[Athen] International Ally User Group Meeting - 26 January 2023

[Matthew Deeprose]

[With apologies for cross-posting]

Date: Thurs 26 January 2023
Time: 07:00 PT / 10:00 ET / 15:00 GMT / 16:00 CET / 19:00 GST

  *   Sign up, submit questions in advance, and request a calendar appointment using this form<https://forms.office.com/e/jeA4BC9vFr>
  *   Attend online using Blackboard Collaborate<https://tinyurl.com/AllyUG>
  *   Full details on the Ally Community site<https://usergroup.ally.ac/content/perma?id=56601>

Agenda
2023 starts with a big bang in the Blackboard / Anthology Ally universe as the North American and European Ally User Groups combine to form the International Ally User Group. Led by the community for the community it will feature talks, workshops, presentations and more from institutions that use Ally and accessibility experts.

This month's meeting has some hot topics previously requested by the community: how to sell the benefits of alternative formats to students, and how educators can implement accessible pedagogy. The full agenda is as follows:

  *   Introducing User Group Chairs.
  *   Community Updates.
  *   Accessible Learning using Blackboard Ally - Chloe Bell and Lauren Basey, Northumbria University.
  *   Implementing Accessible Pedagogy - Dr Katie Grennell, Anthology.
  *   Any other business.

These sessions are of particular interest to those who use Ally at their institution or are considering Ally, or who just have an interest in digital accessibility within Higher Education.

Session synopses
Accessible Learning using Blackboard Ally - Chloe Bell and Lauren Basey, Technology Enhanced Learning Assistants specialising in Content Development at Northumbria University.
Blackboard Ally has been available for students to use across Northumbria University for several years now, but student engagement with it is not as good as it could be. Although we only graduated from the University recently, as students we were not aware of the benefits Ally can offer. Now as Assistants within the Technology Enhanced Learning Team at Northumbria, we have begun promoting and marketing the benefits of Blackboard Ally to students across the University.
During the presentation, we will discuss specific marketing strategies and demonstrate some of the resources that we have developed, and we will also discuss our future challenges to promote further awareness.

Implementing Accessible Pedagogy - Dr Katie Grennell, Anthology.
As educators, implementing accessible education means building our classes on the principles of Universal Design for Learning, creating accessible learning content, and cultivating an accessible teaching and learning environment. While the thought of overhauling your content and approach may seem daunting at first, like most things, once you learn the basic principles, you can grow and learn from there.
This session will provide:

  *   an overview of the fundamentals of accessibility and disability as they pertain to the higher education classroom
  *   a discussion of four tips for implementing accessible pedagogy in the classroom

Take care

Matthew Deeprose
University of Southampton
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