Most faculty design course materials thinking about how they look. But for a significant number of students, how course content looks is only part of the picture -- or not the picture at all. Students with disabilities may experience your course through a screen reader that reads text aloud, a magnification tool that enlarges content, voice control software that lets them navigate without a mouse or keyboard, or captions that make lecture videos accessible without sound. 

Understanding how these tools work -- and more so, what gets in their way -- is one of the most useful things you can do to improve your course experience for every student.

1. Screen Readers: Your Course as Sound

Screen readers are software applications that convert on-screen text into synthesized speech or Braille output. Common screen readers include JAWS (license required), NVDA (free, Windows), Narrator (free, Windows), ChromeVox (free, Chromebooks) and VoiceOver (free, Mac). Students who are blind or have low vision rely on screen readers to access course content. Screen readers can also benefit students with learning disabilities, limited mobility, and other disabilities in their interactions with digital content in different ways. 

Watch: Screen Reader Demo for Digital Accessibility (4:44)

Here’s what that means for course materials:

• A screen reader reads content in the order it appears in the document structure, not necessarily in the order it looks onscreen. For example, a visually organized two-column layout might be read as all left-column content, followed by all right-column content. Documents that lack proper heading structure will be read in a jumbled order -- or not read at all. 

• Images without alt text are announced as “image” or are read aloud by the file name. A screen reader user who hears “image001.jpg” as the file name learns nothing from that image.

• Links are often navigated as a list. A list of “click here” links has no meaning without context. Choose action verbs such as “complete survey,” “download article,” or “review before class” as these provide the what and why of the link to screen readers. 

• Heading styles allow screen reader users to jump to sections of a document the way sighted readers can scan headers. A document without proper heading styles, however, must be read in its entirety from beginning to end.

2. Voice Control: Navigating Without Hands

Voice control software (such as Windows Voice Access or Apple’s Voice Control) allows students with motor disabilities to navigate and interact with content using spoken commands. Students might say “click Download Syllabus” to activate a link -- which only works if the link has clear, descriptive text.

• Vague link text cannot be reliably targeted by voice commands. Choose action verbs for web links, avoiding “click here” or “this guide.” 

• Forms and interactive elements without visible labels cannot be activated by voice.

• Accessible,descriptive text throughout your course makes voice navigation faster and less frustrating.

Image: Screen magnification software, such as ZoomText, allow users to enlarge on-screen content to support accessibility and comprehension. 

3. Magnification Tools: Your Course at 4x Original Size

Students with low vision may use screen magnification software (such as ZoomText or Windows Magnifier) to enlarge content to two, four, or even 10 times its original size. At high magnification levels, only a small portion of the screen is visible at once.

• Text that is embedded in images cannot be magnified without becoming blurry. If your content contains images of text instead of real text, that content becomes illegible when enlarged. 

• Low-contrast color combinations (light gray on white, yellow on white) are difficult to read at normal size and become even harder to read at high magnification.

• PDFs that are image-based rather than text-based do not magnify clearly. Tagged, text-based PDFs reflow much better.

Magnification software can have its limits, however, as low vision varies widely from student to student and some tools may not meet every student’s needs. If a student using magnification tools reports issues when accessing physical materials such as handouts, textbooks, or lab worksheets you can refer them to Disability Access and Resources (DAR) for additional assistive technology support. DAR can provide document cameras or mirror-cams which help students magnify physical materials in real time. 

4. Captions and Transcripts: Your Course Without Sound

Students who are deaf or hard of hearing cannot access audio unless it’s captioned or transcribed. Yet captions benefit a much wider group: students in noisy environments; students who process text more easily than audio; multilingual learners; and students who use captions as a study aid.

• Auto-captions are a starting point, not a finished product. Errors in auto-captions (e.g., wrong names, missed phrases or words, misheard sentences) are common and can significantly impact clarity and comprehension. If a video announcement in Blackboard isn’t captioned, for example, students who need them will miss your message entirely.

• Transcripts make audio content searchable and accessible to students who cannot play video at all.

• Audio descriptions, which verbally describe essential visual information in a video, extend access to students who are blind or have low vision.

5. What This Means for Building Your Course

You don’t need to become an assistive technology expert to make a meaningful difference in your students’ experience. Creating accessible content can take only a few minutes using established best practices along with UMBC supported tools. Oftentimes, the barrier is awareness of these methods, not lack of effort. A few consistent habits can go a long way:

• Use heading styles so screen reader users can navigate your documents.

• Write alt text that describes what an image communicates, not just what it depicts.

• Make link text descriptive and self-contained.

• Review and correct auto-captions on your videos.

• Choose real text over images of text whenever possible.

• Check your work using built-in tools like the Accessibility Checker in Word and PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat's accessibility checker, or Blackboard’s Ally.

Accessible course design isn’t about designing for a hypothetical “typical” student. It’s about recognizing all students arrive with a range of needs, preferences, devices, and ways of interacting with digital content -- and ensuring you offer flexible and usable materials across those differences.

You launched the Ally course accessibility report, worked through the flagged issues, and watched your score climb to 85% or higher. Green across the board! It feels like the job is done.

But a few weeks into the semester, a student reaches out and tells you they couldn't get through to the reading you linked from the library database, or the lecture video you just posted had no usable captions. How is that possible if Ally said everything was great?

Ally is a powerful tool, but not a complete accessibility audit. It's built to catch specific, well-defined accessibility issues in specific kinds of content uploaded to your course. Ally is transparent about the fact that a lot falls outside that scope. Knowing where those edges are is just as important as knowing how to use the tool itself. Here's what Ally can't see, can't fix, or doesn't fully resolve, and what you can do about each one.

1. Anything Linked or Stored Outside Blackboard

Ally only scans files that actually live inside the course, content you've uploaded or built directly in Blackboard. If you've linked out to a file in Google Drive, OneDrive, or Box, Ally has no way to see inside it. That means those linked files don’t get a meter, a score, or a fix suggestion no matter how inaccessible it is. 

• For linked or external files, the fix has to happen at the source. Use accessibility checkers built into Microsoft Word or PowerPoint before sharing. 

• Google Docs and Slides do not have an accessibility checker; however, activate Gemini and run this prompt: “Please check this file for accessibility using WCAG 2.1 AA as the guiding standard.” The result should give you some feedback and guidance for improvements.

2. Publisher and Library-Integrated Content

Course materials delivered through a publisher's LTI tool, a textbook platform, or a library database link are similarly invisible to Ally. These integrations pull content into your course from outside systems that Ally doesn't have access to.

• If a student reports a problem with a publisher's homework platform or an e-reserve reading, that's a conversation with the publisher or the library, not something Ally will flag or fix.

• If you need additional information about the accessibility of a specific tool we license, please ask DoIT or Instructional Technology. 

3. Content Outside the Main Course Area

Depending on how your course is structured, Ally's scanning focuses on uploaded files and content created in the course content area, not necessarily everything you build in Blackboard. Announcements, discussion prompts, and assignment instructions may not get the same scrutiny as an uploaded PDF or Word document. Yet they still require a close review to ensure accuracy, accessibility, and readability.

• If you're writing a long, image-heavy announcement or a detailed set of assignment instructions directly in Blackboard's editor, treat it with the same care as an uploaded file. This includes clear headings, real alt text, and no walls of unbroken text (i.e., consider shorter paragraphs, bulleted lists, and white space).

• When in doubt, check whether that piece of content has an Ally indicator next to it at all. If not, it's likely not being scanned.

Image: When editing in YuJa, request auto-captions and ensure the Language Set selected is English. 

4. Video, Audio Content and “Fixed” Captions That Aren’t Really Fixed

With the exception of linked YouTube videos, Ally does not check the accessibility of video or audio content. At UMBC, that responsibility lives with YuJa, our video platform, not with Ally. YuJa provides its own AI-based captioning, typically in the 90 to 95% accuracy range.

• Auto-generated captions are a starting point, not a finish line; they need a human review to catch misheard names, technical terms, and punctuation before they're reliable and usable.

• If embedding a YuJa video into Blackboard, don't assume a good Ally score on the surrounding content means the video is accessible. It's a separate check, in a separate system.

When it comes to captioning and Ally flags an issue, having an available caption (even auto-generated) doesn't mean it’s an accessible caption. 

• Auto-generated captions are not considered valid on their own because they're not reliably accurate enough to meet accessibility standards.

• Budget time to review, correct, or clarify auto-captions, especially for technical vocabulary, names, or acronyms specific to a discipline.

5. Very Short or Unusual Files

Some of Ally's checks only apply above a certain file size or in certain formats. For example, one common PDF accessibility check -- headings -- only applies to PDFs with at least three pages, while the same check in Word documents applies only to files with at least 12 paragraphs. As a result, Ally may not flag missing headings in shorter PDFs or Word documents.

• Don't assume a shorter document is fine simply because Ally didn't flag anything. 

• Give those shorter files and images the same manual glance you'd give longer files.

None of this means Ally isn't worth using. It catches a huge share of the most common issues, automatically, without asking you to become an accessibility expert. But "green meter" and "fully accessible" aren't quite the same thing. The most reliable and accessible courses combine what Ally flags with a critical human review of content, tools, and areas it can't reach.

If you’ve followed the guidance and the issue persists, or if you’re working with a complex document type you’re not sure how to fix, Instructional Technology is here to help. You can reach us via RT to submit a ticket or schedule a 1:1 consultation.

You've probably uploaded a PDF to your course or website dozens of times without a second thought: a syllabus, an article, a set of lecture notes. 

PDFs are everywhere in higher ed. For years they have functioned as the safe, universal choice to prevent editing a file once it’s shared; however, PDFs are often the format most likely to create barriers for students, particularly those using assistive technology. What happens when a student using a screen reader opens that file and the reading order is scrambled, or the text isn’t recognized?  

The good news: in many cases, you can share the same content in its original format - while preserving accessibility, simplifying updates, and still maintaining control over who can view or edit it. 

When sharing content, here are five considerations that don't depend on a PDF.

1. PDFs Preserve Content Exactly the Way It’s Designed

One of the biggest reasons people choose PDFs is that they preserve formatting. Fonts, spacing, images, and page layout appear exactly as intended, regardless of the device or software a student might use. For documents where visual presentation is essential - such as official forms, archival records, or publisher materials - that consistency can be valuable.

But preserving appearance isn't the same as preserving accessibility. A PDF can look perfect on screen, yet may still be difficult or impossible for a screen reader to interpret if headings, reading order, image descriptions, or searchable text are missing. 

2. Share Word Documents & PowerPoint Presentations
A well-structured accessible document, with headings, lists, alt text, and descriptive hyperlinks, is easier for every student to navigate than a scanned or exported PDF. It’s also far easier for you to update next semester. Structure is what makes a document work with a screen reader in the first place: without accurate headings, there's no way to jump between sections or understand how content is organized.

The same structural principles apply to slides: use built-in layouts instead of freeform text boxes, add alt text to images, and maintain a logical reading order so screen readers announce content in the right sequence.

Before exporting a document or presentation as a PDF, ask if students really need that fixed-layout file - or whether sharing the original document, presentation, or Blackboard content would provide the same information in a format that's easier to access, navigate, and update.

Related readings:

• 5 Tips for Accessible Word Documents

• 10 Ways to Make Your Slide Decks More Accessible 

• 5 Ways to Create "Born Accessible" Course Materials 

3. Share View-Only Files Instead of PDFs
Worried about users editing your original file? You don't need to convert to PDF to protect it.

• In Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), use Share → Can view to send a live, view-only link instead of a flattened export. Recipients still get a fully accessible, screen-reader-friendly document — just without edit access.

• In Google Drive, set sharing permissions to Viewer so students can read but not edit or comment. Because the file stays in its native Google Docs or Slides format, it keeps its accessibility structure — no PDF export needed.

4. Let Blackboard Permissions Do the Work
Blackboard already has built-in tools for controlling access without ever touching a PDF.

• Post content as an Ultra Document or in a Content Area, and use role-based permissions to control who can view, edit, or download.

• This keeps materials in accessible, native web format while still restricting student access to editing.

5. Reconsider the Legacy of PDFs
This mindset isn't just for new content. Before you fix a PDF that's already in your course, ask the same question you'd ask about a new one: do you still need it? If the content has been replaced elsewhere, is redundant, or is simply out of date, removing it is the fastest way to improve accessibility - no reformatting required.

Sometimes a PDF really is the only option - a signed form, a publisher file, an archival document. When that happens, our 4 Strategies for Creating Accessible PDFs walks through how to remake or remediate it properly.

Visit UMBC's Digital Accessibility resource to learn more about managing PDF files. 

Have a specific digital accessibility question? Join one of our virtual office hour drop-in sessions for real-time, hands-on support. Faculty are invited to register for a session and bring one focused question (for example: images, documents, PDFs, color contrast, captions, video, etc.).

Each participant can expect up to 15 minutes of individual support. Register for the date that works for you, get help, and head out. No presentations, no prep required—just practical help when you're stuck.

When

Instructional Technology will host virtual office hour drop-in sessions on the following Fridays:

• February 20
• February 27
• March 13
• April 10
• April 24
• May 8

How to Register

Instructors will register via a Google Form for the virtual office hour date that works for them and identify one focused question for support. Registrants will receive a personalized Google Meet link for their session. 

For more information about digital accessibility, visit UMBC's Digital Accessibility site or run an Ally course report today. Support is also available from Student Disability Services and Instructional Technology.

Connect with Instructional Technology

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

• Check our extensive FAQ collection | What's new in Ultra?

• Open a ticket via RT | Request a consult with instructional technology staff

• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups

• PIVOT | Academic Continuity | FDC's Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources

Two UMBC faculty were selected by the William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation to participate in the Boosting Course Accessibility mini grant program. This initiative aims to enhance the digital accessibility of courses across USM institutions and help ensure that all students have equitable access to course materials. 

Dr. Laura Rose, Associate Teaching Professor and Psychology Program Director at UMBC Shady Grove, and Dr. Ming Xie, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency and Disaster Health Systems, will receive funding and support to redesign their courses with accessibility in mind, including implementing universal design principles that benefit all learners.

The project will identify and address barriers in course materials, learning activities, and assessments, building long-term capacity for inclusive design across their departments. The mini grant program aligns with USM's commitment to creating inclusive learning environments where all students can succeed regardless of disability status. 

Citing a strong personal interest in accessibility and a commitment to inclusive teaching practices, Dr. Rose hopes to "gain strategies for designing accessible course materials and assignments and using technology in ways that support diverse learning needs" from participating in the program. Prioritizing accessibility is "both timely and essential," she continued, particularly with upcoming requirements for all digital content to be accessible by early 2026. 

Image: Dr. Laura Rose (left) and Dr. Ming Xie (right)

"I am honored to receive this mini grant," said Dr. Xie. "The funding will allow me to advance digital accessibility initiatives that enhance student learning and foster an inclusive educational environment."

EDHS Department Chair Dr. Lauren Clay described professor Xie as "student-centered and motivated to champion accessibility at UMBC" and looks forward to learning from her participation in the mini grant as the department prioritizes accessibility across newly revised undergraduate and graduate programs. 

Working closely with Kirwan Center staff, Drs. Rose and Xie join fifteen other faculty in USM, representing diverse disciplines across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; social sciences; humanities; business; education; and health professions.

Ready to take the first step toward course accessibility? Visit UMBC's Digital Accessibility site or run an Ally course report today. Support is also available from Student Disability Services and Instructional Technology.