Product News
September 30, 2026
Ally Product Pulse
# Ally
# Accessibility
October 2026 Edition
Katie Grennell, PhD.
Ally Product Pulse: October 2026 Edition 🎃
Welcome to our October edition, which is extra special because the Ally Product Pulse is officially one year old. That's right: for 12 months we've been bringing you product news, updates, and insights. No need to make Fetch happen, just a year of keeping you in the know. Thank you for reading, engaging with, and sharing each month's Pulse. And we've got plenty of treats in store, from our next Ally in Practice session to Fix Your Content Day and the Digital Teaching Symposium.
Inside this month's issue:
- Topic spotlight: Ally in Practice Inaugural Session & Fix Your Content Day
- New Content
- Upcoming Events
- Did you Know?
Topic Spotlight: Ally in Practice Inaugural Session
This month's spotlight is our inaugural Ally in Practice session. Thank you to everyone who joined us on September 16th! We explored how Ally can serve as a guide on the side, helping instructors build a strategy for prioritizing their accessibility work. The key message: you don't have to fix everything at once. Ally's feedback, indicators, and Course Accessibility Report help instructors decide where to start, identify quick wins, and build momentum over time.
Join us on October 20th for our next Ally in Practice session, An Administrator's Guide to Institutional Reporting and Remediation Prioritization. We'll explore how administrators can use Ally reporting to identify trends, prioritize remediation efforts, and make strategic decisions that drive accessibility improvements at scale. Details and registration information can be found in the Upcoming Events section.
Ally in Practice is a community-driven series, and we'd love your input as we plan future sessions. If there's a topic you'd like us to explore, share your ideas through the Help Shape Future Ally in Practice Sessions form.
Fix Your Content Day 2026
No tricks, just fixes! Registration is now open for this year’s annual Fix Your Content Day, taking place on Tuesday, November 10th.
Fix Your Content Day is back for its seventh year! For 24 hours, institutions around the world go head-to-head to make their digital course content more accessible with Blackboard Ally. Instructors and staff race to fix as many issues as they can, from adding alternative text to images to repairing untagged PDFs. Every fix moves your institution up the live global leaderboard and makes learning more inclusive for students. Whether you're joining for the first time or returning for another year, we hope you'll be part of our best Fix Your Content Day yet.
Taking part is simple: register your institution, rally your instructors and staff, and fix as many content items as you can using Ally during the 24-hour window. We're also expanding this year's resource packet, so stay tuned for more ways to spread the word.
To register your institution, visit the Blackboard Ally Fix your Content Day 2026 Registration Page .
New Content
- Ally Release Notes : our commitment to improving Ally doesn't stop at major releases. Check out the latest release notes to see the enhancements, refinements, and bug fixes that continue to improve the experience for all users.
- Communication & Adoption Toolkit: we are currently expanding the toolkit to include more guidance and resources for instructors, such as promoting the Alternative formats and an entire section called instructor tips and tricks. Our first additional resource is now live in the toolkit: Promoting Alternative Formats to Students . Stay tuned for more!
- Although technically it is not new content, it is timely! With the updated ADA Title II deadline coming next April for institutions with populations of 50,000 or more, now is a great time to check in on your institution's accessibility strategy. Our Title II Strategy Guide & Playbook explains what the rule means for course materials in the LMS and walks through a four-phase framework: Learn, Plan, Act, and Sustain. Each phase includes practical guidance, examples, and best practices from institutions already doing this work. Wherever you are in the process, the guide can help you build accessibility practices that last well beyond the deadline. Download the Title II Strategy Guide & Playbook .
Upcoming Events
- Ally in Practice: An Administrator's Guide to Institutional Reporting and Remediation Prioritization
- Date: October 20th
- Time: 10:00-11:00 AM ET or 2:00-3:00 PM ET
- Ally Office Hours: Our next office hours will be held on Monday, October 20th at 11:00am EST. Register at: Ally Office Hours Registration Link . Please submit your questions in advance so we can come prepared: Ally Office Hours-Submit your Question (form) .
- Digital Teaching Symposium: Join educators from around the world on Thursday, November 19, for the tenth annual Digital Teaching Symposium, a free virtual event for higher education faculty. This year's theme, Reach, Teach & Demonstrate, explores how to reach every learner, teach well in a changing world, and show the impact of that work. Expect peer-led sessions on engaging, inclusive, and accessible learning, plus fresh takes on course design, assessment, and AI. Sessions run in English and Spanish across major time zones. Visit the Digital Teaching Symposium 2026 Registration Page to sign up!
Did you Know?
Did you know a biopic is being made about one of the fiercest disability rights advocates of our time?! Being Heumann, based on the memoir of Judy Heumann, tells the story of the historic 28-day occupation of San Francisco's Federal Building, where Heymann and fellow activists fought for the implementation of Section 504 regulations and greater civil rights protections for people with disabilities. After premiering as the opening night film at the Toronto International Film Festival, Being Heumann arrives in theaters in November and streams on Apple TV shortly after. It's already generating significant excitement within the disability community and is sure to introduce a new audience to Heumann's remarkable legacy. If you don't have Apple TV, I can't actually share my login, but I hope you'll find a way to watch it!
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