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.
How to check your Ally Report in Blackboard Ultra
A) Course-level report (full overview + “Remaining issues”)
- Open the course in Blackboard Ultra.
- Open Accessibility report (Ally) (Books & Tools → Accessibility report).
- 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.
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- 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.
B) Item-level feedback (fix as you go)
- On Course Content, look for the colored Ally gauge next to each file/page.
- Click the gauge to open Ally’s Instructor Feedback for that specific item.
- Follow the guided steps; Ally shows a preview and updates the score as you remediate.
| What Needs to Be Fixed | Digital Guide | Video Guide | Cheat Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Declutter your Blackboard Course Clear the clutter. Protect active content. Focus your Ally remediation. |
How to declutter your BB Course | ||
| 2. Headings Add proper H1/H2/H3 structure; no skipped levels |
How to add headings to the documents | Video Link | |
| 3. Alt text for images Or mark decorative when appropriate |
How to make images accessible | Video Link | |
| 4. Tables Define header rows; avoid layout/merged-cell tables |
How to add headers to the tables | Video Link | |
| 5. Scanned PDFs Replace with source files or OCR + tag |
How to tag a PDF | Video Link | |
| 6. PPT slides layout AI-generated PPTs lack headers and alt text for images |
How to fix PPT layout / AI-generated PPTs | Video Link | |
| 7. Color contrast Meet WCAG AA contrast; color-contrast ratio ≥4.5:1 |
Coming soon | Video Link | |
| 8. Document properties Set Language, Title; export Tagged PDFs |
Coming soon | Video Link | Cheat Sheet |
| 9. HTML media Add captions/transcripts; alt for HTML images |
Coming soon | Video Link 1 Video Link 2 |
If you open your Course Accessibility Report (steps above), Ally will list these by severity and let you fix items directly.
| Application | Digital Guide | Video Guide | Cheat Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Word | Check accessibility while you work in Word Avoid using tables Use built-in title, subtitle, and heading styles Create paragraph banners Add alt text to visuals Add accessible hyperlink text and ScreenTips Use accessible font format and color Create accessible lists Adjust space between sentences and paragraphs Test accessibility with Immersive Reader |
||
| 2. PowerPoint | Coming Soon | Video Link | Cheat Sheet |
| 3. Excel | Guide 1 Guide 2 Guide 3 Guide 4 |
Coming soon | Cheat Sheet |
| 4. PDF |
Testing a PDF for Accessibility Remediating PDFs for Accessibility Converting Scanned Documents into Section 508 Conformant PDFs |
Video Link 1 | Cheat Sheet |
| 5. Videos | Video Link 1 | Cheat Sheet |
Notice from the Library regarding PDFs of journal articles
Use the search bar on the library homepage, or the Databases page on the library website.
Once you have newly located the material, look for the ‘share’ option, the DOI, or copy the url from your browser address bar.
You will then need to copy and paste the following to add to the beginning of your link https://login.tamuk.idm.oclc.org/login?url=
New URL examples
https://login.tamuk.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.onepetro.org/
https://login.tamuk.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://research.ebsco.com/plink/b22dc880-d2a8-36e9-ac3c-ae8129702cf8
If you have questions or need additional assistance, email the library team.
Helpful Resources
- Texas Governor’s Accessibility Tutorials
- Accessibility Fundamentals (TEA) – plain-English guidance on contrast, headings, links, images/alt text, tables.
- Ally for Blackboard and Ally for LMSs - two videos covering Ally gauges and course-level reports