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Accessibility & AI in Learn Ultra

You may be familiar with Blackboard Ally, the tool that helps generate alternative file formats for accessibility using machine learning algorithms. Now, Blackboard Learn is the first LMS to introduce an AI Design Assistant, a tool to help you with the course creation process using generative artificial intelligence (AI). This page introduces Blackboard assistive features and access concerns.

Table of Contents

Accessibility
Alternative File Formats
Ultra Accessibility Checker
Auto-Captioning
AI Design Assistant
Course Content
Assessments
Course Section Merge
Blackboard Access and FERPA

Additional Resources

Creating Accessible PDFs

🔗 AI, Academic Integrity, and Authentic Assessment

📄Accessibility Features in Blackboard Learn

Ally File Transformer

Responsible AI Adoption

Trustworthy AI Approach

Accessibility in Blackboard Learn

Bb Authentic Assessment

Accessibility

Blackboard is invested in the usability and accessibility and is designed and developed using internationally recognized Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), as well as Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Blackboard strives to meet the globally recognized WCAG 2.1 Level AA success criteria and conducts regular third-party accessibility testing of its products to assess conformance with industry standards.

Alternative File Formats

Personalize the learning experience to fit learning preferences and devices.

Blackboard Ally creates alternative formats of the original content

Transform files to a format that work best for you and point students to the Blackboard File Format Converter available in Blackboard.

Blackboard File Format Converter

File Formats:

Institution Page

Immersive Reader

Aid reading comprehension and grammar skills. Internet required.

Beeline Reader

Enhanced version for faster and more focused on-screen reading.

OCRed PDF

Makes scanned documents searchable and more readable. Reduces file size.

Tagged PDF

Structured PDF for improved use with assistive technology.

Audio

MP3 version for listening on personal devices and in more contexts.

ePub

For reading as an e-book on an iPad and other e-book readers.

Electronic braille

BRF version for consumption on electronic braille displays.

HTML

For viewing in the browser and on mobile devices.

Translated version

A machine translated version of the original document.

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Learn more about Alternative Formats.

Ultra Accessibility Checker

Create more accessible course content, the Ultra Accessibility Checker automatically scans your content in the Ultra Documents editor to make it more accessible. The Score Gauge provides a live score and flags accessibility issues during content creation and editing.

Select the Score Gauge to view the Instructor Feedback panel for suggestions to fix accessibility issues.

Auto-Captioning

Auto-Captioning for audio and video recorded in Blackboard Learn including Announcements and Feedback recordings.

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Auto-Captioning support for many languages. Learn more about Caption Video Content for Accessibility.

Coming Soon: Core Accessibility Improvements

AI Design Assistant

The AI Design Assistant can help create an engaging learning experience by suggesting a possible course structure, recommend related images, and help generate rubrics and assessments.

You can opt-in for design suggestions aligned with your syllabus and learning outcomes.

You are always in control of the content generated.

Auto-Generate Learning Modules

Description
Topic, Unit, Week, Chapter, Module
Images
Complexity

Generate or insert stock images from Unsplash*
Auto-generate question bank from Ultra Documents
Auto-generate questions for Assessments
Generate rubrics for Assignments

*Alternative text is provided by Unsplash royalty free stock images. Generate or insert images for your Course Image and Learning Modules.

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AI is supported by the Blackboard Trustworthy AI Approach, suggestions need to be explicitly accepted, data is not used to train models, and generative AI is not used with students or high-stakes workflows.

NEW: AI for Journal, Discussion, and AI Authentic Assessments

Assignment prompt generation

Course Content

Course Banner The Course Banner is displayed at the top of the course using the Course Image. You can turn the Course Banner on or off.

The Course Image is always displayed on the course card when in grid mode on your Courses page.

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Alternative text, or “alt text” should be added to meaningful images, graphs, and charts for instructional materials. Decorative images do not need to be described.

Learning Modules

Learning Modules provide a way to organize and structure content. You can add images to Learning Modules.

To add an image to an existing Learning Module, edit the module.

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Alternative text should be complete, be concise, and consider context. Decorative images do not need to be described.

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Learn more about adding alternative descriptions to images and graphs to improve comprehension.

Ultra Documents

For Ultra Documents, you can provide Description including an overview about what the documents contain. This reduces unnecessary clicks for students and provides a better understanding of what's expected of them.

Assessments

Accommodations

You can set accommodations for individual students from the gradebook and roster.

Due dates
Time limits

Once you’ve created accommodations for a student, a purple mark will appear in front of the student's name to indicate the student has accommodations.

Exceptions

You can give an individual student an exception on a specific test or assignment.

Additional attempts
Extended access

Course Section Merge

Instructors wishing to have two or more course sections merged should contact the Office of the Registrar at reg@vwu.edu and provide them with the term and course section numbers.

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DO NOT develop courses before they are merged, a course merge creates a NEW course and you will no longer have access to the original course sections.

Items to Consider Before Requesting Sections to be Merged:

Active courses—courses with student submissions, grades, and discussions—should never be merged as student submissions would be lost.
Understand how FERPA applies to situations with multiple sections and either choose not to merge your sections or ensure your course is designed to meet student privacy and compliance requirements.

Blackboard Access and FERPA

In the United States, many institutions interpret FERPA to mean that merging cross-listed sections is acceptable because in a face-to-face context, these students would meet and interact with one another. Most of these same institutions have determined that FERPA restricts merging sections that aren’t cross-listed unless interactive tools are configured so students can't see the information of students outside their section. This could mean requiring that tools like the Roster are turned off, and interactions are limited to groups where memberships can't span sections.

FERPA Concerns	🚩Learn Original	🏴Learn Ultra
Roster	Tools > Hide Link	ON by default: Toggle OFF Course Settings (gear icon) Students can view class roster > OFF*
Messages	Tools > Hide Link	ON by default: Toggle OFF Course Settings (gear icon) *When turned off, messages will be sent via email only* > OFF*
Send Email	Tools > Hide Link	Not available (see Messages)
Groups	Course Tool - (Tools > Hide Link) or Manually enroll only members from the same section.	Manage Groups - DO NOT USE or Custom enroll only members from the same section.
Discussions	Tool Availability - (Tools > Hide Link) or Assign to Groups with only members of the same section.	Group Discussions - DO NOT USE or Assign Discussions to Groups with only members of the same section.
Conversations	N/A	OFF by default: Content Setting (…icon) Allow class conversations > UNCHECK
Journals	Course Tool - (Tools > Hide Link) or DO NOT select the checkbox to Permit Course Users to View Journal	Ultra Journals provide a personal space for students to communicate privately with the instructor.
Blogs/Wikis	Course Tool - (Tools > Hide Link) or Assign to Groups with only members of the same section.	Group Spaces list assignments for a specific group. DO NOT USE or use Collaborative assignments with only members of the same section. You can create and Assign groups to assessments. For Cloud Collaboration, use Release Conditions to limit to Specific member or groups.

🏴Learn Ultra

*The Class Roster and Course Messages should not be available in merged courses:

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Students can still message the instructor from the Course Faculty section.

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FERPA compliance: Roster, Messages, Email, and Blogs/Wikis will need to be removed so that students cannot see the names of other students outside their section. Groups and Discussions can only be used for members of the same section.