WEBINAR IS ONLINE, SEPTEMBER 16, NOON TO 1 PM

Learn to make your course materials accessible in Blackboard.

During the SP2019 semester, Ally was deployed to courses using Ultra. Ally is available in all courses regardless of course interface starting in SU2019.

Learn about Ally, a new tool to help improve the accessibility of course content in Blackboard. Attend this orientation and demonstration session to see Ally’s powerful file conversion tools for alternative formats. Review the accessibility of your own course materials using the Ally indicator.

Workshop Objectives

Upon completion of the workshop, participants should be able to:

• Review accessibility guidelines.

• Create alternative, more accessible versions of course content.

• Review key barriers that hinder the accessibility of content.

• Apply changes to content based on recommendations from the Ally accessibility plan.

• Understand and interpret results based on recommended remediation approaches.

• Identify and utilize accessibility tools to create more accessible content.

For more information about Ally at UMBC, please see this announcement and the FAQ collection.

The education department, in collaboration with the Sherman Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities, is pleased to welcome Associate Professor, Jennifer Mata-McMahon, Ed.D. Dr. Mata-McMahon graduated from Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas, Venezuela with a BA in Early Childhood Education with emphasis in Educational Leadership and Administration. She received her MA, EdM, and EdD from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her graduate work was also in the field of Early Childhood Education with an emphasis in Bilingual/Bicultural Education. Since 1995, Dr. Mata-McMahon has been an infant, toddler, preschool, and kindergarten teacher, as well as taught in middle school, undergraduate and graduate levels, both in the US and abroad. Dr. Mata-McMahon has also offered ample professional development to teachers and professors in public and private settings, as well as conducted program evaluations for non-profit educational organizations in India, New York, and Illinois. She is the coauthor of Ambiente en Acción (Environment in Action) (2006), author of Spiritual Experiences in Early Childhood Education (2015), and coeditor of Spirituality: An Interdisciplinary View (2016), as well as the author and coauthor of several book chapters and journal articles. In addition to her professional responsibilities in the education department’s early childhood program, Dr. Mata-Mahon will conduct school-based research and provide professional development to early childhood educators through her joint-appointment with the Sherman Center (https://shermancenter.umbc.edu/).

Please join the Education Department in congratulating our very own Dr. Michele Stites, who recently received the Adaptation Award as a part of the Hrabowski Innovation Fund Competition.

• will be closing at 4:30 pm December 22, 2016 and will reopen Tuesday, January 3, 2017
• will not be able to process and send ILL requests for UMBC patrons from December 22 to January 3 as most of the libraries we borrow from will be closed as well
• If you request a book after December 11 you may not receive it until sometime in January
• plan accordingly (on average it takes about two weeks to get a book through ILL)
• will continue to accept your requests and send them out when we return
• wishes you a happy holiday and new year!