What is Ally? (For Instructors)
Ally is an accessibility tool that is integrated with CanvasMed that both alerts faculty to accessibility issues and provides accessible alternatives for students. Ally provides insight and guidance to instructors on how to improve accessibility in course content and materials.
Ally accessibility features will become available for instructors by May 2021. Although faculty are not required at this time to take any action to address issues raised by Ally, one of the initial benefits of the Ally tool launch is that students will be able to see the "download" icons next to some of your course content files. The icons provide students the ability to download files in alternative format.
Features
- Currently available: Ally allows for content that is linked to be previewed, downloaded, and provided an alternative format of the content where applicable. This feature is currently available to both students and faculty.
- Coming soon: Ally will provide instructors with a dashboard where they are able to see issues related to content accessibility.
- An overall score of the course’s accessibility.
- Types of issues and the content that is being affected by the issue.
- Access to the document(s) and course content with the accessibility concerns and recommendations on how to fix the content, so that it is more accessible to students.
- Coming soon: Ally also will allow for content in the course to have an instructor feedback icon on most content in Canvas. This icon is a gauge that will show instructors how accessible content is within the course.
Training
FIU Educational Technology Services (ETS) will roll out professional development and technology training starting in Spring B to help you and your students use these tools to create accessible learning environments. HWCOM IDT will conduct and develop additional training for faculty and staff.
How to use Ally
- Quick Start
- Alternative Formats
- Course Accessibility Report
- Accessibility Scores
- View File Accessibility
- Improve Accessibility
Note: Linked articles may contain references to other learning management systems, please refer to Instructure Canvas.
Best Practices
When sharing your screen with students (i.e. in Zoom), be aware that the Ally Accessibility Score gauges remain visible. As this is not something students typically see, to minimize confusion, it is recommended to use Student View within Canvas when sharing your screen.
Ally Additional Resources