Increasing Accessibility at GVSU with Blackboard Ally

Blackboard Ally was adopted at GVSU to provide:

• An institutional dashboard of the overall “health” of the accessibility documents that have been uploaded by faculty into Blackboard at the institutional and course level.
• On demand instructor guidance and help information for faculty on how to improve the accessibility of their uploaded files.
• Automated conversion of instructor uploaded files into alternative formats for students such as: ePub, electronic braille, audio only, HTML, Tagged PDF, and OCRed PDF.

Since January 1, 2020 through November 23, 2020, here are a few highlights around the use of the system by faculty and students.

Overall Ally Usage

In the Fall semester:

Total Courses 4,135 | Content 451,402 | Accessibility Score 67.3%

• Most severe accessibility concern = documents that are not OCRed (14,196).

Alternative Formats

• 64,650 total downloads of alternative file formats, including: Tagged PDF, HTML, ePub, BeeLine Reader, and audio-only as the top 5 formats.
• 5,600 courses had alternative file format downloads by students.

Instructor Feedback

• 942 total fixes by faculty have occurred in 256 courses.
• 2,865 feedback launches have occurred, providing faculty with feedback.

Teaching at GVSU?

Head on over to our web page for more information
and help in creating accessible course content
to support inclusive education!

GO TO: Ally at GVSU

Winter 2020 Ally Usage Report

Ally was adopted at GVSU in June 2018 with the following goals:

1. increase awareness of the importance of accessibility, to
2. build the capacity of faculty in creating accessible content, and to offer
3. greater insight at the institutional level around ADA compliance.

In the Winter 2020 semester, Blackboard Ally has been leveraged by faculty and students to zero in on accessibility. The following blog post highlights the use of Ally at GVSU:

Alternative Formats Used by Students

• Total Alternative Engagements 30,478

• Total Downloads 24,746
• Total Courses with Downloads 2,532
• Most Usage Alternative Formats (in order of most popular): Tagged PDF, HTML, OCRed PDF, BeeLine, ePub, Audio

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Professors Use of Ally to Detect Accessibility Concerns and Apply Fixes

• Total Ally Feedback Engagements 654
• Total Fixes 176
• Courses Impacted 57

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Blackboard Ally Global Adoption

Learn more about the use of Blackboard Ally’s growth in an article entitled: “Student and Instructor Usage of Blackboard Ally Increase as Remote Learning Accelerates”

During this timeframe, students downloaded over 3.5 million alternative formats of their course content through Blackboard Ally. Instructors also improved the accessibility of over 250,000 files during this time, with a 50% increase in improved files in April, as compared to February.

Since launch, Blackboard Ally has now checked over 1 billion digital content items for accessibility issues, providing millions of instructors with guidance for improving the accessibility and quality of their course materials, and millions more students with access to file formats that meet their diverse needs, abilities, and devices.

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Teaching at GVSU?

Head on over to our web page for more information
and help in creating accessible course content
to support inclusive education!

GO TO: Ally at GVSU

Department of Classics receives $1,000 Accessibility Competition Student Scholarship Award

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, along with eLearning and Emerging Technologies in Information Technology at Grand Valley State University is proud to announce the winner of the Blackboard Ally – College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Accessibility Competition…

the Department of Classics!

Award Winner – Department of Classics

500 Students Benefit

+7% Accessibility Increase

The Department of Classics was recognized on Tuesday, December 3 in a short ceremony in Lake Huron Hall.

Sherry Barricklow, eLearning and Instructional Technology Specialist in the eLearning and Emerging Technologies group in Information Technology presented the award and the a $1,000 student scholarship check. In attendance also from eLearning was Graduate Assistant, Brandon Thompson, Digital Media Developer Hunter Bridwell, and Associate Director Eric Kunnen.

The Department of Classics increased the accessibility of Blackboard class content by 7% during the competition, benefiting 500 students enrolled in their courses.

The eLearning and Emerging Technologies team offers our congratulations on behalf of supporting inclusive education at GVSU!

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About the CLAS – $1,000 Student Scholarship Competition

Sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and eLearning and Emerging Technologies in Information Technology, CLAS units and faculty will use Blackboard Ally to compete to create the most accessible content in courses to support student success, inclusive education, and universal design for learning principles. 

The unit with the highest percent improvement will receive a one-time $1,000 student scholarship in their name.

Learn more on the competition website.

Blackboard Ally Tour arrives at GVSU to Raise Awareness of Inclusive Education through Accessibility

The Blackboard Ally Tour arrives at GVSU!

On Thursday, October 24 and Friday, October 25, John Scott, Product Manager on the Blackboard Inc. Ally team visited GVSU to share best practices around accessibility with faculty, staff, and students.

The goal of the visit was to provide the opportunity to engage in conversations around the importance of inclusive education through accessibility. John provided a workshop session to over 20+ attendees, covering the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), the features and capabilities of Blackboard Ally, as well as tips and techniques for improving the accessibility of files.

Missed out on this event? Watch the Universal Design for Learning Faculty Workshop Video!

Here are a few photos from the Ally Tour GVSU visit:

John Scott, Product Manager, Blackboard Ally

GVSU faculty staff in workshop discussing best practices in using Ally to improve accessibility.

Faculty and staff working on improving the accessibility score of files in the Ally Tour workshop.

Faculty and staff at GVSU sitting at desks discussing the benefits of accessibility to improve student success.

Faculty working on a computer with John Scott sharing tips for improving the accessibility score.

Pictured left to right: Jeff Sykes, GVSU – Assistive Technology Coordinator, John Scott – Blackboard Ally Product Manager, Eric Kunnen – GVSU Associate Director of eLearning and Emerging Technologies

Learn more about this event on the eLearning “Blackboard Ally Tour comes to GVSU!” web page.

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ABOUT the BLACKBOARD ALLY TOUR
Building off the “Pathways to Inclusion” case studies (read GVSU’s “Data-driven Strategies for Inclusive Learning“), Blackboard facilitated an Ally 2019 Tour: On the Road to IncluCity event at GVSU to continue accessibility conversations across campuses around the world.

A key area of focus is to share best practices for implementing Universal Design for Learning principles and driving culture change around course accessibility.

ABOUT the BLACKBOARD ALLY and UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING WORKSHOP
“Supporting Diverse Needs through Inclusive Design and Learner Preference”
Accessible content authoring is not only essential for students who use assistive technologies, but it also results in more usable, flexible content that can adapt to diverse student needs and devices. During the workshop, we’ll discuss some of the key terms and research around inclusive learning and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and the different ways Ally’s alternative formats and instructor feedback help support those learning goals. Participants will then form teams and work on a series of accessibility and UDL challenges, focused around content authoring, content remediation, multimodal literacy, and curriculum design. At the conclusion of the workshop, each participant will leave with one strategy or idea to make their learning environment more inclusive for all their learners.

ABOUT JOHN SCOTT
Product Manager, Blackboard Ally
John Scott is a Product Manager for Blackboard Ally. Prior to joining the Blackboard Ally team, John completed his PhD in Learning Sciences and New Media at the University of California Berkeley, where he designed, taught, and researched online learning courses focused on collaborative learning, multimodal literacy, and Universal Design for Learning. He spent 4 years as a literacy and arts teacher in New York City public schools, earning a Master’s Degree in Special Education, and specializing in technology-mediated literacy and learning. He has published and presented at professional research conferences on digital literacies, networked learning, and global education. He is passionate about working with instructors in adopting new technologies in the classroom through research-backed pedagogy and critical design.

Grand Valley Lanthorn article places spotlight on $1,000 Accessibility Competition

A recent article by Audrey Whitaker, a staff reporter for the Grand Valley Lanthorn, highlights an accessibility competition sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies department in Information Technology at GVSU.

The eLearning team is excited about the opportunities that will be brought by this competition – to increase accessibility and students’ learning!

• READ – “Blackboard Ally scholarship aims to increase course accessibility”
  
• LEARN MORE ABOUT COMPETITION – “Introducing the $1,000 Student Scholarship Competition“
• ATTEND THE ALLY TOUR – “Blackboard Ally Tour Comes to GVSU!“

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Here are a few recent stats from Blackboard Ally at GVSU.

Fall 2019 Semester (as of October 7):

• 3,649 Blackboard courses include content
• 193,051 content items have been analyzed by Blackboard Ally
• 64% is the current overall accessibility “With Ally” score, indicating improvements made through Ally’s alternative formats and instructor intervention, this is a 2% increase since Fall 2018
• The top 3 institutional accessibility concerns include: Contrast (31,887), Missing Headers (29,944), Alternative Descriptions (26,554)
• The most severe accessibility concern is Non-OCRed Documents (11,468)
• There are 319 files (436 F18) that have been fixed in August/September by faculty
• There have been 11,564 total alternative file downloads (9,093 F18) from 1,883 courses (1,450 F18)
• The most popular alternative format is PDF, followed by HTML, OCRed PDF, ePub, Audio

Overall, since August 1, 2018 (to date), 945 files have been fixed in 305 courses. In addition, there have been 24,000+ alternative file format downloads from over 4,000 courses.

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Access tips, tutorials, and information for effectively using Blackboard and creating accessible content with Ally at Grand Valley State University.

Sign up for 5 Seminars on Accessibility in Support of Inclusive Education at GVSU

In support of inclusive education at GVSU, the eLearning and Emerging Technologies team has coordinated a series of accessibility and universal design for learning seminars and workshops specifically designed to support faculty this Fall!

Sign up in sprout to save your seat!

Accessibility and Ally:  How to the Turn the Dial to Green

Learn how to create accessible Word documents and PowerPoint slides that get the green dial! Blackboard Ally helps you determine the accessibility of your content. Ally provides guidance and tips for improvements to your content accessibility.  At the end of this hands-on workshop, you will be able to:

• interpret Ally’s feedback and understand the feedback on the accessibility of your content
• be empowered with accessibility tips for course content
• learn how to find instructional media guides for many different types of formats

A sample accessible syllabus will be provided and discussed.

We hope you can stay after the workshop to get started on making your own syllabus or class documents accessible.

WHEN

• 10/02/19   1 – 2:30pm (EC 513)
• 10/08/19   2 – 3:30pm (HRY 111)
• 10/10/19   12 – 1:30 (HRY 111)

Register for Seminars and Ally Tour Workshops in Sprout

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Blackboard Ally & Universal Design for Learning Faculty Workshop
Supporting Diverse Needs through Inclusive Design and Learner Preference

Accessible content authoring is not only essential for students who use assistive technologies, but it also results in more usable, flexible content that can adapt to diverse student needs and devices. During the workshop, we’ll discuss some of the key terms and research around inclusive learning and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and the different ways Ally’s alternative formats and instructor feedback help support those learning goals. Participants will then form teams and work on a series of accessibility and UDL challenges, focused around content authoring, content remediation, multimodal literacy, and curriculum design. At the conclusion of the workshop, each participant will leave with one strategy or idea to make their learning environment more inclusive for all their learners.

WHEN

• 10/24/19   10 – 12:00pm (DEV 203E)
• 10/25/19   9 – 11:00pm (LIB 002)

Register for Seminars and Ally Tour Workshops in Sprout

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SEE ALSO

Learn more Blackboard Ally Tour and the $1,000 Student Scholarship Accessibility Competition!

$1,000 Student Scholarship to be given for Blackboard Ally Competition

Image Description: The Blackboard Ally logo is showing with an image of a gold trophy and the words “College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Accessibility Competition” 

INTRODUCING THE $1,000 STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION!

WHAT

Sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and eLearning and Emerging Technologies in Information Technology, CLAS units and faculty will use Blackboard Ally to compete to create the most accessible course content in courses to support student success, inclusive education, and universal design for learning principles.

The unit with the highest percent improvement will receive a one-time $1,000 student scholarship in their name.

WHEN

September 25 through November 6, 2019

HOW

By using Blackboard Ally content indicators, course reports, and on screen guidance, faculty work with support from eLearning and Emerging Technologies to improve the accessibility of their course content – working to get Ally indicators to green!

LEARN MORE

Check out the current leaderboard standings and visit the Blackboard Ally – College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Accessibility Competition web page to learn more!

Blackboard Ally Tour arrives at GVSU!

The Blackboard 2019 Ally Tour is coming to GVSU – Sign up to attend a workshop on supporting diverse needs through inclusive design and learner preference!

Building off the “Pathways to Inclusion” case studies (see also GVSU’s “Data-driven Strategies for Inclusive Learning“), Blackboard is facilitating an Ally 2019 Tour: On the Road to IncluCity event at GVSU to continue accessibility conversations across campuses around the world.

The last stop of 2019 is right here at Grand Valley State University!

SAVE-THE-DATE & REGISTER IN SPROUT

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WHEN

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24

TIME	EVENT	LOCATION
10:00am – 12:00pm	Blackboard Ally & Universal Design for Learning Faculty Workshop Supporting Diverse Needs through Inclusive Design and Learner Preference	DOWNTOWN – 203E DEV REGISTER IN SPROUT

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25

TIME	EVENT	LOCATION
9:00am – 11:00am	Blackboard Ally & Universal Design for Learning Faculty Workshop Supporting Diverse Needs through Inclusive Design and Learner Preference	ALLENDALE – 002 LIB REGISTER IN SPROUT

WHY

A key area of focus is to share best practices for implementing Universal Design for Learning principles and driving culture change around course accessibility.

WHAT

The Blackboard Ally group and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies team at GVSU has coordinated a series of events, including an accessibility faculty workshop, designed to equip faculty with the basics of using Blackboard Ally and to focus on supporting diverse student needs through inclusive design and learner preference aka UDL (Universal Design for Learning)!

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Learn more about the Blackboard Ally Tour at GVSU.

Data-Driven Strategies for Inclusive Learning with Blackboard Ally

Blackboard Ally’s Community User Group site is chuck full of helpful information for colleges and universities looking to learn how Ally supports inclusive education.

One of the highlights of this site are community stories which showcase a variety of use cases of “Ally in Action“. Stories have been shared by the University of Derby, California State University Chico, California State University Fresno, Tacoma Community College, Technical College System of Georgia, and recently our own Grand Valley State University!

Read the GVSU Blackboard Ally Community Story
“Data-driven Strategies for Inclusive Learning”

Blackboard Ally supports Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Education at GVSU

GVSU’s use of Blackboard Ally supports diversity, equity, and inclusive education.

Recently the GV Forum featured a highlight of Ally as the university works to increase the accessibility of course content in Blackboard.

 

Ally provided indicators based on the level of accessibility of files uploaded into Bb. Here, a syllabus is 100% perfect.

“Green is the Goal” – Faculty are encouraged to improve the accessibility of their files. More accessible files means higher quality content for all students.

Students can access alternative files such as ePub, HTML, PDF, Audio, and Electronic Braille supporting the principles of universal design for learning.

Ally works by scanning files uploaded into Blackboard and reviewing them based on WCAG 2.0 AA standards.

Here is the article as highlighted by GV Forum:

Blackboard Ally supports inclusive education

More than 218,000 digital content items from more than 3,700 courses have been scanned by Blackboard Ally since the software was made available in June to students, faculty and staff members.

Blackboard Ally scans files uploaded into courses and evaluates the level of accessibility of content by displaying colored “dials” (red, yellow and green). These indicators provide awareness and insight and are only visible to instructors. The goal is to work to improve the accessibility of the files to turn the dials to green, which provides benefits for the learning needs of all students.

Eric Kunnen, associate director of eLearning and Emerging Technologies, said more accessible content means students have more usable, readable learning materials as well as high-quality alternative formats of content that work better on mobile devices.

“After Ally automatically scans course content, an indicator is displayed that estimates the level of accessibility of the file and a score is provided,” Kunnen said. “The system then provides on screen guidance to help make the file more accessible.”

So far, more than 464 files have been fixed by 138 faculty members in 146 courses.

Kunnen said Ally supports student success through universal design for learning principles and by building capacity to respond to increased federal and legal requirements for accessibility.

“Ally not only provides benefits to students with disabilities, but it also supports the university’s work in recognizing the importance of accessibility as part of our pathway to inclusive education whereby we support the diverse physical and cognitive needs of all of our students,” he said.

The eLearning and Emerging Technologies team offers support to faculty members using Blackboard Ally and has created a webpage with more information, gvsu.edu/elearn/help/ally.

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Learn more about how you can use Blackboard Ally to support diversity, equity, and inclusive education at Grand Valley State University…