What is Ally?

Ally is a tool for accessibility in Canvas. It analyzes all your content in Canvas and detects if anything needs improvement to enhance accessibility. You then receive detailed assistance and/or tips on how to make changes and improve the accessibility of your content.

You'll find Ally as a "speedometer" icon alongside your Canvas content:

The "speedometer" indicates to what % your content is accessible or not. Clicking on the icon will open the tool, and Ally will suggest how to make improvements.

The icon will appear throughout Canvas, and you will find it on your pages, files and more.

Please note that your students will not see this icon.

The Ally Course Accessibility Report

In your course menu you will find the Ally Accessibility Report. This will give you an overview of all your content together with information on how to make improvements. Your students will not have access to this report.

Alternative formats

In addition to the speedometer, all content in Canvas will also be accompanied by an "alternative formats" icon:

This feature is available for both you and your students, and allows automatic conversion of your content to a wide range of formats, including audio, translations, and more. You'll find an overview of all alternative formats here.

Why Ally?

In Norway, universal design of ICT is a legal requirement for both public and private sector. A lot of content is published in Canvas, and most of us are no experts on universal design. Ally has been implemented to help in this regard.

You can read more about the rules & regulations regarding universal design here.

How does Ally work - an introduction?

Available resources

Blackboard Ally Help Center

Comprehensive Ally guides made by The University of Oslo (UiO)

Guides on how to improve accessibility for various types of content

Questions?
Reach out to arild.schanke@nhh.no