recommendations and resources that are available:

Key recommendations for course design and delivery


Accessibility Resources

In addition to the tools noted above, the following resources also support accessibility:


Technology Highlight: Class

UMBC will be piloting Class, a synchronous web conferencing platform built on Zoom's infrastructure. Class provides support for the following:


Office of Student Disability Services (SDS) 

  • Faculty Resources  
  • Enroll in the SDS Accommodations Support for Faculty Blackboard organization.
SDS's Accommodations Support for Faculty Blackboard organization provides faculty guidance on accessibility in Blackboard, captioning, testing accommodations, and remediating course content.

How to Enroll
  1. Open Blackboard:https://blackboard.umbc.edu.
  2. Next, use this link to self-enroll in the course. Note: You must have Blackboard open FIRST before using this self-enroll link or you will encounter an error.
  3. Once the self-enroll page loads, click submit to proceed. Image 1: Click submit to self-enroll in this training course.
  4. On the next page, click OK to confirm enrollment. 
  5. The course will be immediately available.


Connect with Student Disability Services

Michael Canale

Assistant Director, Office of Student Disability Services (SDS)

canale@umbc.edu

Student Disability Services

Email: disability@umbc.edu


Connect with Instructional Technology

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

Image description: virtual meeting showing participants, chat bubble, closed captions icon, and text with a transcript.

~ by Josh Abrams, Peter Ariev, and Michael Canale

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Overview and Demo: Using Ally to Provide Accessible Content
Wednesday, September 30 from 2:00 p.m.  - 3:00 p.m.


Please attend an overview of Ally, Blackboard’s accessibility software solution that provides full, out of the box integration with Blackboard Learn, Instructure Canvas, D2L Brightspace, and Moodle. 

Register: https://forms.gle/skgWx9excPdx8LzW9 

Providing accessible content is critical to support the needs of learners requiring accommodations for various disabilities, to promote better learning outcomes for all students as they adjust to remote teaching and hybrid learning models during the COVID-19 response, and to proactively address the University System of Maryland’s ongoing efforts to create a more inclusive and accessible learning and working environment for all.

The webinar will include an overview and demo of Ally’s features as well as a presentation by Dr. Mariann Hawken detailing the steps the UMBC Division of Information Technology took to implement and promote adoption of Ally and accessibility awareness on their campus and the benefits derived from their efforts over the last 18 months. This session will be recorded for anyone who is unable to attend. 

Presenters:
  • Joshua Maltby, Account Executive (MD/DC)
  • Tim Henningsen, Senior Solutions Engineer
  • John Michael Scott, PhD., Product Manager for Blackboard Ally
  • Dr. Mariann Hawken, eLearning Manager, UMBC Division of Information Technology
Register: https://forms.gle/skgWx9excPdx8LzW9
]]> Overview and Demo: Using Ally to Provide Accessible Content Wednesday, September 30 from 2:00 p.m.  - 3:00 p.m. Please attend an overview of Ally, Blackboard’s accessibility software... https://forms.gle/skgWx9excPdx8LzW9 https://beta.my.umbc.edu/api/v0/pixel/news/95768/guest@my.umbc.edu/f28a08f636caeaefde546e0aaca258fd/api/pixel accessibility accommodations ally blackboard inclusivity online-learning remote-instruction udl universal-design Instructional Technology https://beta.my.umbc.edu/groups/instructional-technology https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xsmall.png?1446126703 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/original.png?1446126703 https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xxlarge.png?1446126703 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xlarge.png?1446126703 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/large.png?1446126703 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/medium.png?1446126703 https://assets3-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/small.png?1446126703 https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xsmall.png?1446126703 https://assets3-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xxsmall.png?1446126703 Instructional Technology https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/095/768/645d288043f17afc684ca8819f167182/xxlarge.jpg?1600113799 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/095/768/645d288043f17afc684ca8819f167182/xlarge.jpg?1600113799 https://assets3-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/095/768/645d288043f17afc684ca8819f167182/large.jpg?1600113799 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/095/768/645d288043f17afc684ca8819f167182/medium.jpg?1600113799 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/095/768/645d288043f17afc684ca8819f167182/small.jpg?1600113799 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/095/768/645d288043f17afc684ca8819f167182/xsmall.jpg?1600113799 https://assets3-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/095/768/645d288043f17afc684ca8819f167182/xxsmall.jpg?1600113799 3 0 false Mon, 14 Sep 2020 16:07:43 -0400 Mon, 14 Sep 2020 16:11:16 -0400 Free Webinar on Accessibility of Course Materials Thursday, May 9, 2019 3:00 - 4:00 pm ET

The National Center on Accessible Education at CAST, Inc. is sponsoring a free webinar on accessibility.


Free Webinar: Accessibility of Course Materials & Your University

Thursday, May 9, 2019
3:00 - 4:00 pm ET (Find out when the webinar starts in your time zone)

Presenters: Cynthia Curry, AEM Center; Joanne Benica, Director of Disability Services, University of Southern Maine; Eric Moore, UDL and Accessibility Specialist, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; and Mark Nichols, Senior Director of Universal Design & Accessible Technologies, Virginia Tech

The Quality Indicators for the Provision of Accessible Educational Materials (AEM) can be used by faculty, IT, instructional designers, administrators, and others at higher ed institutions to self-assess and map improvements of course material accessibility. Join a discussion with a panel of higher ed professionals who have experience with many of the Critical Components of the Quality Indicators.  To get the most out of the webinar, please review the Quality Indicators and the Higher Education Critical Components.

Unable to attend the webinar?  No worries!  A recording will be available on the webinar's Event Page approximately one week after the webinar.  An announcement will be sent when the recording is available.

Click on this link to Register Now!

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Free Coursera MOOC - Learn the Basics of Developing an Inclusive & Accessible Course
This 5 week course provides instruction and strategies to support you in developing a course that is inclusive to students with a wide range of abilities, including students with disabilities. We cover effective practices to increase inclusion and avoid some of the common accessibility issues that can arise in an online course.

Note that the free version provides access to all course materials. The only limitation is that you will not be able to submit assignments for grading although you are welcome to view and complete the assignments on your own. The pricing for the certificate version of the course is $49.


Module Topics

Week 1: Introduction to Course, Demographics, Universal Design

Week 2: Accessible Documents

Week 3: Complex Images, Tables, Graphs

Week 4: Captioning

Week 5: Uncovered Topics, Resources & Review

accessibility logo
Course logo credit: "web accessibility word cloud" by Jill Wright (https://goo.gl/xyUoeU). Copyright - some rights remain. See https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
]]> Free Coursera MOOC - Learn the Basics of Developing an Inclusive & Accessible Course This 5 week course provides instruction and strategies to support you in developing a course that is... https://www.coursera.org/learn/inclusive-design https://beta.my.umbc.edu/api/v0/pixel/news/82783/guest@my.umbc.edu/697dbe08338640209d9884afc37cb8ba/api/pixel accessibility course-design instructional-technology udl universal-design Instructional Technology https://beta.my.umbc.edu/groups/instructional-technology https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xsmall.png?1446126703 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/original.png?1446126703 https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xxlarge.png?1446126703 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xlarge.png?1446126703 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/large.png?1446126703 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/medium.png?1446126703 https://assets3-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/small.png?1446126703 https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xsmall.png?1446126703 https://assets3-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xxsmall.png?1446126703 Instructional Technology https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/082/783/0b1631d2b0d1276c193d66c632624032/xxlarge.jpg?1552314616 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/082/783/0b1631d2b0d1276c193d66c632624032/xlarge.jpg?1552314616 https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/082/783/0b1631d2b0d1276c193d66c632624032/large.jpg?1552314616 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/082/783/0b1631d2b0d1276c193d66c632624032/medium.jpg?1552314616 https://assets3-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/082/783/0b1631d2b0d1276c193d66c632624032/small.jpg?1552314616 https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/082/783/0b1631d2b0d1276c193d66c632624032/xsmall.jpg?1552314616 https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/082/783/0b1631d2b0d1276c193d66c632624032/xxsmall.jpg?1552314616 2 0 false Mon, 11 Mar 2019 10:32:00 -0400 Mon, 11 Mar 2019 10:34:53 -0400