ACCESSIBILITY OF DIGITAL EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS

UTEP is committed to ensuring accessible learning experiences for all students. The Center for Instructional Design supports faculty and staff in meeting updated Title II accessibility requirements by improving digital accessibility in Blackboard courses. All course content must align with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards by April 24, 2026, as required for all public colleges and universities.

What’s Required for Teaching and Learning?

 Required areas

• Online learning platforms (e.g. learning management systems)
• Course content (e.g. syllabi, videos, lecture slides, PDFs)

Accessibility requirements include

• Alternative text for images
• Captioning and transcripts for multimedia
• Keyboard navigability
• Logical heading structures
• Color contrast and readability
• Accessible document formatting (e.g., PDFs, Word docs)

WHAT CAN FACULTY DO TO ENSURE ACCESSIBILITY? 

Utilize Blackboard Ally

Blackboard Ally is built into every course and helps improve accessibility. It automatically checks course content for accessibility issues and provides alternative formats so students can access materials in ways that meet their learning needs. 

Ally provides a score for each file attached to your course. Scores range from Low to Perfect. The higher the score, the fewer the accessibility issues.

• Low: File is not accessible and needs immediate attention.
• Medium: File is somewhat accessible and could use improvement.
• High: File is accessible but could be improved.
• Perfect: File is accessible. No improvement needed.

For files with Low to High scores, Ally shows you the issues and provides a step-by-step guide on how to fix them. Watch the Blackboard ALLY video to learn more.

Schedule a Consultation with Your Instructional Designer 

To improve your course content and provide greater accessibility, please contact your assigned instructional designer to schedule a consultation. 

Adding Accommodations

When a student has approved accommodations from the Center for Accommodations and Support Services (CASS), you can add due date or time‑limit accommodations in Blackboard as follows:

1. Open the course and select Roster from the right‑hand menu.
2. Locate the student’s name.
3. Click the three‑dot menu next to the student’s name.
4. Select Accommodations.
5. Enter the approved due date or time‑limit adjustments.