Accessibility in Blackboard
Easy, quick tips to make your Blackboard Course more accessible
- Navigation and Layout: Simple, uncluttered and consistent; Labels for menu and links are short and meaningful (don’t make students guess).
- Look and Feel: Good colour contrast between text and background.
- Course Content:
- When uploading Microsoft Office document (Word, Excel, or Powerpoint), make sure the documents are accessible. How to create an accessible Microsoft Office document is available from the Ryerson Accessibility website.
- Links are clear and descriptive. Avoid using “Click here” or “More…”
- Visual content, such as images, charts, and diagrams, should have alternative text to them.
- Audio and video content should be captioned and/or have the transcript file with it.
- Avoid using table for formatting. Use tables for presenting data with proper table attributes for the header, rows and columns.
- Assessment: For online tests, do not set the test to “force completion” as this will kick the student out of the test in case of any Internet interruption. Use the “Set Timer” feature to handle whether or not student can continue after time expires.
- Course Tools: Only display the ones being used in the course, hide unused ones.
- Note about Accessibility: Let your students know that you will provide an accessible version if the material you provide is inaccessible to them. The Accessible Format Production in the Library will assist you in meeting the needs of your students for an accessible format.
Additional Resources
