Blackboard accessibility beyond Ally

Introduction

Recorded live during the Mobile and Collaborate Hybrid meeting at the Twentieth Annual Durham Blackboard Users Conference. In this presentation I explain aspects of The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 and Directive (EU) 2016/2102 on the Accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies.

I put the regulations and the standards we should follow into a global context. I then explain aspects of the WCAG standards and their relevance to the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment, providing examples of how I have customised our Blackboard environment both to meet WCAG standards for colour usage, whilst aligning with an institutional brand.

Finally I discuss the latest revision to the ATbar plugin for Blackboard. This has been enhanced so that existing Blackboard functionality related to accessibility is normalised within a congruent interface. The remaining minutes cover questions from the audience.

View the slides on SlideShare

Reactions and reflections

This was my first major presentation about accessibility and was the culmination of months of detailed research and testing in my own private time, it was also at one of my lowest points, about to be made redundant and working within an institution that cared very little about this topic.

I received some really kind feedback, which I published in a separate blog post.