From Using Blackboard Ally to Shaping It: Three Journeys That Came Full Circle

# Accessibility

# Diversity and Inclusion

# LMS

# Teaching and Learning

# Digital Learning

Three Blackboard team members reflect on their journey with Blackboard Ally, from using it in their previous roles to helping shape it today, and how their perspective changed along the way.

Introduction

The Blackboard Ally team is bound by a passion for accessible learning. For many, this started on campus, in roles spanning LMS administration, instructional design, and teaching. We caught up with three of our awesome Ally team members—Eddie Randall, Dr Katie Grennell, and Victoria Sikora—to learn about their journey with accessibility, and how their experiences working at institutions shapes how they approach developing Ally today.

Eddie Randall: From LMS Administrator to Solutions Engineer

Before joining Blackboard as a senior solutions engineer, Eddie Randall managed Blackboard LMS at Columbia Southern University, supporting faculty, and keeping systems running smoothly. Through yearly Blackboard conferences, Columbia Southern was introduced to Blackboard Ally, becoming early adopters of both Ally for LMS and Ally for Web.

At the time, there was no easy way to get insight into what was happening across courses day to day. Reports in Ally helped bring that visibility, allowing Eddie to see where accessibility was working, where it wasn’t, and where effort would have the greatest impact.

At Columbia Southern, Eddie reports that progress mattered more than perfection. That mindset continues to shape how he talks about accessibility today, particularly as institutions work toward ADA Title II requirements. Every fix is a step in the right direction.

“If we were at 68% score and then we got to 70%, that was success. It wasn’t about chasing 100%. It was about getting better,”

From there, his focus shifted to alternative formats. Without any promotion, students were finding and using formats that worked better for them. “We were able to give students options and improve their learning experience, so they didn’t need specific software like Microsoft on their devices. That’s when we started seeing downloads everywhere.”

Today, having worked directly with faculty in his time on campus, Eddie recognizes the importance of improving the instructor experience, particularly with new features like Quick Fixes within the LMS. “It’s not cheap to have a full license for Acrobat Pro,” he says, “and those tools aren’t always the easiest to use. The more we can help people fix things directly where they are, the less effort it takes to keep moving forward.”

Dr Katie Grennell: From Instructor to Product Engagement Manager

Dr Katie Grennell is a product engagement manager at Blackboard, working closely with institutions to support accessibility in teaching and learning. But her journey with Ally started when she was working as an adjunct professor of history at Buffalo State College.

Katie noticed early on the guidance that Ally provides to instructors. I kept improving things as I went, and seeing the accessibility score change was motivating. Ally helped me think about accessibility as I build, not afterwards.” If she had her time over again, Katie would have leveraged the course accessibility report earlier in her process to prioritize the most important tasks.

“It didn’t just point out the problem, It told me why it mattered.”

Over time, she also began to see more value in alternative formats for both student and herself: “I had about an hour commute. So I’d download readings as audio and listen on the way. It helped me process the material and come into class with better ideas and questions.”

Today, working at Blackboard, Katie’s view on what matters most remains the same as when she was an instructor. “There’s nothing better than seeing a student have an ‘aha’ moment,” she shared. “That’s why I went into teaching. If students can’t access the content, that moment doesn’t happen.”

Victoria Sikora: From Course Design to Designing at Scale

Victoria Sikora is a senior instructional designer at Blackboard, working with institutions to design and build courses. Previously, at Eastern Kentucky University, she focused on building courses within Blackboard LMS, and she now applies this expertise to help institutions develop their programs across all the LMS platforms that integrate with Ally.

“At Eastern Kentucky, I knew what to look for,” Victoria said. “But reviewing a course manually: opening files, checking images, going through PDFs, takes a lot of time. "

“From day one with Ally, I thought, this is the most amazing tool I’ve ever used. I could see what needed fixing straight away.”

She used the Ally dashboard to review all the institution’s courses, prioritize what mattered, and repeat that process each term as content was updated. “It just made everything so much faster,” she said. That consistency became even more important as teaching moved online during Covid-19.

Looking back, Victoria would have made greater use of institutional reporting: “Many accessibility challenges aren’t isolated, they’re patterns. With reporting across the institution, you can spot those patterns. Fix something once, and you can fix it across hundreds of courses.”

That insight influences how she approaches accessibility today. It takes the focus away from fixing things one by one and from expecting every instructor to be an expert. “If you give people the right tools, they can make meaningful improvements.”

And when it’s done well, the impact goes beyond any specific group. “It’s not just for a few students,” she said. “It’s for everyone.”

Conclusion

Eddie, Katie, and Victoria’s examples provide a snapshot of accessibility processes happening at thousands of institutions every day. Whether you’re an administrator, an instructor, or an instructional designer, the outcome of proactive remediation is the same: it opens the door for every student to engage, learn, and have that “aha” moment that Katie speaks about, the one every educator is working towards.

See how Ally can support your accessibility goals.

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