{"id":6167,"date":"2025-08-10T21:58:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T02:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/online\/?page_id=6167"},"modified":"2025-08-29T17:44:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T22:44:57","slug":"course-accessibility","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/online\/faculty\/course-accessibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Course Accessibility"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
We believe that accessible course design is key to creating inclusive, engaging, and compelling learning experiences for all students. The\u00a0Online Learning Team, with the support of SAU’s Testing Center and Disability Support Services, is here to assist you every step of the way.\u00a0<\/p>
To support all students and meet digital accessibility standards, text, graphics, media (video\/audio), webpages, and documents (PDF, Word, PowerPoint, etc.) shared with students must be designed with accessibility in mind from the start. Below you’ll find some general recommendations:<\/p>
Blackboard Ally<\/a> is a built-in tool in Blackboard Ultra that helps you create more accessible learning materials for all students. With Ally, you can\u00a0proactively address accessibility<\/strong> in your courses, improving the overall quality and usability of your materials.<\/p> It works quietly in the background to:<\/p> Ally’s alternative formats make your materials easier to use with assistive technologies and more readable on mobile devices and tablets\u2014benefiting all learners, not just those with accommodations.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t When you log in to Blackboard, you will see accessibility indicators on your content. Ally integrates with Blackboard and provides feedback on the accessibility of your documents, content, and the content editor. You will find the Ally accessibility indicators next to files, content in your course, or in the content editor when you are creating content. If you have no course files yet, upload one, and an indicator will appear next to the file name. Click the indicator to read detailed feedback about what the accessibility issues are with the file, why they matter, and how to fix them. Follow along step-by-step to improve your original file. These accessibility scores are only visible to you and are not visible to students, so no need to worry!<\/p> You can view all accessibility scores in your course in a single place. Once Ally is turned on in your course, you can access the course accessibility report in Blackboard. Ally provides you with feedback on the accessibility of your course files with the colored dials that appear next to your file names (Red, Orange, Light Green, and Dark Green). These indicators are only visible to you and other instructors with access to your course. Ally checks most file formats, but there may be some files in your course that don\u2019t have an Ally indicator next to them. Remember, Green is the Goal!<\/p> To access your report:<\/p> Ally<\/p> Microsoft<\/p> PDF<\/p> This page is adapted, with permission, from the University of Arkansas’ Ally Accessibility TIPS page<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We believe that accessible course design is key to creating inclusive, engaging, and compelling learning experiences for all students. The\u00a0Online Learning Team, with the support of SAU’s Testing Center and Disability Support Services, is here to assist you every step of the way. To support all students and meet digital accessibility standards, text, graphics, media… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1088,"featured_media":0,"parent":5413,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-6167","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1088"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6167"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6507,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6167\/revisions\/6507"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a> Low<\/span>\u00a0(0-33%): Needs help! There are severe accessibility issues.<\/li>
<\/a>Medium (34-66%): A little better. The file is somewhat accessible and needs improvement.<\/li>
<\/a>High (67-99%): Almost there. The file is accessible, but more improvements are possible.<\/li>
<\/a>Perfect (100%): Perfect! Ally didn’t identify any accessibility issues, but further improvements may still be possible.<\/li><\/ul>
<\/a><\/div>