Sandra Partington, Sumayyah Islam, Nikita Hayward and Student Ambassadors
The provision of alternative formats is a commonly requested and essential reasonable adjustment for disabled students. In an increasingly digitalised world and with the growth in the availability of digital reading tools, it has become apparent that using different formats can enhance learning for all.
Echoing the recent call in the Student Future Manifesto (UPP, 2022) for necessary tools to access teaching and to support students, a new ‘alternative formats’ tool called Anthology Ally (Ally) was integrated with City’s virtual learning environment, Moodle in September 2022.
The tool enables documents to be changed into different formats by a student. The tool offers easy access to a range of formats for listening, mobile learning, note taking and reading (Blackboard, 2023).
Usage data showed that students were taking up the Ally tool with downloads at an average of 10,000 per month from October 2022 to February 2023 (City,2023). In spring 2023 the Digital Accessibility Project Team invited a group of students to collaborate on a deeper exploration of their use of the Ally tool.
The student group were set a task to try out the alternative formats tool on their current modules on Moodle. The tool can convert excel, word, PowerPoint and PDF file to a range of formats including an audio file, a PDF and an HTML file, plus some specialist reading formats e.g. Beeline Reader and Immersive Reader. Students considered and reported back on their preference to use each of the formats for study.
We encouraged collaboration between the group and project team one of which is a current student, aiming through the methods we used, i.e. a guided group induction, the design of an exploration activity, one to one support and focus group to elicit richer feedback and a provide a rewarding experience for those taking part and even spark a continuing learning community, through our shared endeavour (Wenger 2001).
Results were compiled from the students’ individual reports and the focus group. This presentation will share what we learned about; the ease of use of different formats, student preferences, other ways we might enhance digital reading of Module content and how we designed our student collaboration.
Session 1A Paper 2 slides, this file will open in the browser or can be downloaded as a PDF
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Alternative Formats, Which Format Should I use? (2023) Alternative formats. Blackboard, now part of Anthology. Available at: https://help.blackboard.com/Ally/Ally_for_LMS/Student/Alternative_Formats (Accessed: March 23, 2023).
“Ally Usage City, University London Moodle” (2022 -2023).
UPP Foundation Student Futures Commission (2022) A Student Futures Manifesto London Student Futures Commission (accessed 15/12/22)
Wenger, E. (1999) Communities of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
