Creating accessible course materials is an essential step toward supporting student success and meeting federal accessibility requirements. As Austin Community College (ACC) continues to prepare for upcoming digital accessibility standards, faculty play a critical role in ensuring that course content, including documents, presentations, and media, is accessible to all learners. This four-part series highlights practical tools and resources available to help faculty make steady progress.

The first tool in this series is Blackboard Ally, an accessibility support feature built directly into Blackboard courses.

What is Blackboard Ally?

Blackboard Ally helps faculty identify and improve the accessibility of course content. It automatically scans files uploaded to Blackboard and provides clear guidance on addressing common accessibility barriers. Rather than requiring extensive technical expertise, Ally offers simple, actionable feedback that can be applied incrementally as courses are developed or updated.

By using Ally, faculty can strengthen the usability of materials for students who use assistive technologies, access content on mobile devices, or benefit from alternative formats.

Key Benefits for Faculty and Students

Accessibility indicators and feedback
Ally assigns an accessibility score to each file and highlights specific issues, such as missing headings, low-contrast text, or untagged PDFs, along with step-by-step suggestions for improvement.

Alternative formats for students
Students can download course materials in multiple accessible formats, including audio, HTML, electronic braille, and tagged PDF. These options support varied learning preferences and improve access across devices.

Continuous course improvement
Because Ally works in the background, faculty can prioritize updates over time rather than making large-scale changes all at once. This supports manageable, ongoing progress toward accessible course design.

Get Support: Accessibility Drop-In Fest, Remote Recess, and 1:1 Instructional Design Consultations

Faculty are encouraged to take advantage of Distance Education’s Accessibility Drop-In Fest, which provides dedicated time for hands-on assistance with course materials. These sessions provide opportunities to ask questions, troubleshoot accessibility issues, and learn practical strategies for improving digital content.

Sign up for the upcoming virtual Remote Recess session, hosted by the Office of Academic Technology, all about Blackboard Ally. Through hands-on exploration, faculty will learn how to evaluate course accessibility, improve common file types, and integrate accessibility best practices into their everyday workflow. Unable to attend the session? Recordings of all Remote Recess sessions are posted to Panopto within a week of the live session.

In addition, ACC instructional designers are available for one-on-one consultations. Whether faculty are revising existing courses or developing new materials, instructional designers can help interpret Ally feedback, recommend best practices, and identify efficient workflows to improve accessibility. Contact your assigned Instructional Designer to set up a consultation (check the ID list here, or email [email protected] if you don’t see one listed). 

Join us next week for the latest installment of our Building Accessible Courses blog post series, designed to help you bring your course materials up to compliance by the April 24 deadline!