Product News
July 29, 2026
Ally Product Pulse
# Accessibility
# Ally
August Edition
Katie Grennell, PhD.
Ally Product Pulse: August Edition🌻
Last month, I shared my goal of creating a "90s summer" for my kids. What I've learned is that a 90s summer is a lot less spontaneous when you're the adult making it happen. At least the planning has improved our frozen treat game. Maybe a true 90s summer is something to aspire to next year!
That same planning energy paid off at work. After months of preparation, Building Blackboard Together took place July 13–15, bringing together educators, accessibility advocates, administrators, and community members for three energizing days of learning, collaboration, and conversation. More than just an event, BbT was a true fill-your-cup experience, creating space to connect, reflect, and return to our work energized by the passion and commitment of the Blackboard community. From an Ally perspective, it was especially meaningful to showcase recent enhancements, share what's ahead, and connect with our community members whose insights continue to inspire and inform our work.
Inside this month's edition:
- Topic spotlight: Building Blackboard Together Recap
- New Engagement Series: Ally in Practice
- New Content
- Release Updates
- Upcoming Events
- Did you Know?
Topic Spotlight: Building Blackboard Together Recap
Building Blackboard Together was an energizing few days for the Ally community. Our roadmap session was standing-room only and generated strong enthusiasm for Ally’s future, with key themes including expanded Blackboard Document support, enhanced reporting, AI-powered accessibility workflows, improved Reader experiences, and greater visibility into course accessibility data. Watch for a dedicated roadmap blog post coming soon.
The Ally User Group meetup once again highlighted the strength of the Ally community, with members continuing to cite it as a valuable peer network and key differentiator. Special thanks to co-leader Paula Kaplan for helping create such a welcoming and inclusive experience. Accessibility sessions were well attended throughout the conference, and it was inspiring to see accessibility and inclusion recognized through this year’s Catalyst Awards (Congratulations again to Central Arizona College, Coppin State University, Gordon Institute of Business Science-University of Pretoria, and the University of Law!). And, of course, no BbT recap would be complete without mentioning the customer appreciation party. The live karaoke band revealed an impressive amount of musical talent among Blackboard employees and attendees. Between standout performances and even a bit of crowd surfing, it's safe to say we may have enough talent to start an official BbT house band!
New Enablement Series: Ally in Practice
We're excited to launch Ally in Practice, a new global enablement series led by yours truly. These one-hour sessions are tailored for specific audiences—either instructors and faculty or administrators—and focus on practical strategies, recommendations, and real-world examples that help institutions improve accessibility, leverage Ally more efficiently, and make meaningful progress toward their accessibility goals.
Save the Date! Join us on September 16th for the first session in the series, Ally in Practice: Prioritizing Accessibility Improvements for Instructors. Designed for instructors and faculty, this one-hour session will highlight practical ways to use Ally's instructor feedback and accessibility indicators to prioritize remediation efforts, discover quick wins, and make meaningful progress toward more accessible course content.
- Session Times: 10:00–11:00 AM ET or 2:00–3:00 PM ET
- Registration information coming soon!
New Content
- Ally for Instructors: Microlearning for Accessible Teaching Video Series : Two new videos are now available: one on PDF Accessibility Challenges for Instructors and Learners and the other on using the PDF Quick Fix to add a missing language. Stay tuned for additional videos covering the remaining PDF Quick Fixes, including PDF Auto-Tagging. Additionally, work is underway to launch an Administrator-focused video series, driven by feedback gathered from all of you!
- Help Shape the Communication & Adoption Toolkit: We're continuing to expand the Communication & Adoption Toolkit and would love your feedback on what would be most valuable to you and your instructors. Current resources in development include instructor tips and tricks, alternative format promotion resources, and back-to-school accessibility preparation guidance. What other resources, templates, or guidance would help drive Ally adoption and accessibility awareness on your campus? We'd love to hear your ideas and suggestions as we continue to grow the toolkit.
- July’s Ally Office Hours: for those that missed our most recent Ally Office Hours on July 20th, you can catch up on what we covered with the following content formats:
Release Updates
- New Usage Report: the new Usage Report is now available to Ally administrators, featuring a modernized UI with interactive data visualizations, expanded charting capabilities, and enhanced filtering, sorting, and drill-down functionality. Users can now analyze usage trends directly within Ally in addition to exporting data via CSV.
- PDF Auto-Tagging Quick Fix: PDF Auto-Tagging has graduated from the Early Adopter Program and is now available to all institutions! Ally’s latest quick fix a guided, instructor-initiated process that applies accessibility tags to untagged PDFs, reducing the need for manual tagging, access to the original source file, licensed PDF editing tools, and specialized accessibility expertise. The feature is off by default and can be enabled through Ally Configuration. The product and development team is continuing to explore enhancements to the PDF Auto-Tagging Quick Fix based on your direct feedback and ideas about what would help faculty the most in their workflows
Upcoming Events
- Ally Roadmap Session: Experiencing a little FOMO from missing the Ally roadmap session at BbT? Fear not! Join us on August 18 at 10:00 AM ET for a repeat of the session, complete with the latest timeline updates and insights into what's ahead. Whether you missed BbT or just want a refresher, we'd love to see you there. To register, visit https://connect.blackboard.com/blackboard-ally-roadmap.
- Ally Office Hours: Our next office hours are Monday, August 10th at 11:00am EST. Register at: Ally Office Hours Registration Link . Please submit questions in advance: Ally Office Hours-Submit your Question (form) .
- Join us for the next Ally User Group meeting! These sessions bring together the Ally community to share ideas, learn from one another, and explore accessibility successes and opportunities across institutions. We'd love for you to be part of the conversation. The next meeting is on Thursday, Thursday, July 30th at 10:00 am EST. To register, visit https://community.anthology.com/home/clubs/ally-user-group.
Did you Know?
Did you know that July was Disability Pride Month? It's a time to celebrate the disability community, recognize disability as a natural and valuable part of human diversity, and reflect on the contributions, experiences, and perspectives of disabled people.
As a disabled person myself, I find Disability Pride Month especially meaningful. It's an opportunity not only to raise awareness, but also to emphasize the humanity in disability. Too often, disability is viewed primarily through the lens of limitations, accommodations, or compliance requirements, when in reality it is simply one aspect of who we are and how we experience the world.
Disability Pride Month is important because it recognizes a community that has historically faced exclusion, barriers, and underrepresentation. It also helps shift the conversation away from seeing disability as a problem to be solved and toward understanding the role that societal and systemic barriers play in creating disability.
For those of us working in education, it serves as a valuable reminder that accessibility is about creating opportunities for everyone to participate, learn, and succeed.
Comments (0)
Popular
Dive in