Ally

Ally written in white, green and teal lettering on a black background

Introduction

Ally integrates seamlessly with Canvas to automatically check course content and files for accessibility issues and delivers guidance to help instructors improve the accessibility of their course content. View the Blackboard Ally for Course YouTube video.

Features

  • Automatically checks course materials against WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards and provides measurement scores.
  • Delivers guidance to instructors to improve accessibility of their Canvas course content.
  • Provides students with accessible alternative formats such as audio and electronic braille.

Getting Started

Ally is currently activated in select pilot courses for Fall 2022 and will be turned on in all courses starting in 2023. if you would like your course added sooner, please contact us at celt-help@iastate.edu.

Instructor Resources

  • Alternative Formats: Ally creates alternative formats of the original content instructors add to their Canvas courses. These formats are made available with the original file, so everything is in one location.
  • Accessibility Scores: Ally checks accessibility for new and existing Canvas course content. To measure accessibility, Ally assigns content an accessibility score. All scanned content displays a score icon composed of both a numerical number and a colored gauge that reflect the number. The score icon is only visible to instructors in a course.
  • Course Accessibility Report: The course accessibility report acts as a complement to the existing accessibility indicators. It provides an accessibility summary and overview at the course level. The accessibility score may be lower than expected at first, but Ally provides guidance on ways to raise the score.

Add Course Accessibility Report to Navigational Menu:

  1. Select Settings from the Course Navigation menu
  2. Select the Navigation tab
  3. Drag the Ally Course Accessibility Report item from the bottom and drop it to the top section
  4. Click Save when it has been moved

Student Resources

Create alternative formats of course resources: Ally creates alternative formats of the content instructors add to their Canvas courses. These formats are available with the original file, so everything is in one location. Select the Download Alternative Formats icon to download the content in a different format.

Online Documentation

Licensing: All students, faculty, and staff members with an Iowa State Net-ID have access to Ally in Canvas at no charge.

Policies:

Support

Contact the ISU Solution Center via email at solution@iastate.edu or call 515-294-4000.

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