Tag: digital accessibility

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

City’s Student Digital Assistants take on the Digital Accessibility module

illustration of six disabled people next to each other, one with a guide dog, two have their hand raised, two wheelchair users on laptops and on their phone. Most have online chat icons above them to demonstrate interaction

What is Digital Accessibility? The Introduction to Digital Accessibility is a self-enrol and self-directed Moodle e-learning module that outlines accessibility guidelines, awareness around disability, assistive technology, and legislation in line with City’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion strategy. To put this into simpler terms, it is a course that educates students and staff on making use…Continue Reading City’s Student Digital Assistants take on the Digital Accessibility module

Accessible digital experiences mean more effective digital marketing

scrabble tiles arranged on wooden surface to spell digital marketing

Published on behalf of and written by Ryan Taylor  Following digital accessibility best practice improves the user experience for everyone, thereby making digital marketing efforts more effective. City’s website and accessibility The City website and Bayes website are developed and maintained by the Digital Team in Marketing and External Relations (Web Content and Design) and…Continue Reading Accessible digital experiences mean more effective digital marketing