Fix Your Content Day is a campus-wide accessibility sprint happening on November 10, 2026. For one day, faculty and staff across UMBC will come together, virtually and in person, to tackle accessibility fixes in Blackboard courses using Ally. Our goal: 1,600 fixes across at least 160 courses in a single day.

That sounds like a lot, but it’s just 10 fixes in those 160 courses -- or less, if more faculty participate.

We've seen what the UMBC community can do when we're working toward something meaningful together. Last year’s Fix Your Content Day saw more than 450 items fixed in Blackboard -- 33.1% of fixes went to image descriptions and 51.5% to PDF remediation. We’d like to celebrate two courses:

• AGNG 620 (Dr. Veronica Hoover) made 39 fixes across images, PDFs, and Blackboard content, improving the average file score from 33% to 97%.

• BIOL 251 (Dr. Jennifer Hughes) made 55 fixes, mostly in images, improving scores from an average of 28% to 99%.

This spring, we committed to "Strive for 85" -- bringing every Blackboard course to an Ally accessibility score of 85% or better by the end of 2026. Whether your course Ally score is in the red or already climbing toward green, there's a fix with your name on it. With new features available in Ally, it’s easier to fix your PDFs, including adding image descriptions or auto-tagging.

Here’s how you can participate on November 10th

• Use Blackboard Ally's Course Accessibility Report to identify your highest-impact fixes 

• Review your courses for red and orange indicators

• Focus on quick wins 

  • Use auto-tagging to update a PDF

  • Add a title to a PDF

  • Add a language to a PDF

  • Add a description to an image

  • Add headings to Microsoft Word documents

• Track your progress with this Google Form to contribute to the campus-wide fix count

Fix Your Content Day is an opportunity to push our institutional Ally score toward that 85% or better. Every single fix helps remove barriers to learning and creates a more inclusive experience for students. Let’s make sure every student, regardless of ability, device, or circumstance, can fully access the materials you've worked hard to create. When your course content is accessible, it works better for everyone.

Get Help

Drop-in support from Instructional Technology is available from 11 AM to 1 PM via Google Meet. 

UMBC will host three Fix Your Course Content Days, dedicated to improving the accessibility of digital course materials in Blackboard. During these three individual sprints, faculty, staff, and instructional designers can review Ally accessibility reports, make fixes to Blackboard course content, and strengthen our commitment to inclusive teaching. 

When

Work individually or in your departments, or join one of our collaborative sessions to update the accessibility of your course content.

• Wednesday, February 25 (11 AM - 2 PM)
• Friday, March 27 (11 AM - 1 PM)
• Wednesday, April 11 (11 AM - 1 PM)

Do you manage a Blackboard org? You can still check your Ally report and update content for accessibility!

Why Fix Content?

• Every fix, big or small, helps. Whether it's adding alt text to an image, adding meaningful link text, correcting heading structure, or improving document formatting, each step makes content more usable for a student using a screen reader, assistive device, or alternate format.
• You already have insights. The Ally tool in Blackboard surfaces course accessibility reports and flags problematic files (scanned documents, missing image description, contrast issues, etc.). Use this as your guide.
• It's about more than one day. Fix Your Content Day is not just a one-off event. It's a focused moment for action -- and a reminder that digital accessibility is an ongoing responsibility in course design.

What to Do on a Fix Your Content Day

Here’s a simple roadmap with four easy steps you can follow:

1. Review your Ally report.
Log into your course. Go to Books & Tools from the right navigation menu to access your Ally accessibility report. Note your starting score. Prioritize files you use most (syllabus, major readings, assignment sheets, handouts, etc.) or where you have inaccessible images that impact meaningful content.

2. Make at least 3 targeted fixes.
Use the Ally "repair" workflow (built into Blackboard) to take action:

• Add or improve alt text for images -- Ally’s AI Alt Text Assistant can be a helpful tool
• Fix heading structure (use proper heading levels rather than visual formatting)
• Add descriptive link text (avoid "click here")
• Ensure sufficient color contrast in slides or documents
• Replace scanned PDFs (if possible) with accessible ones or OCR them
• Verify captions & transcripts for audio & video in YuJa

3. Strive for 85.
As you make your fixes, aim for an Ally score of 85 percent or higher in your courses. This benchmark represents solid progress toward accessible, student-ready materials. Focus on content with Severe (red) or Major (orange) issues.

Each improvement -- adding alt text, correcting headings, or replacing scanned PDFs -- moves your score closer to 85, or exceeds it, and helps ensure your course is usable for every learner.

4. Reflect and plan next steps.
Think about recurring patterns in your courses (e.g. many scanned articles, many images lacking alt text). Use that insight to inform future course redesign or content creation. Consider sharing your top three fixes with your department to help normalize accessible practices across campus.

If you'd like to be recognized with a microcredential for your portfolio or LinkedIn profile, submit your results using this Google Form. 

A Few Tips to Make It Easier

• Start small. Pick a single course or module to focus on first, or focus on a single type of issue like image descriptions. You also don't need to "fix everything" in one day.
• Schedule your time. Block a 30-60 minute slot on your calendar just for accessibility fixes -- or drop by our open lab in ENGR 102 from 11 AM to 2 PM to work alongside colleagues, share progress, and get help from the Instructional technology team in a relaxed, social space to celebrate the day’s improvements.
• Work together. Coordinate a department Fix Your Content Day sprint so instructors can work at a time that fits their schedules and support each other during the hour. Or team up with a colleague who teaches a complementary discipline or course.

On an upcoming Fix Your Content Day, join us in making a measurable impact on our course content. Whether you fix three items or thirty, your work matters. Let's make UMBC's digital learning environment more inclusive together.

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