How Faculty Can Check and Improve Accessibility Scores in Ally

Relevant to: faculty and staff

This article contains information considered accurate at the time of publishing. Technology updates, changes in University security practices, policies and procedures may effect the information in this article - updates to articles are scheduled on a periodic basis and will address any required changes.

Introduction

Ally is an automatically enabled feature in Brightspace. This feature takes an original source document, such as a Word document, PDF, or PowerPoint, and automatically converts the file to other formats for students to access. Ally in Brightspace provides converted format options such as: Tagged PDF, HTML, ePub, Electronic Braille, Audio, and BeeLine Reader. Instructors do not need to do anything to activate Ally’s features in Brightspace. For example, an instructor can upload a Word document and Ally will automatically convert the file to other formats that a student can download if they choose, without the instructor needing to take additional steps.

Why Provide Alternative Formats?

Alternative formats are necessary because they help improve access to course materials. When content is offered in multiple formats for users to choose from, it can help all students but especially can be beneficial for students with disabilities.For more information on alternative formats, refer to the article "Ally in Brightspace: How Students Can Access Alternative Formats."

Disabling Alternative Formats

Instructors have the option to turn off alternative formats for specific content that they upload by clicking "disable" in the menu bar for that content.

A screenshot of the "Download alternative formats" option from Ally, with a down arrow showing the option to "disable alternative formats for this file." In this example the selected page is "Course Syllabus Framework."

Note: Before disabling alternative formats, consider that many students will benefit from the ability to engage with course material in other file formats. Providing alternative formats is a great way to enhance the accessibility of a course and model Universal Design for Learning.

Viewing and Improving the Accessibility Score

Instructors can view the accessibility rating of specific content they upload to Brightspace. All content that is uploaded will be scored for accessibility using the following indicators:

  • red (needs help)
  • orange (a little better)
  • light green (almost there)
  • green (high accessibility)

To improve the accessibility of a low score the instructor first clicks on the score. Ally will walk the instructor through each step they need to take.

A sample screenshot of where to find Ally accessibility score for specific content. There is an "A" with a down arrow, and next to that is a green dial. When you click on the green dial it shows the text: "Accessibility score: High. Select to improve."

There will be a preview of content with the specific issue areas highlighted in the document. Instructors may find it helpful to see where exactly the issues are within the document preview.

Ally will also provide an explanation of the most important accessibility issue identified and how it affects learning. Clicking on "all issues"will show the instructor all the accessibility issues in the document. Below the primary issue description there will be detailed steps on how to fix the accessibility issue, and an option to upload a new file with the changes.

Sample screenshot of an Ally Accessibility score. The text says "Accessibility score for: Useful links. 96%. This HTML file does not have a language set. Guidance is coming soon. We are working hard on extending this guidance." There is an icon to show all issues. The 96% accessibility score is indicated by a partially filled in light green curve.

Note: Some accessibility issues can be fixed within the Ally feedback window, such as if an instructor needs to add alternative text to an image.

Once the identified issues are corrected and/or a new document is uploaded, the accessibility score for the content will update.

Sample screenshot of an Ally Accessibility score. The text says "Accessibility score for: M1 Instructor Commentary. 100% Perfect! This HTML file has a perfect accessibility score, although further improvements may still be possible. Keep up the good work!" There is a box marked "close" in the lower left corner. The 100% perfect accessibility score is indicated by a fully filled in green curve.

Examples of Accessibility Issues

Ally will identify a variety of accessibility issues in a course, such as:

  • Uploaded media that may have the potential to trigger a seizure
    • This will automatically generate a 0% accessibility score, and will be accompanied by a red indicator that says the file is potentially harmful.
  • A scanned PDF that is not real text and requires OCR (Optical Character Recognition)
    • A scanned PDF may also show a 0% accessibility score. The instructor should replace the scanned PDF with a real text version. Ally can also OCR the file.
  • A document without headings or alternative text for images
  • A PowerPoint with poor color contrast

Course Accessibility Report

Instructors can see a report about the accessibility of their entire course by viewing "Accessibility Report" under "Books and Course Tools."

The course accessibility score will be featured, as well as an overview of the types of content in the course. Instructors may choose to fix the easiest issues that are identified, or they may use this tool to prioritize the most pressing accessibility issues that need fixing in their course.

Note: Keep in mind that accessibility checkers such as Ally are tools and should not be relied upon 100% to correctly identify all accessibility issues. Instructors should still check for accessibility issues in their courses that Ally may not catch. Similarly, instructors should still assess the issues Ally identifies to determine if each issue requires correcting, or if it should be ignored. For example, here are two issues that Ally may flag:

  • "The HTML heading structure does not start at the right level" 
    • The body of HTML pages needs to start at H2 for screen readers to function correctly. This error can be ignored.
  • "The HTML content has videos without captions or with automated captions"
    • Ally can check video files for the presence of captions but it cannot evaluate the quality or the need for audio description. Links to videos hosted on 3rd party sites are not checked and are flagged for review.

Resources

For more information, including tips to proactively make course content accessible and steps to fix common accessibility errors, see the Ally Instructor Package: Ultra 2020 Adoption Toolkit Package.

Strive for the following accessibility best practices

  • Use a minimum of 12-point font size
  • Provide sufficient contrast between text and background
  • Use headings, and ensure a logical heading structure
  • Add alternative text for images
  • Only use tables for data, and add column headings
  • Use the built-in list feature
  • Make sure links have descriptive text
  • Use PowerPoint slide templates
  • Don't use scanned PDFs
  • Make sure PDFs are tagged

Visit Ally for LMS Help for Instructors for additional text and video explanations about Ally features.

Reference

Material in this article was adopted and remixed from Ultra 2020 Adoption Toolkit Package by Blackboard, licensed under Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0).

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