Monitor and improve accessibility on your district and school sites
Blackboard Ally is available for Web Community Manager (WCM).
Ally checks accessibility of files uploaded to your site manager. All new and existing content is checked. Checks are made automatically and in real-time against our accessibility checklist based on key areas of the WCAG 2.1 A.A. standard.
Ally then performs a series of steps to help make your content more accessible.
- Provide an institution-wide course content accessibility report
- Give feedback on the accessibility of your content
- Provide step-by-step instructions on improving the accessibility of your content
- Generate alternative formats for students to download
Accessibility report
Blackboard Ally provides a site-wide content accessibility report that allows for deep insight and understanding into how the institution is performing and evolving from a content accessibility point of view. This report helps track progress and can help highlight problem areas and identify initiatives that can further help improve accessibility at the institution.
You can find the Ally accessibility report in Site Manager. From Site Manager, find the site or section you want to view. Select Overview in the Ally Accessibility Report.
More on the Ally accessibility report
Accessibility scores and feedback
From the Accessibility report, you can see an accessibility score for each file attached to your site.
Scores range from Low to Perfect. The higher the score the fewer the issues.
-
Low: File is not accessible and needs immediate attention.
-
Medium: File is somewhat accessible and could use improvement.
-
High: File is accessible but could be improved.
-
Perfect: File is accessible. No improvement needed.
For files with Low to High scores, Ally shows you the issues found and gives a step-by-step guide on how to fix them.
More on improving accessibility
Alternative formats
Ally creates alternative formats of files based on the original. These formats are made available with the original file so visitors to your site can find everything in one convenient location.
You don’t need to do anything. The alternative formats are created for you. If you want, you can disable alternative formats for any individual content item for whatever reason.
