Box Users
What is Box?
Box is the UIC cloud content management service. All students have access to a free Box account through UIC.
Box is how the alternate format team shares converted course readings with students requesting the following alternate formats: screen reader accessible word documents (for blind and low vision students), Word documents with a specific font and/or size, or PDF if the student requires readings in a digital format (who either do not use a text-to-speech program such as Kurzweil or uses a preferred text-to-speech program not offered by the DRC).
Request Alternate Format
Steps to Get Course Readings on Box:
- Submit the Alternate Format Request Form and selected the format your DSS approved your course readings to be converted to?
- Screen reader accessible word documents
- Word documents with a specific font and/or size
- Create a Box account. All students have access to a free Box account through UIC.
- The alternate format team will create and share a Box folder titled “***Student’s Name Alternate Format.” Within this folder, you’ll find course folders that contain textbooks and/or weekly folders (depending on the course structure) when course readings becomes available
- You will be notified by Box when new material is uploaded to your folder, but if you do not see requested material on Box by the time you need it, contact the alternate format team immediately via email at accesstext@uic.edu
If you need assistance with any of these steps you can contact the alternate format team via email accesstext@uic.edu
After Submitting an Alternate Format Request:
Steps to create a Box account:
- Create a Box account
What to Expect:
Look for a folder present in your Box account titled “***Student’s Name Alternate Format.” You’ll also receive an email from an alternate format team member (such as from Nicole Sims or Felix Fergon) inviting you to your Box Folder.
Within the ***Student’s Name Alternate Format” folder on Box, you’ll find course folders for the current semester
- Within each course folder, you’ll find requested textbook files, textbook folders, and/or weekly subfolders, depending on the structure of the course
Where Do I Find Converted Course Readings?
What to Expect:
The alternate format team will gain access to your requested textbooks and upload them onto Box within the course folder or sub course folder as they become available. Students should receive an automatic email when new material is uploaded to their Box folder.
What to Expect:
The alternate format team will verify the accessibility of weekly PDF readings with your instructors.
For Readings Requested in PDF:
The alternate format team will convert scanned PDF readings (PDF created from from a physical document) and upload them to the appropriate course folder organized by week on Box by Friday evening before the week the reading is needed.
- Example: Example: Week 4 readings will be uploaded by Friday of week 3
- Students with Box accounts should receive an email from Box when new material is upload to folders they have access to.
If the alternate format team determines through the verification process that the PDF readings provided by the instructors are digitally created (meaning you can drag your curser along individual lines of text) and compatible with the student’s assistive technology, the alternate format team will not convert or upload them to Box
- The alternate format team recommends students use the built in Blackboard Ally text-to-speech format Immersive Reader (more info below).
For Readings Requested in Word:
The alternate format team will convert and upload required textbooks and PDFs readings to the appropriate course folder organized by week on Box by Friday evening before the week the reading is needed.
- Example: Week 4 readings will be uploaded by Friday of week 3
- Students with Box accounts should receive an email from Box when new material is upload to folders they have access to.
What to Expect:
If the format of your course readings fall outside textbook and weekly PDF readings (such as webpages or education apps), the alternate format team will reach out to you to discuss resources to access these readings in an alternate format.
Blackboard Resources
What is Blackboard Ally and How Do I Use It?
A built in feature on Blackboard called Blackboard Ally offers alternate formats features for course materials. It is available to all students and is a resource for course materials uploaded as digitally created or readable PDFs (PDFs that you can drag your curser along individual lines of text).
- Documents with Blackboard Ally available with have a bold capitalized A and a down arrow to the right of the document title.
- Select the A down arrow icon and select the format you’d like the document converted to (we recommend immersive reader text-to-speech)
- The converted document will open and select the play button in the bottom center of the browser
Supported download formats:
- OCR’d PDF: allows users to make a scanned PDF into a searchable text, enabling users to highlight, add notes, and search the document
- Tagged PDF: allows users to download a PDF that has increased accessibility for screen reader users
- HTML
- ePub
- Electronic Braille
- Audio: allows users to listen to course material in MP3
- Beeline Reader: allows users to adjust color gradient of text to reduce eye strain
- Immersive Reader (requires internet): allows users to set font size/spacing/contrast and converts text to speech with integrated highlighting function and other customized reading settings. (Does not currently support images/tables)
- Text-to-Speech
Supported Browsers
Ally is supported on the same browser as the Learning Management System (LMS) it is accessed from.
- Google Chrome™
- Mozilla Firefox®
- Microsoft Edge®
- Internet Explorer®
- Safari®
Alternate Formats Overview for Blackboard Ally
Blackboard Ally's Built-In Text-to-Speech Format, Immersive Reader
Youtube tutorial demonstrating how to find and access immersive reader (text-to-speech) on Blackboard which allows students to enable text-to-speech on documents uploaded to Blackboard.