Ally in bCourses (5/4)

May 4, 2022, 2:00pm to 3:00pm
Intended audience: 
Academic Support Staff, Graduate Student Instructors, Instructors

Attend this workshop to learn how to improve the accessibility of your bCourses content so students can better access and convert pages and materials into multiple formats. During the workshop, exciting new features will be demonstrated, along with strategies to increase your accessibility scores within bCourses.

Ally is an integrated accessibility tool in bCourses that provides:

  • Alternative formats of instructor-uploaded digital course content, which optimize compatibility with mobile devices, screen readers, and other assistive technologies.
  • Interactive guidance on how you can make your course content more accessible.
  • Institutional data the campus can use to identify opportunities for improvement.


Benefits for Students: Using Ally, students can convert files and course content into alternative formats such as BeeLine Reader, EPUB, Electronic Braille, PDF, HTML, MP3 (audio), and foreign language translations. Students can generate file types that work best for them without instructor assistance. In addition to helping students with disabilities, these alternative formats can help English language learners and students with diverse learning preferences (mobile, audio, larger font sizes, etc.).

Benefits for Instructors: The Ally tool assigns visual indicators next to course materials, so instructors can see “accessibility scores” (students do not see these indicators). Guidance is also provided on how to create more accessible content.

To learn more about the Ally Service, visit the Ally in bCourses Service Page.

Host

Research, Teaching, and Learning (RTL)

Series description

Research, Teaching, and Learning (RTL) is hosting a series of workshops May 3 - 5 highlighting best practices for using campus-supported technologies in any type of class. Included are workshops on how to use bCourses essential functions for those new to the tool; develop an organized and effective bCourses site using the Core Template; create accessible course materials with the help of Ally; effectively use Zoom in your class; and use classroom technology available on campus. At the end of the week, come be inspired by your colleagues by joining the Center for Teaching and Learning’s Annual PCF & LTF Project Showcase, which spotlights teaching and learning projects developed by Fellows in the Presidential Chairs Fellowship Grant Program and the Lecturer Teaching Fellows Program Register for any event in the series via the RTL Upcoming Events page.