Accessibility at Blackboard

Accessibility at Blackboard

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JoAnna HuntAccessibility Manager

Blackboard

Scott ReadyDirector of Customer

RelationsBlackboard

Nicolaas MatthijsAlly Product Manager

Blackboard

Lily BondDirector of Marketing

3Play [email protected]

AccessibilityBringing Education to Everyone

3

JoAnna HuntAccessibility Manager

Nicolaas Matthijs

PM, Blackboard Ally

Scott ReadyDirector, Customer Relations

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Why Accessibility Matters

VisualImpairment

(~3% of population)

Hearing Impairment

(over 5% of population)

CognitiveImpairment

(~25% of population)

MotorImpairment

(~6% of population)

Approximately 1 Billion people worldwide have some form of disability

Disability Types:

*Sources: http://www.disabled-world.com/ & http://www.who.int/

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Encouraging Inclusive Environments for all

With increased attention being placed on inclusive environments and equal opportunity to access to information for everyone, it is important to understand the diverse needs your learners may have.

Revisit content and ensure it’s set up for universal consumption

Understand how people need to interact with different tools you are using and adjust

Rethink how learning is achieved and provide the means to help students succeed.

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The Bigger Picture

Creating accessible environments improves everyone’s ability to consume information - not just those with disabilities – and leads to higher quality material, more useable experiences and personalized access.

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Proactively building programs to avoidAccessibility Litigation

Awareness of the civil rights ofthe learner

Higher expectations forproduct

accessibility

Lower number of students disclosing disabilities

Mindset shifting towards inclusion

Current Trends in Accessibility: Higher Ed

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Blackboard’s 3 Part Solution

ContentPlatforms Consultation

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Platform Accessibility

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Blackboard is fully committed to delivering product experiences that conform to global accessibility standards. We believe that a mature digital accessibility program must establish a sustainable organizational culture and strong partnerships around accessibility.

Our Commitment

BCAB

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Commitment in Action

Web Community Manager

Blackboard Collaborate

Blackboard Learn Moodlerooms

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Taking Action: Blackboard Collaborate

• Full-screen reader support of all key workflows.

• Global keyboard shortcuts for common actions.

• Screen reader support for whiteboard activities and uploaded files, without requiring complex conversions.

• Live closed captioning.

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Taking Action: Blackboard Learn

• Compatible with the latest versions of screen readers such as JAWS and VoiceOver

• Common Page Structure• Full support for captions in

uploaded media content.• Keyboard accessible

reordering• Ability for instructors to add

alt tags to identify images• High contrast style settings

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Taking Action: Moodlerooms

• Full support of screen readers, text magnifiers and speech-to-text solutions.

• Global keyboard shortcuts for common actions.

• Compliance with ADA, XHTML and JavaScript standards

• Accessible Chat Interface• Open Source and Open sharing

- all issues openly reported, discussed and fixed.

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Taking Action: Web Community Manager

• Template-based pages and apps provide consistent interactions and user experience across pages

• Allows configuration of templates while still remaining within the color contrast ratio

• Provides full support for keyboard navigation

• Text can be resized 200 percent without loss of content or functionality

• Contains page titles with the name of the workspace within which the user is working

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Content Accessibility

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Challenges

StudentInstructorInstitution

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Institutional Challenges

No insight into how institution

is doing

Difficult to track and identify

what to focus on

Lawsuits because of legal

requirements

Manual remediation

workflow

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Challenges

StudentInstructorInstitution

2020

Instructor Challenges

Lack of awareness of

what to do

Lack of understanding on how it can affect

students

Lack of guidance on how to improve

accessibility

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Challenges

StudentInstructorInstitution

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Student Challenges

Explicit alternative

format requests

Long delays on receiving

requested format

Closely related to quality and

usability

Excludes many students

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Automatic Analysis

• Automated accessibility checklist based on content type

• Based on WCAG 2.0 AA

• Uses machine learning algorithms for a full structural and visual analysis to learn semantics of document

• Identifies headings, heading structure, paragraphs, footers, tables, lists, mathematical formulas, etc.

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Alternative Accessible Versions

High quality semantic HTML version of the content

HTML

Automatically inject fixes into the original document

Enhance original

ePub, audio, electronic braille, etc.

Other alternative formats

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Instructor Feedback

• Provide feedback to instructors about accessibility of their course content

• Provide guidance on how to fix accessibility issues

• Aims to generate change in behavior over time

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Institutional Report

• Provide detailed understanding of how institution is doing

• Helps identify where problem areas are, what to focus on, who to target, etc.

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Automatically checks for accessibility issues and generates alternative accessible formats

Alternative Accessible Versions

Guides instructors on how to improve the accessibility of their course content and alters future behavior

Instructor feedback

Provides detailed data and insights to help further improve course content accessibility at the institution

Institutional report

Summary

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Ally User Group

• Receive updates about Blackboard Ally

• Participate in UX research, usability testing, early access, etc.

Sign up at http://tinyurl.com/blackboard-ally-user-group

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Accessibility Spectrum

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Consultation

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Registration through graduation must be accessible to enable eLearning students with varying abilities the opportunity to succeed.

Most NAHE institutions are unaware of how to do this and 60% to 80% of undergrads choose not to disclose a disability.

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eLearning Accessibility Plan

The solution is designed to identify operational barriers and provide remediation approaches within a variety of functions related to the eLearning student lifecycle. This solution results in a comprehensive accessibility operational plan to provide a barrier-free eLearning experience for individuals with disabilities.

Review of academic &

student services

Goals, strategies,

metrics, and tools for

improvement

Operational Accessibility

Plan

The plan will not address physical accessibility barriers on the institution’s campus nor are the recommendations a substitute for legal counsel.

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eLearning Accessibility Course Audit

Audit of eLearning

courses

Training on inclusive course

creation

Analysis and reports on barriers in

courses

The solution is designed to identify barriers within eLearning courses. This solution results in course and institutional level reporting of barriers along with recommended remediation approaches. Targeted course creation training is included to provide a barrier-free eLearning experience for individuals with disabilities.

It is worthy to note that these findings and recommendations are not a substitute for legal counsel.

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Blackboard’s 3 Part Solution

ContentPlatforms Consultation

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Questions

Q&A

Upcoming Webinars: Feb 23: Best Practices for Accessible Videos

Mar 9: Campus-Wide Response to Captioning

Mar 16: Getting Faculty Involved with Accessibility

Mar 30: Quick Start to Captioning

April 13: 15 Years Since an OCR Lawsuit: NC State

You can register for our free webinars at: www.3playmedia.com/webinars/

Panelists

JoAnna HuntAccessibility ManagerBlackboard

Scott ReadyDirector of Customer RelationsBlackboard

Nicolaas MatthijsAlly Product ManagerBlackboard

Lily Bond3Play [email protected]

Please type your questions into the window in your control panel. Reference the slide # when possible. A recording of this webinar will be available for replay.