What is the Ally Course Accessibility Report?
The Ally Course Accessibility Report provides an overview of the accessibility of your course content in Blackboard Ultra. It displays an overall accessibility score and highlights specific files or items that require improvement, providing guidance on how to address them.
Step 1: Access Your Blackboard Ultra
Course
- Log in to Blackboard Ultra.
- From your Courses list, open the course you
want to review.
Step 2: Open the Ally Accessibility Report
Inside your course, click the Books & Tools icon (located in the top-right menu or under Course Tools).
- Select Accessibility Report LTI1.3.
The Course Accessibility Report will open on a new page or panel.
Step 3: Review the Report Overview
• View your Overall Course Accessibility Score (displayed as a colored gauge).
• Ally’s course accessibility report includes Overview and Content tabs so that you can get the big picture as well as specific details about the accessibility of your digital course content.
- The Overview tab shows the accessibility score for the course, course content grouped by content type, and a list of all issues identified in the course
- The Content tab shows you the content with accessibility issues.
Reviewing the Accessibility Score
• The report includes an accessibility score for the entire course.
• Scores range from Low to Perfect. The higher the score, the fewer the issues:
- Low (Red Gauge) (0-33%): Needs help! Severe accessibility issues.
- Medium (Orange Gauge) (34-66%): A little better. Somewhat accessible. Needs improvement.
- High (Green Gauge) (67-99%): Almost there. Accessible, but can improve.
- Perfect (Green Gauge) (100%): Perfect! No issues are found, but refinements are possible.
Step 4: Fix Accessibility Issues
• Ally provides the issue description and step-by-step guidance to fix it.
• All the content in your course is grouped by content type. Select Start to access the Content tab and begin addressing issues.
• Upload a corrected file directly through Ally to replace the original.
Step 5: Recheck Your Score
• After making updates, refresh your Course Accessibility Report.
• Verify that your overall score has improved.
Tips
• Aim for a score of 100% for the best student experience.
• Use alternative formats (e.g., audio, ePub, HTML). Ally automatically generates these for students.
• Encourage accessibility improvements during course development, not after publishing.
Need Assistance?
For help with Ally, Blackboard Ultra, course accessibility, or other digital teaching tools, please reach out to the Instructional Design team at ID@Daemen.edu.
Currently, Ally checks files in these formats:
- 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
Choose what to fix first
Use the report to help you decide what to fix first.
- For example, you could address content with the most severe issues first or start with content that’s easiest to fix.
- Choose between Content with the easiest issues to fix and Fix low-scoring content. See how many pieces of content you’ll be fixing.
- Select Start.
