Blackboard Ally Overview Blackboard Ally is an online tool used to change the format of uploaded content from lecturers to your desired format e.g. changing a PowerPoint to an MP3 audio. This is part of City’s efforts to make learning more accessible to all students, including those who may process alternative formats better. Other formats…Continue Reading Blackboard Ally Alternative Formats
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
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!
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
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
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
From the DA team: this blog was originally published on 20 September 2021. We are re-sharing the post to mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2022. We know that making your content digitally accessible might seem like a daunting and time-consuming task. However, it is important to remember that accessibility is a journey, not a destination. We are…Continue Reading From the Archive: Quick wins that can make your content more accessible and your practice more inclusive
With assessments going on now, you might find yourself running at full capacity and your mind being more busy than usual. Last week we had Lizi Green from AbilityNet present some techy solutions that can help overcome common barriers to learning and have the potential to increase your academic performance. Apps offer agency for neurodiverse…Continue Reading Making the most of your study time and looking after your mental health
Please record what you can and where you can and take steps to make your recordings easy to find and study from. This blog post will explore three areas where accessibility can be improved in recorded materials. These insights are based on our experiences of recording at City over the last 10 years including the…Continue Reading Creating Accessible Lecture Recordings
From the DA team: this blog was originally published on 20 July 2021. We are re-sharing the post to mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2022. The Project On the 8th of June 2021, Breshna Rani and I have been tasked with coming up with a template for transcripts to be approved by the Senior Educational Technologist…Continue Reading From the Archive: Creating digitally accessible descriptive transcripts from raw media and text files