1.
a11y, ally, and online:
Service Design for Blackboard Ally
Fiona MacNeill | f.macneill@brighton.ac.uk | @fmacneill
University of Brighton

2.
This presentation is about
Blackboard Ally…
…it is also about the services and people that
operate around Blackboard Ally

3.
Concepts used in this presentation
Service Design
Big picture mindset
Before, during, and after use
Operations around the goal/s
Relationships between activities
User Experience Design
Big picture down to the minutiae
During use
Functions to support the goal/s
Individual activities
Methods + Tools
I am a learning technologist, but I am also a trained user-centred designer. I take
inspiration from Service Design and User Experience Design.

4.
What we will
cover…
a11y
How we approached accessibility prior to having Ally
ally
How we implemented a service design for Blackboard
Ally at University of Brighton
online
How we drove engagement through online training,
guidance, and outreach
There will be time for questions at the end
Jill and Tucker are on-hand in the chat and Q&A

5.
Tool Used: Proto Persona (Gothelf, 2013)
University of Brighton
Four campuses on
the South Coast of
England
Behaviours and Actions
• Emphasis on Inclusive Practice
• Widening participation a crucial driver
• Management buy-in for auditing
• Recognised need to improve resources
Demographic and Psychographic Details
• Students: 18,987 | Staff: 2,600
• Schools 13 (moving to 7)
• Disabled students 21%
Learning disability: 13% or 1 in 8
• Disabled staff 8.8%
Needs and Pain Points
• Student communications and support
• Limited staff resource for accessibility
• The pandemic: academic staff burnout
• Mismatch between expectations and
outcomes

6.
a11y
~ a [ccessibilit] y
~ a [string of 11 characters] y

7.
The emotion line of when

8.
ally
~ an add-on for Blackboard VLE.
Blackboard Ally improves the experience for all
users by providing alternative document formats.
Blackboard Ally provides feedback to staff so that
accessibility can continually improve.

9.
Blackboard Ally was announced on 21st May 2020
for launch on 17th August 2020
• Used Global Accessibility Awareness
Day (GAAD) as an opportunity for
outreach. Inspired by Govt. Digital
Service (Fry, 2020)
• Announced Blackboard Ally via a
webinar on Microsoft Teams and gave
a demo
• Celebrated GAAD via Twitter,
Periscope and an MS Teams Escape
the Room game
5,970 Tweet Impressions (21 May)
17 x the Twitter traffic of a typical day

10.
We were totally ready for Blackboard Ally
Overall accessibility per month – Ally statistics for historic content 2018-2021
Based on the average of the accessibility scores of all content items that were added during each month
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Trough Accessibility Training (July 2019) GAAD 2020
Bb Ally

11.
Our to-do list
1. Who | Identify and communicate with stakeholders.
Win over hearts and minds
2. What and When | Plan for a phased roll out of Blackboard Ally
3. Where and How | Deliver training completely online with self-service options

12.
Tool used: Task Scenarios (e.g., McCloskey, 2014)
Task scenarios are
itemised stories about a
specific tasks in context
Helpful for finding pinch
points in an existing
workflow as the basis for
support and training
design
Scenario 1: Check existing documents:
Scanned PDFs without OCR
Practical Goal: Learn what is wrong with the
document using the Ally report tool and resolve
the problem.
Context: On a personal computer connected to
the Internet using a web browser at home. User
will login to the VLE and open their module…
User/s: Academic staff; Professional staff who
create student-facing resources.

13.
to-do
1.1 Identify and communicate
with stakeholders…
The Task Analysis uncovered an
opportunity to establish a referral
pathway to our libraries.
Method used: Customer value chain
also known as an ecosystem map
(Kalbach, 2016, p. 86).

14.
Task Scenarios: Students
Scenario 1:
Download content from the
LMS/VLE in a different format
Scenario 2:
Ask for help to report an issue
with a document

15.
to-do
1.2 Identify and
communicate
with
stakeholders…
An opportunity to build and strengthen
internal collaborations

16.
to-do
1.3 …Win over hearts and minds
Key points
Minimise
tracking/auditing due
to perception as
surveillance
Create a core message
in your own words
Core Message –
Three Things you Need to know about Ally
1. Ally saves time by automatically creating
alternative document formats
2. Ally supports the access needs of all
students
3. Ally provides feedback which is only visible
to instructors to help improve the
accessibility of content in My Studies

17.
to-do
2. Plan for a phased roll out of
Blackboard Ally
Two phases were
planned with the ethos
of improvement first,
statistics later
Planned to delay release
of the ‘Course
Accessibility Report’
until Dec 2020

18.
The Course Accessibility Summary
Consider how a service sits
alongside other software
and services
Delayed the ‘Course
Accessibility Report’ further
to May 2021 and renamed
it ‘Accessibility Summary’
Report ~ Reporting =
Tracking

19.
online
~ the challenge of working online and reaching
people during a pandemic even when you are
a technical person

20.
to-do
3. Deliver training
completely online
with self-service
options
Via MS Teams but using
Blackboard Learn with task
scenarios
With companion session:
‘Creating Accessible Digital
Documents’

21.
The Ally Effect
Ally has helped us to
achieve and maintain a
higher level of
accessibility across
LMS/VLE page content
and uploads
By February 2021
improvement had
plateaued
Overall accessibility Jul-Feb in 2018, 2019, 2020
Semester 1 (Oct-Jan) to Semester 2 (Feb-June) transition – Based on monthly averages
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb
2020/21 2019/20 2018/19

22.
Communications goals for Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2021
• To raise awareness of accessibility and why it is important.
• To highlight and remind people about Blackboard Ally.
• To provide practical tips for accessibility adjustments in university tools and
software.
• Link to the bigger picture of accessibility: legal standards for institution, and
future employer expectations for students.
Our new to-do
drive and sustain engagement

23.
Objectives for
GAAD 2021 for
Staff
Increase attendance at our training
sessions
Increase conversion rates by at least 5%
(instructor feedback panel launch : no. of fixes)

24.
Objectives for
GAAD 2021 for
Students
Increase conversion rates by at least 2%
(alternative formats window launches : downloads)
Benchmark period 22 March to 21 April
= 57%

25.
Global Accessibility Day (GAAD) 2021
20th May 2021
Participant effort:
Low, Mod., High
Before During After
Tweets, micro tutorial videos
Weekly blog posts
Online pledge
Event attendance
Collaboration with University of Sussex
Workshop attendance
Fix Your Content Day

26.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Engagement with Instructor Feedback over time
22/3/21 – 21/05/21
Instructor Feedback Launches
Fixes
Course Accessibility Report Launches
Results for staff
Increase attendance at our
training sessions
– no change
22 April – 21 May:
no increase in conversion
rate (launch : fix)
Launched Accessibility
Summary 7 May 2021

27.
Results for students
22 April – 21 May:
(alternative formats window
launches : downloads)
=64%
+7%
as compared to 57%
benchmark
+2% goal exceeded
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
Alternative formats usage over time
22/3/21 – 21/05/21
Launches Downloads

28.
Summary – Top tips that work
1. Focus on tool-based tasks and values to stay concise
2. Craft consistent and simple messages
3. Opportunities to collaborate are chances to remind and refine
4. Celebrate and cherish people who attend workshops/events
5. Iterate, iterate, iterate
6. Plan how you will continue to drive and sustain engagement
7. Staff awareness has a bearing on student engagement

29.
We all do better when accessibility is better.
Accessibility is better when we all do it.

30.
Thank you for coming!
Fiona MacNeill
f.macneill@brighton.ac.uk
@fmacneill on Twitter
Blogging at:
blogs.brighton.ac.uk/elearningteam
fionamacneill.co.uk/blog

31.
Methods and tools we used
• Proto Personae
• Information Architecture principles
• Task scenarios
• Customer value mapping
• Project planning template and interactive whiteboard (Mural template)
• Usable and context relevant language
• Data driven insights

32.
References [1/4]
Advance HE (2020) Equality and higher education - staff statistical report 2020. Available at:
https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/equality-higher-education-statistical-report-2020
(Accessed: 27 June 2021).
Advance HE (2020) Equality and higher education - student statistical report 2020. Available at:
https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/equality-higher-education-statistical-report-2020
(Accessed: 27 June 2021).
Brand, S. (1995) How buildings learn: what happens after they’re built. New York, NY: Penguin Books.
Fry, R. (2020) ‘What happened on Global Accessibility Day at GDS’, Government Digital Service Blog, 2
June. Available at: https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2020/06/02/what-happened-on-global-accessibility-
awareness-day-at-gds/ (Accessed: 4 July 2021).

33.
References [2/4]
Gothelf, J. (2013) Lean UX applying lean principles to improve user experience. Edited by Seiden, J.
Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media Inc.
Information about different types of disability (2020) University of Brighton (unpublished). Available at:
https://staff.brighton.ac.uk/ss/dd/Pages/information.aspx (Accessed: 24 March 2021).
Kalbach, J. (2016) Mapping experiences – a guide to creating value through journeys, blueprints, and
diagrams. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media Inc.
Mapping from students in higher education publication to he student data tables (no date) HESA.
Available at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/releases/mapping (Accessed: 24
March 2021).
McCloskey , M. (2014) ‘Task scenarios for usability testing’, Nielsen Norman Group, 12 January.
Available at: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/task-scenarios-usability-testing/ (Accessed: 24
March 2021).

34.
References [3/4]
Office for Students (2020) Equality, diversity and student characteristics data. Available at:
https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/equality-diversity-and-student-
characteristics-data/official-statistics/ (Accessed: 27 June 2021).
Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, no. 952.
Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/952/contents/enacted (Accessed: 31 May
2021).
Rosenfeld, L., Morville, P. and Arango, J. (2015) Information architecture: for the web and beyond.
Fourth edition. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media, Inc.
Staff equalities monitoring report 18/19 (2020) University of Brighton Equality and Diversity
(unpublished). Available at: https://staff.brighton.ac.uk/hr/equality/pubdocs/Internal-
staff/Internal%20Staff_Equalities_monitoring_report_1819%20FINAL.pdf

35.
References [4/4]
Student population (2020) University of Brighton. Available at: https://www.brighton.ac.uk/about-
us/statistics-and-legal/facts-and-figures/student-population.aspx (Accessed: 24 March 2021).
Resources
All of University of Brighton’s GAAD related blog posts
Wakelet board for GAAD in 2020 | Wakelet board for GAAD in 2021