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Center for Academic Technology

Digital Learning

Accessibility

Texas law requires public universities to ensure that Electronic & Information Resources (EIR) are accessible. Specifically, Texas Government Code Chapter 2054, Subchapter M and 1 TAC Chapters 206 & 213 set statewide rules for accessibility of websites, documents, and digital resources. In addition, the U.S. DOJ’s ADA Title II rule adopts WCAG 2.1 AA as the technical standard for public entities.

 

To comply with Texas A&M System expectations and our internal plan, our goal is for every course to reach at least a 90% Ally accessibility score.

What needs attention (prioritized "fix-first" list)
What Needs to Be Fixed Digital Guide Video Guide
1. Headings
Add proper H1/H2/H3 structure; no skipped levels		 How to add headings to the documents Coming soon
2. Alt text for images
Or mark decorative when appropriate		 How to make images accessible Coming soon
3. Tables
Define header rows; avoid layout/merged-cell tables		 How to add headers to the tables Coming soon
4. Scanned PDFs
Replace with source files or OCR + tag		 How to tag a PDF Coming soon
5. PPT slides layout
AI-generated PPTs lack headers and alt text for images		 How to fix PPT layout / AI-generated PPTs Coming soon
6. Color contrast
Meet WCAG AA contrast; color-contrast ratio ≥4.5:1		 Coming soon Coming soon
7. Document properties
Set Language, Title; export Tagged PDFs		 Coming soon Coming soon
8. HTML media
Add captions/transcripts; alt for HTML images		 Coming soon Coming soon

 

If you open your Course Accessibility Report (steps below), Ally will list these by severity and let you fix items directly.

How to check your Ally Report in Blackboard Ultra

A) Course-level report (full overview + “Remaining issues”)

  1. Open the course in Blackboard Ultra.
  2. Open Accessibility report (Ally) (Books & Tools → Accessibility report).
  3. On the Overview tab, you’ll see:
    • The “Course accessibility score” gauge,
    • The “All course content donut”,
    • Remaining issues listed at the bottom of the Overview tab.
    4. To start fixing items, either:
    • Click Start under “Content with the easiest issues to fix” or “Fix high scoring content,” or
    • Click a row in Remaining issues (e.g., “The image has contrast issues”) to drill into the affected items.
      Ally then opens its guided panel with what the issue means and how to fix it.

Ally Course Accessibility page - Overview tab

B) Item-level feedback (fix as you go)

  1. On Course Content, look for the colored Ally gauge next to each file/page.
  2. Click the gauge to open Ally’s Instructor Feedback for that specific item.
  3. Follow the guided steps; Ally shows a preview and updates the score as you remediate.

Ally Course Accessibility page - Content tab

Helpful Resources