Universities Around the World Compete to Improve Accessibility using Anthology Ally

Anthology’s Annual Global Fix Your Content Day is May 18.

Anthology, a leading provider of education solutions that support the entire learner lifecycle, today announced its fourth annual Fix Your Content Day to highlight the need for more inclusive digital learning content. Anthology is inviting higher education institutions that use Anthology Ally to participate. 

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The objective of Fix Your Content Day is to engage colleges and universities globally to make meaningful change in the lives of all students and create more inclusive learning environments. By participating in the competition, higher ed institutions and instructors are doing their part to improve the accessibility of course materials and demonstrate their commitment to inclusivity. 

“We look forward to participating in the 24-hour global competition each year, which challenges us to continue our journey in creating more inclusive digital learning content,” said Coastal Pines Technical College Executive Vice President, Amanda Morris, the 2022 First Place Fix Your Content Day Global Winner. “While Fix Your Content Day is only once a year, our college and the Technical College System of Georgia collectively strives to improve the accessibility of course materials and serve as a champion for accessibility every day. Additionally, we enjoy the friendly competition with other colleges and encourage our faculty and staff to get involved. The challenge is a fun way to review our course content for quality and accessibility.”

More than 1,500 institutions around the world use Anthology Ally to enhance digital content on their learning management systems (LMS). The result is better learning outcomes for students by improving the usability, readability, and quality of the digital materials in their courses.

“An estimated one billion people across the globe experience some sort of physical, visual, hearing, or cognitive disability. Employing solutions to create more accessible learning environments is imperative,” said Anthology Chairman and CEO Jim Milton. “However, making content more accessible and providing alternative formats isn’t just for a select group of students. Alternative formats generated by solutions like Anthology Ally provide greater opportunities for everyone to access the information they need in the way they want it. We are thrilled to see the enthusiasm of institutions and faculty participating in this global effort.”

Anthology Ally empowers learners with the flexibility of choosing the most effective way to interact with digital content. By dynamically enhancing learning materials for student preferences and needs, it automatically provides alternative formats for course content, like audio files, translations, PDFs better formatted for mobile devices and more, all without manual intervention from the institution or instructor.

“While we’ve been actively supporting faculty and staff in centering inclusivity in their online courses for years, this will be our first year participating in Fix Your Content Day,” said Dr. Hannah Digges Elliott, Senior Instructional Designer at Western Kentucky University. “We’re excited about the opportunity to encourage a little competition among our faculty and staff and ultimately continue to highlight the importance of more accessible content.”

“We’re thrilled to be a part of such a global initiative that unites the higher education community around a friendly competition and highlights the critical need for accessible, inclusive, and equitable online learning environments,” said Dr. Chris Campbell, Sub Dean of Learning Technology at Charles Sturt University in Australia.

“Fix Your Content Day highlights the importance of building equitable learning experiences,” said Dr. Margaret Korosec, Dean of Online and Digital Education at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. “It’s also a reminder to reflect on how learning experiences are received by students and how choice of access supports their requirements. Equitable access starts with our own awareness of what’s possible and working to push the boundaries of what can be done in an accessible way.”

To participate in the 2023 Fix Your Content Day challenge, register your institution here: https://www.anthology.com/fix-your-content-day.