Accessibility in Blackboard

Blackboard is fully committed to delivering product experiences that conform to the highest levels of global accessibility standards. Towson University’s Blackboard support team knows that accessibility is imperative, not an afterthought.

Accessibility improvement opportunities

USM Spring Course Cleaning event

Jan. 8 & 9: This collaborative event—hosted by USM and partner institutions—offers faculty a dedicated chance to “clean up” their spring courses and strengthen accessibility across our campuses. USM, FACET and TU's Blackboard team are creating space for colleagues to learn together, support one another, and build a cross-campus community committed to inclusive teaching. See the schedule and register on FACET's webpage.

TU's Educator's Summit

Jan. 12: Attend TU Blackboard's session: "Accessibility Made Simple: Fix Your Courses with Blackboard Ally." Register and learn more about the FACET Educator's Summit event.

Support sessions with TU Blackboard Administrators 

Ongoing: These hour-long sessions start with an overview, then dive into how to use Ally.  See session date/times and locations on Blackboard’s org site. You can also request a session for your department by emailing . 

Fix Your Content Day 2025 (event recap)

Nov. 18: Fix Your Content Day is a 24-hour, worldwide competition where institutions work to improve the accessibility of their digital course content using Anthology® Ally. 

This year, out of 120 participating institutions across the globe, Towson University ranked 28, completing an impressive 3,276 accessibility fixes. During the day-long event, the TU Blackboard team and FACET supported faculty and staff in enhancing accessibility across 124 courses, ensuring a more inclusive learning experience for all students.

Let's continue work together to make learning more inclusive! If you have questions or want improve the accessibility of your Blackboard courses, contact . 

All Blackboard products are designed and developed with international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA and domestic Section 508 standards.  Anthology Blackboard, Inc. is committed to becoming more accessible and underscores the importance of accessibility in education.

TU Blackboard environment has current list of optional third party integrations, including their descriptions, support contacts and accessibility info. If you have questions, please contact

Blackboard Accessibility Tool 

Ally is the accessibility checker integrated within Blackboard. This tool gauges the accessibility of uploaded documents/files, provides feedback on how to improve issues and identifies alternative content formats for students. Using an accessibility checker supports diverse student needs at TU through inclusive design and learner preferences. 

Do your Blackboard courses meet accessibility standards? Here’s how to check. 

Check a course's accessibility using Anthology Blackboard’s Ally tool. If it’s in the green (100% accessible), you’re good to go, and no actions are needed. Recommendation: use the Blackboard Anthology AI Design Assistant when creating courses and they'll be accessible by default. 

 

Resources for Instructors

Watch this video on Blackboard accessibility and follow this checklist for course accessibility. Learn how to support diverse student needs through inclusive design and learner preferences in the demo hosted by Ally's product manager (video).

Using the Blackboard Accessibility Tool (Ally)

Tips for Making Your Course Accessible

  • Learn how to write accessible content
  • Use descriptive headings and apply heading formatting.
  • Avoid using font styles, color, bold, italics, underline or strikethrough to emphasize content.
  • Use purposeful images and include alternative text to those images.
  • Make descriptive links when linking outside your course.
  • Use lists instead of tables whenever possible.
  • Properly list content using bullet points or numbered lists.
  • All videos should be captioned.
  • Format your files and documents to be accessible.
  • Provide students with clear expectations, instructions and directions for all assignments and tests.

Resources for Students