We’re once again pleased to join Fix Your Content Day 2026, a 24-hour global event on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, aimed at creating a more inclusive learning environment for all students. This is a brilliant initiative which encourages staff to improve the accessibility of digital course content using Blackboard Ally, helping make NILE more inclusive, one fix at a time. In 2025, institutions around the world made more than 150,000 accessibility improvements during the event, demonstrating how small changes can have a significant impact on learners.
How do I get involved?
If you’d like to take part, simply email your Learning Technologist with the code of your NILE module.
On the morning of 10 November, email us a screenshot of your current Ally Accessibility Score, then spend some time improving the accessibility of your module content. By 8pm, submit another screenshot showing your updated Ally score and you will have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve helped create a more accessible learning experience for your students.
Not sure where to start? A good first step is to review your Ally report and focus on the issues highlighted as having the greatest impact on accessibility. This year, you may also wish to explore Ally’s newer image accessibility features, including AI-assisted alt text suggestions and improved support for images contained within PDF documents. These tools can help you create meaningful image descriptions more efficiently while remaining in complete control of the final content.
Need Support?
If you’d like help reviewing your Ally report, improving the accessibility of your NILE content, or exploring Ally’s image accessibility features, please contact your Learning Technologist. We’re always happy to help.
We hope you’ll join us on 10 November and help make NILE more accessible, one fix at a time.
Choosing the right tool in NILE can sometimes feel overwhelming. With a wide range of options available, it’s not always obvious which activity to use when thinking about student engagement.
To support academic tutors with this decision‑making, Richard Byles and Kelly Lea, Learning Technologists at the University of Northampton, co-delivered a series of workshops called Enhancing and Measuring Student Engagement through NILE Tools which ran between November 2025 and May 2026. As part of this, Richard created a table of digital engagement tools that helped staff compare and evaluate tools for engagement based on pedagogic purpose, rather than guesswork.
The NILE engagement activities table brought together commonly used engagement activities, like polls, journals, Padlet activities, quizzes and discussions, and set them out alongside considerations such as:
what the activity is designed to achieve
how it supports learning and engagement
accessibility considerations for diverse learners
potential risks around inappropriate use of AI
time commitment for both students and staff
how tutors might respond when engagement is low
So, rather than trying to work out what the ‘best’ tool was, tutors were able to make more informed decisions based on questions such as:
What kind of engagement am I trying to encourage here?
Is this activity inclusive and realistic for my students?
How will I know whether it has been effective?
The resource is intended to be used flexibly, whether you are planning a new module, rethinking an existing activity, or simply exploring alternatives to familiar approaches within NILE.
By focusing on pedagogy, accessibility, and student experience, the activity table can support a more purposeful use of the wealth of NILE tool available to foster meaningful engagement, rather than engagement for its own sake.
Below is a link to the resource, which you are welcome to use and if you need help, you can contact your Learning Technologist to schedule any training you need.
Senior Lecturer in Business Management, Deborah Gardner, has introduced an innovative approach to student engagement in her Principles of Management module by creating an AI persona called Business Bot. This Level 4 AI character is designed to spark meaningful dialogue and deepen understanding of core management concepts.
What is Business Bot?
Business Bot is powered by the AI Conversation tool within the AI Design Assistant in Blackboard. It initiates conversations with students by posing thought-provoking questions such as:
“What are some of the main responsibilities of managers?”
From there, the discussion evolves dynamically, encouraging learners to explore ideas beyond surface-level answers. Unlike a quiz or a test, this is a digital conversation that challenges students to think critically and articulate their reasoning.
Why is this approach effective?
The AI conversation tool allows questions to develop naturally, testing students’ ability to engage in intelligent discourse. It promotes active participation and reflection, helping learners apply management theories to real-world scenarios.
Deborah explains:
“It’s not about right or wrong answers – it’s about encouraging students to think deeply and engage with concepts in a way that feels interactive and relevant.”
Student Feedback
The response from students has been overwhelmingly positive. Here are some highlights:
“The conversation really made me think more deeply about the balance managers face when making decisions that not all staff agree with.”
“It questioned my answer and made me think deeper as to why I thought what I did.”
“Listening to different viewpoints helped me analyse management theories from multiple perspectives and understand their practical relevance.”
“It enabled me to have a free conversation about navigating conflicts within the workplace and improved my critical thinking.”
Students also noted that the tool encouraged them to consider emotional intelligence, motivational strategies, and the complexities of managerial decision-making.
Expanding the Idea Across the Course
Deborah has now extended the use of Business Bot into her Level 6 module, Business Futures, where students explore Social Capital. For this advanced level, she has increased the complexity of the bot’s responses to encourage deeper critical thinking. The aim is to create continuity across the course so that Business Bot becomes a “course companion”—a familiar presence that supports learning in multiple modules.
Examples from Level 6 Student Work
Here are some examples of how Level 6 students engaged with Business Bot in the Business Futures module. These illustrate how the tool supports advanced critical thinking and application of concepts like Social Capital:
Students explored the role of Social Capital in shaping organisational resilience and innovation, providing detailed case-based arguments.
Feedback highlighted that the AI prompts encouraged deeper questioning and synthesis of multiple theoretical perspectives.
The screenshot below is of a Business Bot conversation where the AI guides a student through what Social Capital means, using probing follow‑up questions about trust, shared values, and the risks of fragile alliances. The exchange highlights how the tool pushes learners toward deeper, more analytical thinking.
Customising the AI Persona
One of the most powerful features of the AI Conversation tool is the ability to set the personality of the bot. Deborah shares her approach:
For Level 4 students, she used the “Testing” personality to check understanding and prompt reflection.
For Level 6 students, she switched to “Critical” to encourage analysis and evaluation.
This flexibility allows educators to tailor the AI experience to the learning outcomes of each module.
Want to Try This in Your Module?
Here’s how to get started:
Access your module site.
Navigate to Create in the Content area.
Select AI Conversation and create a persona or topic-based conversation.
Add your initial question and configure follow-up prompts.
Publish the activity and encourage students to engage.
Tip: Start with open-ended questions to promote deeper thinking.
If you’d like support in exploring how this tool can enhance your students’ learning, contact your Learning Technologist to schedule a meeting.
At the University of Northampton, we’re once again pleased to join Anthology’s Fix Your Content Day – a 24-hour global event on Tuesday, November 18th, 2025 – aimed at creating more inclusive learning environment for all students. This is a brilliant initiative which encourages staff to improve the accessibility of digital course content using Blackboard Ally, which helps make NILE more inclusive, one fix at a time.
How do I get involved?
If you’d like to take part, simply email your Learning Technologist or the Learning Technology main email with the code of your NILE module. On the morning of November 18, email them a screenshot of your current Ally Accessibility score, then spend the day making improvements to your module content. By 8 PM, submit another screenshot of your final Ally score and you might just get a special mention in Unify, along with the satisfaction of knowing you’ve created a more accessible learning environment for your students.
Use this guide to find your Module-Level Ally score and identify areas for improvement.
Use Blackboard Ally to assess the accessibility of your materials. Ally provides feedback and suggests improvements, helping you prioritise changes that will have the greatest impact.
Review Your Documents: Ensure that your PDFs, Word documents, and presentations use clear headings and tags that can be easily navigated by screen readers.
Add Alt Text to Images: Include descriptive alt text for any images in your materials. This ensures that students using screen readers can engage with the visual content.
Check your Captions: Accurate captions support not just students with hearing impairments, but also those studying in noisy environments or those who are non-native English speakers.
Need Help? Join Our Drop-In Session
To support you throughout the day, we’re also offering a face-to-face drop-in session between 10-4 in the drop-in zone next to the student union office in the Learning Hub. You can get help interpreting your Ally report, ask questions about accessibility improvements and make fixes with guidance from a friendly neighbourhood Learning Technologist
We hope you’ll join us on Tuesday, November 18 and make NILE more accessible. However, even if you can’t engage on the day, consider trying something new this semester – whether that’s adding clearer captions, using shorter filenames, or creating an Ultra document. Even small improvements can significantly transform the learning experience for all students.
Blackboard’s AI design assistant, launched last December, has quickly proven to be a helpful tool for developing content within NILE courses. Our early data shows that while most users create tests independently, the AI design assistant is especially popular for test and quiz creation. Senior Lecturer in Nursing, Julie Holloway, shares her positive experience using AI to support her pharmacology students in a prescribing program.
“We are using AI to help generate new exam questions, particularly in relation to pharmacology content,” Julie explains. Due to the parameters of professional regulation within independent prescribing, she’s unable to provide students with past exam papers for their revision. Instead, AI has allowed her to create supplemental revision questions directly linked to each pharmacology lecture, providing students with valuable practice material aligned with their coursework.
One notable feature in the AI design assistant enables users to select existing course materials for the AI to draw from when generating content. Julie has leveraged this by selecting specific pharmacology materials, allowing her to create questions that closely reflect the lectures and give students an efficient tool for self-assessment. “The process was easier than I originally thought,” she adds.
As well as helping with efficiency, Julie also noted the AI’s capacity to inspire new ways of phrasing questions. “Exam questions can become repetitive,” she says, and the AI’s suggestions help with this and enhance the student experience by supplementing their revision.
In thinking about the limitations of using AI to create test questions, Julie points out that the AI occasionally generates questions that aren’t entirely relevant. However, she highlights, “I think this will improve as we get more experienced with working with AI and search terms, etc.”
Would she recommend this approach to other educators? “Absolutely,” she says, encouraging colleagues to explore the tool themselves. “Just give it a try—it’s not as scary as you think!”
Breaking Boundaries: Engaging Students with Clear and Structured Course Design
This summer, Kiran Kaur, a lecturer in the Faculty of Business and Law, was recognised with a NILE Ultra Course Award for her exceptional work on BUS2900: Research, Trends, and Professional Directions, which she developed during the 2023-24 academic year. The NILE Ultra Awards celebrate excellence in course design, recognising modules that demonstrate high standards of structure, accessibility, and student engagement.
Kiran’s success with the 2023-24 module laid the foundation for her work this year when she took on a new module at short notice. She applied the same principles she used in her award-winning course—prioritising structure, clarity, and accessibility—and incorporated innovative tools like Padlet and emojis. These changes have had a powerful impact on student engagement, with the students in this new 2024-25 module providing glowing feedback. One student even described it as “the best module ever on NILE,” noting how easy it was to navigate and access resources.
Innovative Use of Emojis and Padlet for Engagement
A standout feature of Kiran’s teaching approach is her creative use of emojis to enhance course content. “I used emojis to help break up the text and make the material feel a little more fun and approachable for students. It’s a simple touch, but it got great feedback,” Kiran explained. This added a layer of visual clarity that students enjoyed.
In addition, Kiran made extensive use of Padlet, a collaborative tool that students used throughout the module to share ideas and engage with each other. “Padlet really worked to get students engaging with each other. It’s not just a tool for posting comments; it’s a space where students can collaborate in real-time, share their thoughts, and build a sense of belonging,” Kiran noted. Padlet’s role in the module went beyond traditional discussion boards, encouraging real-time collaboration and making students feel more connected despite being in an online environment. This interactivity was a key factor in building student engagement.
Sharing Best Practice and Building Consistency
Kiran plans to share her approach at an upcoming subject staff development day. She is eager to promote consistency across her programme, ensuring that students enjoy a seamless and cohesive learning experience throughout their three years of study. “It’s about fostering a culture where we share what’s working well, so that students benefit across the board,” Kiran explained.
Reflecting on her own experience, she encourages her colleagues to consider nominating themselves or each other for future NILE Ultra Course Awards. She credits her own nomination to a colleague’s encouragement and is now keen to inspire others to recognise the impact of their own teaching practices. “I wouldn’t have even thought to put myself forward if a colleague hadn’t mentioned the award. Now, I want to help others see the value in recognising their own achievements,” Kiran added.
Looking Forward
Kiran continues to apply her proven strategies to her new modules, maintaining her commitment to clear, structured design and student engagement. Her success demonstrates how thoughtful course development, and the use of innovative digital tools can greatly enhance the student experience. “For me, it’s about making sure that the students have the best possible experience. If they’re engaged and able to access the materials easily, they’ll get more out of the course,” she said.
Kiran’s story serves as an inspiration to her colleagues at the University of Northampton, illustrating how collaboration, innovation, and sharing best practices can lead to great results. Congratulations again to Kiran Kaur for her NILE Ultra Course Award, and we look forward to seeing her continued success!
NILE Ultra Course Awards 2025
Keep an eye out in the new year for the 2025 Ultra Courses Awards.
At the University of Northampton, we are committed to fostering an inclusive learning environment. That’s why we’ve introduced the AI-powered tool in Blackboard Ultra that automatically generates alternative text (alt text) for images. This feature offers instructors the support they need to generate meaningful alternative text (alt text) for images quickly and efficiently.
The Challenge of Creating Alt Text
Writing descriptive and meaningful alt text isn’t always straightforward. Many times, instructors need a bit of inspiration to find the right words. Enter Ally’s AI Alt Text Assistant—a tool designed to take the guesswork out of writing alt text by automatically generating suggestions. This not only saves time but also enhances the accessibility of learning materials for visually impaired students.
How Does the AI Alt Text Assistant Work?
Integrated directly into the Ally Instructor Feedback interface, the AI tool empowers instructors to address images without alt text more efficiently:
Auto-Generate Description Button: When an image lacks a description, instructors can simply click the “Auto-Generate Description” button. The AI Alt Text Assistant will provide a concise and accurate suggestion based on the image’s content.
Instructor Review and Control: Importantly, the AI does not automatically apply these suggestions. Each description requires instructor review, ensuring that the final text aligns with the course content and the image’s educational purpose. You can easily edit, refine, or remove the suggestions to suit your needs.
This combination of automation and instructor control guarantees that the alt text meets both accessibility standards and the specific context of your course materials.
Key Features and Benefits
Time-Saving Automation: With just one click, you can generate accurate alt text suggestions, saving time while ensuring your materials are accessible.
Instructor-Centred: The AI Alt Text Assistant empowers instructors by providing helpful suggestions, but leaves the final decision in your hands, giving you full control over the descriptions.
Seamless Integration: This feature works within the existing Ally Instructor Feedback workflow, making it easy to fix accessibility issues as you work through your content.
Why Is This Important?
Creating accessible content isn’t just about meeting legal standards—it’s about ensuring that every student can engage with your materials. By incorporating alt text for images, you’re helping students who use screen readers to fully participate in the learning experience. Ally’s AI tool simplifies this process, helping you make your course content more inclusive with minimal effort.
Start Using the AI Alt Text Assistant Today
The new AI Alt Text Assistant is available now in Blackboard Ultra. Whether you’re updating old materials or creating new ones, this tool will help you maintain accessibility standards while saving valuable time.
For more information or guidance on using this new feature, check out our Ally guidance and get in touch with your Learning Technologist if you have any questions.
By leveraging this tool, you contribute to making learning at the University of Northampton a more inclusive experience for all.
Building on last month’s new layout options within an Ultra document, instructors will now be able to add multiple choice and multiple answer questions directly to a document and include automated feedback for students.
Students receive immediate feedback on whether their answer is correct and can submit an unlimited number of attempts.
Instructors can keep an eye on student participation via detailed metrics, including:
Number of students participating
Total number of attempts
Average number of attempts to reach the correct answer
Maximum number of attempts to reach the correct answer
Level of difficulty metric
Percentage of students selecting each answer option
Location of Knowledge check option within an Ultra documentStudent view of Knowledge CheckInstructor view of the knowledge check results
There have been design changes to elements, colours, and layout of the course contents page. Most notably, the details and actions menu can now be found on the right hand side when viewing with a large screen.
A new indicator has been added that appears next to the gradebook heading in the course menu when there are new submissions available to grade. An overview page will now show a summary of those items which need grading or are yet to be posted.
The gradebook indicator in the course menu will show a figure up to 99. When 100 submissions or more are reached, it will display 99+The Overview page has two sections; one for submissions that have not been graded and another for grades that have not been posted.
Student activity has been upgraded to report on various interactions in great detail. Instructors will be able to view student actions within the course over the past 140 days. Any information older than that won’t be stored. The log can take up to 20 minutes to update from the last time a student performs an action.
The student activity log can be filtered by date and event type and shows each item which has been accessed.
Please get in touch with your learning technologist if you would like any more information or support using the new features available in this month’s upgrade: Who is my learningtechnologist?
We are delighted to announce the new V7 video player across all Kaltura content within NILE and on the MyMedia platform. This update introduces a variety of new features designed to enhance both teaching and learning experiences.
What’s New with the V7 Player on NILE? The V7 player offers several improvements over the previous version, making it easier and more effective to use video content within your courses on NILE:
Interactive Searchable Transcript: One of the most significant new features is the interactive searchable transcript. This allows students to quickly search for specific keywords within the transcript and jump directly to that point in the video. This functionality makes it much easier for students to locate and review specific content, thereby enhancing their learning experience.
Downloadable Transcripts: In addition to being searchable, the transcripts are also downloadable. This feature supports our commitment to being an accessible university, as it enables students to keep a copy of the transcript for offline review or study. This is particularly beneficial for students who may need to access content in different ways, supporting diverse learning needs.
Improved User Experience The new V7 video player introduces a range of enhancements, including the exciting Pop-Out Player feature. This allows users to detach the video into a resizable, floating window, perfect for multitasking. Whether you’re taking notes or browsing other NILE content, the pop-out player ensures you remain engaged with the video without interruption.
Streamlined Interface The player’s sleek, modern design makes navigation intuitive. Key functions like playback speed, volume control, and full-screen mode are easily accessible, enhancing the overall user experience.
Faster Load Times and Improved Playback: The V7 player is optimised for faster load times and smoother playback, ensuring that your video content plays seamlessly across all devices, whether students are accessing it from a desktop, tablet, or smartphone.
Enhanced Accessibility: With built-in support for closed captions, subtitles, and transcripts, the V7 player is designed to be fully accessible. It complies with web accessibility standards, making your video content more inclusive for all students, including those with visual or hearing impairments.
What This Means for You Simply continue to use NILE as you normally would, and you’ll see the new V7 player in action. We’ll update our guides but I’d encourage you to jump in and explore the new capabilities, particularly the interactive and downloadable transcript, which can significantly improve the way students interact with your video content.
We believe these enhancements will be a valuable addition to your teaching toolkit, making video content more accessible, engaging, and effective for your students. If you need any support, don’t hesitate to contact your Learning Technologist and we’ll be happy to help.
With the exception of the enhanced Ultra document design option, which will be added on the 12th of August, the new features in Blackboard’s August upgrade will be available from Friday 9th August. This month’s upgrade includes the following new/improved features to Ultra courses:
Enhanced Ultra document design and Word/PDF/PowerPoint to Ultra document conversion option
The August upgrade includes two significant improvements to Ultra documents. The first improvement is the ability to create advanced multi-column layouts. By using multiple content blocks and making use of columns, staff can create documents with different layouts. When students view pages with multi-column layouts on a mobile device, the pages will respond by re-flowing the content into a single column so that the content remains viewable.
• Blackboard Ultra document with advanced layout (laptop/desktop view)• Blackboard Ultra document with advanced layout (mobile view)
The second improvement to Ultra documents is a new option to convert Word, PDF, and PowerPoint files to Ultra documents. Documents can still be uploaded and kept in their original formats, and Word, PDF, and PowerPoint documents can still be displayed inline in the browser, but, where possible, converting them to Ultra documents is preferable as it allows them to be more easily viewed on mobile devices.
• Original Word file (left), and as aconverted Ultra document (right)
More information about creating Ultra documents and converting Word, PDF, and PowerPoint files to Ultra documents is available from: Blackboard Help – Create Documents
Improvements to AI Design Assistant image generation
After the August upgrade, the AI image generation process will use DALL-E 3 rather than DALL-E 2. This change will allow staff to generate higher quality, higher resolution images in the following places:
August’s upgrade will allow staff to create more complex release conditions, based on date, time, and grade range performance criteria. Additionally, the new release conditions options will allow staff to use multiple rules, and to create different sets of rules for specific individual learners, groups, or for all members.
Prior to the August upgrade, when setting up a Blackboard assignment there were a number of options available that were relevant for Blackboard tests, but not for assignments. After the August upgrade, when setting up a new Blackboard assignment, staff will notice the following improvements:
A new instructions box where staff can use the content editor to write assignment instructions.
There are no longer options to add questions to an assignment, as these are only relevant for Blackboard tests.
The assignment settings panel now includes only options relevant to assignments.
Blank attempts are no longer created when students view assignment instructions. The system only creates an attempt when students add content to the file drop zone / content editor. However, group and timed assessments will continue to create attempts when students view the instructions.
• Staff view of a Blackboard assignment
Additionally, the student experience of using Blackboard assignments has been improved, and it is now much more straightforward for students to upload their files by dragging and dropping a file into the file drop zone.
Following the August upgrade, staff will be able to set Blackboard forms to receive anonymous responses. Blackboard forms function almost identically to Blackboard tests, the main difference being that forms can be ungraded/unmarked, whereas tests cannot be, therefore forms only have question types that are appropriate for ungraded responses, but they do include a Likert question type which is not available in Blackboard tests. With the introduction of anonymous responses in forms, this tool can now function effectively as an anonymous survey tool within each NILE course. Staff who used the surveys tools in Original courses, will find that forms now replicates in Ultra all the functionality of surveys in Original.
When select anonymous submissions, these settings are enabled by default:
Due date
Prohibit late submissions
Prohibit new attempts after due date
Complete/incomplete is selected as the grading schema for non-graded forms
If the anonymous form is graded, the submission earns all the points assigned; you can’t edit or override the points earned.
Additional important details to note:
Anonymous forms cannot be administered to groups.
Class conversations are not supported when anonymous submissions is selected.
To ensure anonymity, student activity, exceptions, exemptions and accommodations are not supported.
To ensure anonymity, student progress/statistics are not captured.
Modifications to form questions and settings are not permitted if the form has submissions and the due date has passed.
August’s upgrade will introduce the option for staff and students to follow discussions, which has been a much requested feature. However, please note that this initial release is somewhat limited as notifications for followed discussions will appear in the activity stream, but will not be sent as emails or push notifications to mobile devices for Blackboard app users.
Staff and students can follow or unfollow particular discussions via the selector in the discussion forum, and new responses and replies to followed discussions will be shown in the activity stream.
• Discussion with ‘Follow’ button highlighted• Followed discussions in the activity stream
As ever, please get in touch with your learning technologist if you would like any more information about the new features available in this month’s upgrade: Who is my learningtechnologist?
