Course Accessibility

Johnson & Wales is committed to ensuring digital accessibility to students across all of our course offerings as required by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  Blackboard Ally is a tool supporting inclusion and accessibility, which allows students to download course materials in alternative formats like audio, HTML, electronic braille, and other files. Classes are full of diverse students with unique learning abilities. Providing students with more accessible original content means they can choose formats that work best for them: HTML for improved reading on mobile phones, Electronic Braille for the visually impaired, and Audio for learning on the go. Ally automatically scans content in ulearn and performs a series of steps offering tips to improve accessibility as well as generating alternative formats. The resources below will help you generate accessible content for your courses.

Students who have disabilities and/or health conditions with accommodations should contact Accessibility Services for support. See the Academic Support website for campus-specific information including office location and contact number.

Table of Contents

• Bb Ally User Guides
  - Alternative Formats in ulearn
  - Using the Accessibility Report in ulearn
  - Using Alt (Alternative) Text in ulearn
  - Using the Math Editor in ulearn
  - Downloading Ally Alternative Formats
• Making Documents Accessible
  - Office 365: Word, PPT, and Outlook
  - Adobe Acrobat
• General Accessibility Tips & Tricks
  - Writing Effective Alt Text 
  - Alt Tagging Best Practices with Complex Examples
  - Accessibility Checklist from Bb Ally

Bb Ally User Guides

Alternative Formats in ulearn - Learn about alternative formats in ulearn that allow students to access select course material in a way that is most beneficial to them as learners. 
View Alternative Formats Infographic. | View Alternative Formats in ulearn Video.

Using the Accessibility Report in ulearn - Learn how to navigate and use the accessibility report in ulearn to improve a course's accessibility. 
View Accessibility Report User Guide. | Watch Accessibility Report Video.

Using Alt Text with Images in ulearn - Learn how to add alt text (alternative description) to improve the accessibility of images in ulearn. 
View Alternative Text User Guide.

Using the Math Editor in ulearn - Learn how to utilize the math editor tool to create accessible math equations and formulas in the ulearn text editor.
View Math Editor User Guide.

Downloading Ally Alternative Formats in ulearn - Learn how to download alternative formats of content directly from your course. Alternative formats provide the opportunity for you to access information in the way you need or want it. This is the only "Ally" indicator students see in your course.
View Alternative Formats User Guide.

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Making Documents Accessible

Office 365: Word, PPT, Outlook

View Microsoft Office 365 Resources for working in Microsoft applications to create accessible files:

• Microsoft’s Accessibility Video Training - Learn about built-in tools in Office documents to create accessible documents.
• Making documents accessible – Learn about common situations with fixes to create more inclusive documents.
• Create accessible Word documents – Learn about improving the accessibility of documents using the built-in accessibility checker
• Create accessible PowerPoint presentations – Learn about improving accessibility by organizing content in the intended reading order.
• Create accessible email messages in Outlook – Learn about improving the accessibility of email messages when distributing to broad audiences. 

View additional accessibility resources for other versions of MS Office applications.

Adobe Acrobat

View Adobe resources for working in Adobe Acrobat to create accessible PDF files:

• Use accessibility tools in Adobe to verify PDF accessibility.
• On-demand webinar Acrobat Accessibility Series from the basics of Accessibility to a deep dive into tagging your PDF files.

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General Accessibility Tips & Tricks

Writing Effective Alt Text User Guide - Writing alt text that is useful and meaningful will vary depending on context. This guide will help you understand what to consider when writing alt text so that students understand the intention and purpose of the image in course materials.

Alt Tagging Best Practices with Complex Examples User Guide - Best practices for adding alt text to content with guidance about how to provide alt text for complex situations including graphs, charts, formulas, x-rays, handwritten notes or calculations, and other functional situations.

Accessibility Checklist from Bb Ally – general guidelines to create more accessible content:

• Use a font size of at least 12px.
• Have sufficient contrast between text and background.
• Use proper heading styles.
• Use a logical heading structure.
• Add alternative descriptions to images that convey the full meaning of the image.
• Use tables for tabular data only.
• Ensure that all tables have column headers.
• Use built-in list functionality for all lists.
• Ensure that all links have text that describes the target.
• Use built-in PowerPoint slide templates.
• Don’t use scanned PDFs.
• Ensure that all PDFs are tagged.

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