Take part in ‘Fix Your Content Day’ on Nov. 18
UND course content creators encouraged to participate in global digital accessibility event
For the sixth year in a row, coming up on Tuesday, Nov. 18, UND will be taking part in a global competition.
The goal?
To improve as much content posted to Blackboard Ultra as possible in 24 hours.
Since 2020, Fix Your Content Day has been hosted by the company — Anthology — that provides Blackboard’s learning management system to institutions such as UND.
Diane Lundeen, who serves as an academic application administrator and instructional accessibility coordinator for the Teaching Transformation & Development Academy, has led UND’s participation over the years.
Last year, as part of the North Dakota University System, “UND finished in 10th place out of 65 institutions that participated, and we fixed 1,198 files during the event, which is great,” Lundeen said.
This year, with UND’s Strive for 85 initiative at the fore, TTaDA is hosting both in-person and virtual sessions for faculty to join on Tuesday, Nov. 18, to represent UND in this “global race” to improve digital accessibility in course content.
Snacks and refreshments will be available to those attending the in-person “Lab Hour” hosted in O’Kelly Hall, Room 301, from 9 to 10 a.m.
Those planning to attend via Zoom from 1 to 2 p.m. will receive a link to participate once they register.
Progress, not perfection
Joining TTaDA and fellow faculty for these sessions is encouraged but not required with respect to UND’s placement in the competition — any fix to a file in a Blackboard Ultra course is a contribution.
Throughout the day, all course content creators are invited to join in by finding Blackboard Ally’s red and orange dials in courses and turning them green, signifying improvements to a course’s accessibility score.
A recent article from UND Today, written in collaboration with TTaDA on “How to get started with digital accessibility,” provides some action points, advice and examples on digital accessibility in Blackboard Ultra.
During the working lab sessions, participants should bring resources that they wish to make more accessible using Blackboard Ally. TTaDA staff will be on-hand to assist participants in improving their Ally scores. According to the TTaDA team, “The goal is progress, not perfection.”
During Fix Your Content Day, Anthology tracks participating colleges and universities’ progress for a 24-hour period. Final numbers will be shared during the week of Nov. 24 on the Ally user group site and on social media.
Beyond the competition, the value of participating in Fix Your Content Day is improving accessibility for all students and driving UND toward compliance with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Additionally, the event will help further the University’s current Strive for 85 initiative of 85% or better Blackboard Ally scores by the start of the spring semester.
“Ultimately, this event further supports UND’s commitment to creating inclusive learning spaces,” said Kristi Embry, an instructional designer for TTaDA.
Resources available
The University has made available several resources to help the campus community in its collective push for digital accessibility compliance. The Accessible UND webpage hosts a comprehensive list of such resources.
This year, UND partnered with Deque University to provide an expansive selection of on-demand training modules to all UND employees. These trainings address everything from the fundamentals of web accessibility to formatting individual document types, such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PDF.
On Blackboard, all UND instructors and teaching assistants have been added to the new Digital Accessibility for Teaching and Learning course (previously the 10 Step Accessibility Challenge). This self-paced course is designed to help Blackboard Ultra users learn how to make common digital resources used in teaching and learning accessible, including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and YuJa video content.
Throughout the semester, TTaDA hosts several virtual workshops on digital accessibility topics. Visit the upcoming events page for information and links to register. Past sessions are also available to watch on-demand.
Specific to course content, TTaDA has a Digital Accessibility Help Ticket system available for those who have reviewed existing resources and still need accessibility assistance.
