Trinity College Dublin Inclusive Curriculum Project – Trinity-INC

What is Blackboard Ally?

Blackboard Ally is a tool that complements the main Blackboard VLE. With Blackboard Ally, students can download learning material in various formats such as Braille, HTML and audio. This can be a great help to students with accessibility requirements and others who would benefit from having the material presented in different ways – such as commuting students or busy student parents who may like to listen to articles or lectures on audio, for example. Ally does the conversion work automatically. All that is needed are the learning materials – in Word, PowerPoint or PDF – to be accessible. Blackboard Ally also shows staff how accessible their material is and what they can do to improve.

Benefits for Staff

• Ally creates accessible formats effortlessly, allowing you to easily cater to your different students’ learning and accessibility needs.
• Ally helps you make your document accessible from the beginning, helping you save time in the long run.
• Creating accessible documents means that your teaching will be more inclusive.
• You will be complying with Trinity’s Accessible Information Policy.

Benefits for Students

• Ally allows students to download course material in different formats to suit their learning and accessibility needs.
• Students facing a long commute can download a lecture in audio version to listen to during the trip.
• Students with limited access to technology can download an article in EPUB to read on their phone or tablet
• Students who require a screen reader can download the material in HTML and avoid having to approach their lecturer for other formats.

Blackboard and Ally Training for Staff

Why Do this Training?

These quick, bite-sized sessions will teach you all you need to know in order to make your documents easy to use for all students, regardless of their learning backgrounds, preferences or abilities. You will come away with tips and tools that are quick and easy to implement. You’ll also be complying with Trinity’s Accessible Information Policy and doing your part to make Trinity a more inclusive learning environment.

Want to learn more about Ally and the impact that it can have on your teaching? Disability Services, in conjunction with the Trinity Inclusive Curriculum Project, will be running workshops on Blackboard Ally and document accessibility.

• ALLY AND MS WORD ON YOUTUBE

• ALLY FOR STAFF ON YOUTUBE

• ALLY FOR STUDENTS ON YOUTUBE

• MAKING YOUR BLACKBOARD MODULE CLEARER FOR STUDENTS ON YOUTUBE 

#InclusiveTrinity Festival 2022

The #InclusiveTrinity Festival 2022 showcased a snapshot of the #InclusiveTrinity initiatives and activities happening across Trinity. The Festival was a reminder that Trinity's campuses are open to everyone and for everyone to enjoy. Check out these and many more event recordings on our YouTube:

• Let's Talk about Race and Ethnicity - #Inclusive Trinity Festival 2022

• Trans Ally in the Classroom - #Inclusive Trinity Festival 2022

Trinity-INC Food For Thought Lunchtime Seminar Series

The Trinity-INC Food for Thought Lunchtime Seminar Series showcases in-dept discussions around different aspects of inclusion and accessibility by leading experts, while also focusing on what students have to say about these issues. Check out the Lunchtime Seminars below on our YouTube plus many more.

• Trinity-INC Lunchtime Seminar: Intersectionality in Higher Education with Dr Phil Mullen & Aliyah Sy

• Trinity-INC Lunchtime Seminar: Queer Inclusion - In Higher Education, Healthcare, and Beyond.

This Professional Learning Module is targeted to the needs of academic staff and all those who support teaching and learning at Trinity. The Module is grounded in the principles of Universal Design for Learning ('UDL'). These principles are explored and used as a point of entry to identify wider strategies for enhancing inclusive practice in teaching and learning. The Module is not intended to provide 'one' way of doing inclusion in your own teaching context. It suggests that inclusive practice is adaptive, iterative, and highly contextual. We hope the module offers you a space to reflect on your own teaching and consider new or enhanced teaching elements that can be easily adapted for use in your own practice.

The Module is partially self-directed, supported through peer engagement. Live webinars led by members of the Trinity-INC Team and supported by experts in this field, are held at the beginning, middle and end of the Module and are intended to enable you to come together in a community of practice in live time to share practices and experiences from your own contexts. While there is added value in attend the webinars, they will be recorded for those unable to attend. The Module is inherently flexible in order to help you manage its commitments around your other life and professional commitments. A final 'light touch' assignment involves a short reflection upon your learning and one change you will make to your teaching practice.

The Module is tailored to the Trinity context, modelled on the National Forum for Teaching and Learning, AHEAD and UCD Digital Badge in Universal Design for Learning. Those who complete the module are eligible to claim the Digital Badge.

What does it involve?

The module involves no more than 20 hours in total, with most weeks of the module requiring two hours engagement at the most.

When is it running?

The next roll out will commence in February 2023. Contact [email protected] to be added to the mailing list for enrolment.

For whom is the Module relevant?

The Module is open to all who teach or support teaching and learning in Trinity. The only criteria are access to Trinity Blackboard. e.g.

• Academic staff
• Teaching Fellows
• TAs
• PhD Researchers who teach
• Anyone engaged in teaching or supporting teaching and learning at Trinity

For queries, please contact Dr Derina Johnson, Trinity-INC Project Manager, on [email protected]