Instructional technologies provide many opportunities to support assessment and track student performance in Blackboard.
The following articles provide details describing the best practices we regularly publish to support our pedagogical community of practice.
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5 Things to Check After Blackboard Ally Gives You the Green Light
Ally catches a lot. A few important checks still need you.
You launched the Ally course accessibility report, worked through the flagged issues, and watched your score climb to 85% or higher. Green across the board! It feels like the job is done. But a...
Posted: September 1, 2026, 2:59 PM
6 Tips for Troubleshooting Common Ally Errors
Ally flagged it. What to do when guidance isn’t enough
Blackboard Ally is one of the most useful tools in your course accessibility toolkit. It scans your content, flags potential barriers, and offers step-by-step guidance for fixing them. However, ...
Posted: August 25, 2026, 2:12 PM
Mind the Gap: 6 Accessibility Features to Improve Your Ally Score
How to scan, fix, and improve your Blackboard files easily.
You just finished uploading a PDF - a syllabus, lecture notes, or a set of slides exported for printing. It looks fine to you, but how does it perform for a student relying on a screen reader?...
Posted: August 18, 2026, 1:28 PM
5 Quick Wins for an Accessible Syllabus
Small fixes, big difference for every student.
Picture a student pulling up your syllabus before the first day of class. If they're using a screen reader and your document contains unstructured text, complex tables, and images without adequate...
Posted: August 11, 2026, 2:00 PM
Ready, Set, Accessible! Fall Course Prep Day Resources
Recordings, slide decks, and links... oh my!
The USM Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation shared the resources from the Ready, Set, Accessible! Fall Course Prep Day. Held on August 3rd, this half-day virtual event was designed to help...
Posted: August 10, 2026, 9:15 AM
Beyond PDFs: 5 Better Ways to Share Content
Rethinking a default file format to remove barriers.
You've probably uploaded a PDF to your course or website dozens of times without a second thought: a syllabus, an article, a set of lecture notes. PDFs are everywhere in higher ed. For years...
Posted: August 6, 2026, 9:29 AM
Improve Your Digital Content: Join Us for Accessibility Workshops (August 17 & 21)
Enhance digital content accessibility for all users
As we gear up for the FA2026 semester, the Instructional Technology team is hosting Improve Your Digital Content Workshops on August 17th and August 21st. Whether you are completely new to Digital...
Posted: July 30, 2026, 12:15 PM
Raise a FA26 Bb Course Ally Score by Fixing the Prior Version
"Strive for 85" with Digital Accessibility
As announced last month, UMBC is working toward a campus-wide goal of highly accessible courses by the end of 2026. To help, DoIT recommends that faculty identify accessibility gaps in prior...
Posted: April 22, 2026, 3:23 PM
Achieve ‘Strive for 85’ DA Goal: Enroll in CoRE Foundations
Opt-in, self-paced Bb training can lead to a microcredential
UMBC instructors are invited to "enroll" in the self-paced, online Course Roadmap to Equity (CoRE) Foundations training, which provides practical tools to achieve the ‘Strive for 85’ digital...
Posted: April 7, 2026, 8:44 AM
DA Steering Committee Launches 'Strive for 85' Ally Course Accessibility Goal
To help, DoIT opens self-paced Blackboard training site
Following Provost van Dulmen's November 2025 announcement regarding UMBC's commitment to digital accessibility, the Digital Accessibility Steering Committee (DASC) is launching "Strive for 85."...
Posted: March 12, 2026, 1:21 PM
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