What is Ally and what can it do?

Ally is a plug-in that can be integrated into Learning Management Systems like Blackboard Learn, Instructure Canvas, Self-hosted Moodle, Open LMS, D2L Brightspace, and Schoology. Ally can check all rich content in a course to see how well they support WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards.

There are different subscription levels of Ally, including a free version. Not all features are available in all versions. Learn more at https://elementor.com/products/ally-web-accessibility/#pricing

Note that adding the Ally plugin is something that must be done by an administrator for your LMS.

Ally for instructors and designers

Ally can scan your course content and generate an accessibility report as well as individual accessibility scores for each item.

Ally can check things like:

  • PDF files
  • Microsoft® Word files
  • Microsoft® PowerPoint® files
  • OpenOffice/LibreOffice files
  • Uploaded HTML files
  • Image files (JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF)
  • WYSIWYG/VTBE content
  • YouTubeTM videos embedded in WYSIWYG/VTBE content

The accessibility scores fall into categories of indicating how serious the issue is. Ally will also suggest remedies for the issues. Some fixes, like adding alternative text or using consistent heading levels, can be fixed through the tool directly.

Again, not all of these features are available in all versions of Ally. When editing a page in the SABES Canvas LMS, look for the accessibility icon to initiate an Ally check of the page content:

Ally for students

Ally Immersive Reader can be used to improve the readability of files. Some options are to:

  • Change font size and text spacing
  • Change the contrast between the text and the background color
  • Learn spelling and grammar by splitting words into syllables
  • Highlight verbs, nouns, adjectives, and sub-clauses
  • View a picture dictionary
  • Increase reading speed with line focus
  • Convert text-to-speech (both male and female voices)
  • Translate content in real-time

Within the SABES version of Canvas, look for this button:

Learn more and view examples of Immersive Reader tools here: https://help.blackboard.com/Ally/Ally_for_LMS/Student/Alternative_Formats#lms