This year, Fix Your Content Day takes place on Thursday, May 19th and will last for 24 hours. This coincides with Global Accessibility Awareness Day and helps to highlight the need for more inclusive digital content.
What Is Fix Your Content Day
Fix Your Content Day is an annual event that challenges instructors to make their course content more accessible by fixing as many digital course files as possible using Blackboard Ally. What do we mean by fixing? Every file in Blackboard is given an accessibility score by Ally. Ally will point out potential issues with content that may make it less accessible to some student users–things like lack of alt-text on images, hard to read scanned PDFs, etc. Fix Your Content Day is a way to focus on getting those files remediated so that they are as accessible as possible.
Keep in mind that modifying course materials in this way benefits ALL students, not just ones with accessibility issues– everyone appreciates when things are easy to read, well-organized, and consistent.
- Learn more about Blackboard Ally.
What Can You Fix?
While you may not have time to remedy every accessibility issue in your course on FYC Day, you can start chipping away at some of the most common and easily correctable ones! Here are some places to start:
- Headings: Setting headings in Word documents (instead of just bolding things) makes these documents much easier to navigate for students using screen readers and gives them a structure that all students can use to quickly find what they need. A good place to start is your syllabus! Learn More about Creating Accessible Word Docs.
- Alt Text: Any images you use in your course that aren’t just decorative, especially those containing text, should have alt text added to them so that users can know what they represent if they cannot see them or the images won’t load. Learn more about Alt Text.
- Hyperlinks: When using hyperlinks in your course, don’t link phrases like “click here” or link the entire URL. Instead, use the title of the page or a short description of where the page is taking the user. This makes the destination clear and avoids a screen reader having to read a long, strange string of symbols/letters/etc. Learn more about accessible hyperlinks.
- Color Contrast: Some color combinations, while they might look fun or nice together, are incredibly hard to read. When using color in your course, consider that some students might be color blind and that all students will appreciate strong color contrast for readability (especially if they’re accessing course materials on a small screen). Check color contrasts for accessibility.
- Ally WYSIWYG Feature: Ally can generate alternative formats not only for uploaded course content but also for content created through the LMS content editor (WYSIWYG editor). It can also check the content you put into these areas for accessibility! Make sure to take advantage of both features as you’re working to make your courses accessible. Learn more about expanded WYSIWYG Formats and Ally Accessibility Reports.
Register and Join In
Want to take part in Fix Your Content Day? We’d love to see it! You can register on the Fix Your Content Day website.
On the day of the event, check out the school leaderboards to see which schools are killing it when it comes to making content more accessible. We will also be keeping track within COD and acknowledging staff members who fix the most parts of their own content!
