Home → TN eCampus Faculty → Brightspace LMS Tools → Ally Overview
6.12. Ally Overview
Ally Overview for Faculty
TN eCampus has made Blackboard Ally accessibility checker available for all partnership courses. Ally works seamlessly with Brightspace to gauge the accessibility of course content. Ally can point out many kinds of compliance issues, provide a step-by-step guide on how to fix many issues, and can even help you decide where to begin.
Getting Started
To get started from the NavBar, open the More menu and choose Ally Course Report.
Ally Dashboard
The dashboard has 4 key information sets to help you decide how much needs to be done and where it might be best to begin.
- The snapshot graphic gives an overall grade
- The course content tallies the content by file type
- Choose this option to remediate the easiest files
- Choose this option to remediate the greatest need file
From the Overview tab choose View or Start to access the specific report path that works best for you. You may want to remediate by groups of file types, the easiest files, or the files with the biggest problems. In this example, we will explore low-scoring content.
Choose a course file from the list. Notice the document type, file name, and score information provided in this view. The next window will highlight the problem areas if possible, the percentage score, and options to learn more about the accessibility topic and possible solutions. (Some recommended solutions are still in development.) TN eCampus Knowledge Books have accessibility tutorials (new window) available 24/7 as well.
Also, be sure to notice the All Issues button. Using this feature expands all issues with a file.
Receive Accessibility Feedback
When Ally was installed, it checked every course in the system, but Ally checks also checks every course update and edit. Notice these symbols next to content Ally can check. Like the course report, this is a snapshot of the file's accessibility status.
Low: The file is not accessible and needs immediate attention.
Medium: The file is somewhat accessible and could use improvement.
High: The file is accessible but could be improved.
Perfect: The file is accessible. No improvement was detected.
Steps to Remediation
Remediation is not intended directly inside Ally. Ally will show you where the problem exists but you have to make those changes in the HTML file or upload a new source file with the corrections made.
This topic is further covered in a separate tutorial, Understanding Ally Reports: What to Fix and How (KB).
Need Help
Knowledge Books has a chapter for Accessibility tutorials (same frame). There you will find a variety of tips, checklists, and how-to's you can review anytime. If you need help with an accessibility problem, you can always file a ticket through the TN eCampus Help Desk (new window).
Prefer a short video? This video demonstrates Ally's functionality in the Blackboard LMS. This is very similar to the overall functionality in Brightspace.
Alternative File Formats for Students
In addition to providing course developers and instructors with insight into your content accessibility, Ally automatically creates alternative versions of your files. This allows students to choose the type of file they want that best suits their needs.
While you're in the process of improving files, students can access alternative document types. For example, Ally can convert a scanned document to a text document using OCR technology that can be read by a screen reader or Ally can convert that same document to electronic braille or an ePub book.
Share with Students
This resource creates more accessible and more useful content for students of all abilities. Please share this feature with students to increase their awareness. Students have tutorial information in the TN eCampus Knowledge Books (new window). You may also share a brief video, Blackboard Ally for Students (new window).