The accessibility regulations came into force for public sector bodies on 23 September 2018. Within Belfast Met we are legally obligated to make our websites, uploads and mobile apps more accessible to students by making them ‘perceivable, operable, understandable and robust’.
Intergrating Blackboard Ally
In January 2020, Belfast Metropolitan College bought the add-on ‘Blackboard Ally’ which helps institutions build a more inclusive learning environment and improve the student experience by helping them take clear control of course content with usability, accessibility and quality all in mind. The programme identifies issues with uploaded content to courses which are not fully accessible to students within certain key areas including: hearing, seeing, learning and understanding, and mobility.
Below is the 7-point action plan Belfast Met has taken on to adhere to the new guidelines. Many of the seven (7) are easy to modify; items such as colour contrast, adding image descriptions and converting pdfs to Word documents to allow for style changes that Word has imbedded in the software. When you build your course, have the 7-point action plan available for quick reminders.
- Replace scanned documents with accessible alternatives.
- Use simple font styles and high colour contrasts.
- Add a description (alt text) to images.
- Use the built-in heading styles for documents.
- Use readable hyperlinks that describe the destination.
- Use the built-in bullet points and number formats.
- Add captions or a transcript for videos or podcasts.