Ally Basics

Owned by Nate St George (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jun 07, 2022 by Maria Shimel
2 min read



This article will tell you about what Ally is and what it does.

Overview

What is Ally?

Ally is a service provided by Blackboard to help instructors create more accessible course content. The most noticeable effect are little indicators near files that show how accessible that content is and what you can do to make it better.

As a part of our mission to provide an excellent education to all students, Ally cannot be turned off by an instructor.

Alternative Formats

Ally also automatically generates alternative file formats for each file you add. The formats can be any of the following options:

  • OCRed PDF: OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is a technology that automatically extracts the text from an image. If you provide a scanned PDF, this option will appear.

  • HTML: Allows faster viewing in a browser and more responsive text on a mobile device.

  • ePub: This format can be uploaded to an e-reader (Kindle, iPad, etc).

  • Electronic braille: Allows blind students to read the text on an electronic braille display.

  • Audio: An MP3 version of the file can be downloaded and listened to like an audiobook.

  • Translated Version: For students whose first language is not English, a machine translated version of the text is available.

For more information, read Downloading Alternative File Formats.

Ally Indicators

Instructors now have an icon like a speedometer next to each file. This is the Ally indicator. Instructors can click the indicator to see more information about the accessibility feedback for that file, which includes instructions on how to improve that file's score.

The indicator will be one of four colors: Red, orange, light green, and green. Each of these represents the level of accessibility, from worst to best. If you hover over the indicator, it will tell you if the accessibility score is low, medium, or high.

Frequently Asked Questions

For information on questions that are commonly asked about Ally, please see the Frequently Asked Questions About Ally page. If you have questions about how to fix issues with PowerPoint or Word files, please see the Application-Specific Accessibility Fixes.

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