Blackboard Ally - making course materials more accessible

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Blackboard Ally - making course materials more accessible

On 13 August, to help meet accessibility requirements, we are introducing a new service - Ally - to MyAberdeen.

This major enhancement will create a more inclusive learning experience for all students.

How does it work?

Ally scans Word, PowerPoint and PDF course materials for common accessibility issues then provides staff with feedback and, if necessary, simple step-by-step guidance on how to improve content. This feedback is not visible to students.

Ally also automatically generates alternative, accessible formats of documents, allowing students to download the file type that best suits their needs. Formats include audio, PDF and HTML, depending on the original document type.

Good practice

We advise staff to check Ally’s feedback before making course materials available to students at the start of term. You may want to make an item temporarily unavailable while checking Ally feedback and making any necessary adjustments to it.

Want to know more?

Find out more about Ally in Toolkit’s MyAberdeen: Staff resource. Or come along to one of our hands-on workshops to learn the fundamentals of creating accessible documents in Microsoft Office. Register online via the Course Booking System– search for ‘Accessibility’.

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