Tag: digital accessibility

The new digital education landscape – reflections on the 2022 UCISA Technology Enhanced Learning pulse survey

In December 2022, I chaired a webinar for the UCISA Digital Education Group to present and discuss the findings from the 2022 UCISA Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) pulse survey. In the webinar, we heard from three heads of digital learning – Amy Sampson from Falmouth University, Andy Jaffrey from Ulster University and Vicky Brown from…Continue Reading The new digital education landscape – reflections on the 2022 UCISA Technology Enhanced Learning pulse survey

Moving towards digitally accessible Moodle modules: Reaching “Net-zero” severe issues

silhouette of backpacker on top of a mountain

All students have a right to take part in their education at an equal level. It is important to ensure that the learning environment is designed so that all students can participate fully. How are we doing overall at City? We have had a whole term with our new friendly Ally accessibility tool in Moodle….Continue Reading Moving towards digitally accessible Moodle modules: Reaching “Net-zero” severe issues

Start the year right: accessible and inclusive practice workshops on offer

From pedagogical behaviourally focused teaching to document remediation and alternatives to time-based media, LEaD’s Digital Education Team regularly run workshops on developing accessible and inclusive practices. It’s incredible that we are only two years into our digital accessibility project. It has kept us so busy it feels like a lot longer, in a good way….Continue Reading Start the year right: accessible and inclusive practice workshops on offer

3 things you can do to help dyslexic people

two people embracing each other side by side

Dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that mainly causes problems with reading, writing, and spelling. It’s a specific learning difficulty, which means it causes problems with certain abilities used for learning, such as reading and writing (NHS, 2022)   It’s estimated up to 1 in every 10 people in the UK has some degree of dyslexia….Continue Reading 3 things you can do to help dyslexic people

Top Tips to make your Moodle Module Accessible

Welcome back and a spring term update, One small change is that the Ally tool is now called Anthology Ally, previously it was called Blackboard Ally. This post is for staff designing and refreshing their Moodle modules, readying for the new academic year and new term. It has been compiled by the Digital Accessibility Project…Continue Reading Top Tips to make your Moodle Module Accessible

Wicked, wicked educationalist massive

Alt this activity card: Ask students to write alternative text (Alt-Text) for a provocative image relating to the subject. Encourage students to create a meaningful description and consider any assumptions and bias that may arise while doing this.

Last month, I was fortunate to attend and present at the Advance HE Teaching & Learning conference 2022 with my colleague Maria Kaffa, the rising star in our digital accessibility team. The overarching theme across all three days of the conference was on Enhancing student success through student engagement. I attended some sensational sessions, but…Continue Reading Wicked, wicked educationalist massive

5 tips to improve your use of text alternatives

The Son of Man by Rene Magritte

Note: this blog will use the term “image” as a shorthand for visual (non-text) content to aid brevity. If you have attended the Introduction to Digital Accessibility or Creating Accessible Documents training sessions that Sarny Guzman-Rodriguez and I host a few times per term, you have probably heard us talk about how important it is…Continue Reading 5 tips to improve your use of text alternatives

Reflections on Global Accessibility Awareness Month

abstract of fireworks setting off against dark background

It has been an amazing month of activities to raise awareness about Digital Accessibility and how we can make City’s digital content more accessible for staff and students. In this closing blog, I will start with some statistics about what we have been up to this month and then focus on a couple of my…Continue Reading Reflections on Global Accessibility Awareness Month

GAAD 2022: Accessibility at City – Find out what we’re working on!

group of people gathered around wooden table with person writing on notepad in the foreground

City is currently celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) with a month’s worth of amazing events. On May 25, Dr. Miranda Melcher hosted a panel event showcasing some of the work on digital accessibility that’s being done at City! The panelists were James Saward who leads the Disability and Neurodiversity Support team, Jessica Wykes in…Continue Reading GAAD 2022: Accessibility at City – Find out what we’re working on!

The Blackboard Ally Pilot

Blackboard Ally module accessibility report dashboard showing 1) the types of course materials in descending order of the total number of resources, 2)total content with the easiest issues to fix, and 3) total low scoring resources

This year I have been fortunate to pilot Blackboard Ally.  Blackboard Ally is software that sits within Moodle and automatically checks the resources in my modules for accessibility, helping me to make sure that they can be used by all the students enrolled. I became involved in this project through my work with City’s Digital…Continue Reading The Blackboard Ally Pilot