Ally’s accessibility scores for files not only identify any accessibility issues, but also provide remediation steps, with the option to re-upload a corrected file once done.

In Ally’s File Accessibility Scores, the content will be displayed alongside its score and any accessibility issues:

The File Accessibility Scores also provides the necessary steps to remediate any issues with the files:

There are two tabs for Overview and Content to understand the bigger picture and finer details for content accessibility. It allows instructors to prioritize what issues to fix with guidance through the Instructor Feedback panel.

• Overview: Shows course accessibility score, content grouped by type, and all issues identified.
• Content: Shows specific content with accessibility issues.

Navigate to “Course Tools” in Blackboard Learn Original or “Books & Course Tools” in Blackboard Learn Ultra for the CAR. Then navigate to Accessibility Report LTI 1.3.

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 (0-33%): Needs help! There are severe accessibility issues.
• Medium (34-66%): A little better. The file is somewhat accessible and needs improvement.
• High (67-99%): Almost there. The file is accessible but more improvements are possible.
• Perfect (100%): Perfect! Ally didn’t identify any accessibility issues but further improvements may still be possible.

All the content in a course is grouped by content type. Select Start to go to the Content tab and start fixing issues.

Use the report to help you decide what to fix first. For example, you could address content with most severe issues first or start with the 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.

Issues are listed in order of priority from severe to minor. Those listed first should be addressed first. Ally looks at the number of students impacted, how often the issue occurs, and the accessibility score to determine the priority.

• Severe. These issues are the greatest risk to accessibility and require the most attention.
• Major. These issues impact accessibility, and while not severe, require attention.
• Minor. These issues should be considered for a better accessibility score.

Select an issue to review all the content that has that issue. Select the co

A snapshot of the Course Accessibility Scores is included below. In addition to the score for the HuskyCT. course itself, it also contains a high-level breakdown of the course content and the list of all issues identified within the course:

Instructors can set a title using the input field and can select “Apply fix” to save.

• Titles may not be comprised of only special characters (like @ or !)
• Titles may not end in a period (.)
• Titles may not end with a file extension (like .pdf, .xls, etc.)
• Title may not match the filename exactly

Headings provide both structural and semantic meaning for easy navigation. They break up large chunks of text while ensuring screen readers can help users process information.

Improper heading structure will be scored at medium by Ally and can be fixed by adding them in the file’s word processor. Upload the updated file once the issue has been resolved.

While document language may not be significant for most students, it makes a huge difference for students with visual impairments who may learn better in another language or accent. Setting the correct language can also improve general reading comprehension in allowing software to identify language mistakes.

Potential Language Issues

Files may have either the wrong language set or none at all. For wrong languages, screen readers could struggle to identify the language to read or is negatively impacted by grammar and spelling mistakes. No languages means screen readers cannot check the content against a recognizable language. These need to be fixed in the original source fil and uploaded again.

Setting the Correct Language

Instructors can select from the dropdown of available languages and select “Apply fix” to save.

Ally currently considers three types of PDFs, which can impact how the language is set on a document:  

• Non-Tagged and already OCRed PDFs: Instructors can use the quick fix to manually set any language to resolve the missing language issue with no restriction on what is chosen.
• Tagged PDFs: Ally will validate the language selected by the instructor against the language detected from the PDF. If the PDF contains multiple languages, the detection mechanism will identify the primary language to compare to the instructor’s selection.
• OCRed PDFs: After using the OCR quick fix, PDFs typically have few language issues. However, PDFs created from Word or PowerPoint may still have language mismatches. In those cases, Ally limits instructors to selecting the correct language based on what the system detects in the PDF.

Color contrast is extremely important for students to be able to read text properly against the background. Poor contrast means increased difficulty reading for everyone, including students with visual impairments like color blindness.

Ally uses the contrast requirements specified as part of the WCAG 2.2 AA guidelines. Fixing text contrast needs to be done in the source file and uploaded to Ally. Use contrast checkers to ensure sufficient contrast. Content created using the editor will update the score as it is revised.

Text Contrast Best Practices

Many low-effort adjustments can be made to improve text readability, including:

• Choosing fonts with wide character strokes.
• Using at least 12pt text size for regular fonts.
• Opting for at least 14pt with “thin” fonts.
• Only using “thin” fonts on dark backgrounds.
• Choosing light text on dark backgrounds.
• Choosing dark text on light backgrounds.
• Avoiding these color combinations:
  • Green and red.
  • Green and brown.
  • Blue and purple.
  • Green and blue
  • Light green and yellow.
  • Blue and grey.
  • Green and grey.
  • Green and black.

Importance of Text Contrast

Many situations require content to be readable regardless of circumstance, such as:

• When projected in class.
• For students with color blindness.
• On a mobile with a bright light or glare on the screen.
• On low-quality monitors.

Low contrast can cause eye strain, makes content hard to discover and scan, and causes frustration. Ensuring sufficient contrast results in higher quality reading experience for everyone.

Image descriptions, or alternative text, are essential to students with visual impairments. These students primarily rely on screen readers to tell them what is in an image and why it has been included. This also loads onto a screen when a device is experiencing internet connectivity issues, aiding students in understanding the image’s context.

Through the Instructor Feedback panel, Ally will check for image descriptions in both image files and files including images. The feedback panel for images highlights these issues:

• Images without an appropriate alternative description.
• Text fragments with insufficient contrast.
• Tables without table headers.

Descriptions & Decorative Images

Add image descriptions through the Instructor Feedback panel and describes more than the file’s title; otherwise, Ally will report an accessibility error. Be sure to explain the image and its significance without repeating information near it. Text within an image needs to be written verbatim.

If an image in a file is missing an alternative text, then this needs to be added in the source file and uploaded to the course. In both Ally and in source files, AI can generate alternative text. However, instructors must always review and edit to ensure accuracy.

Images that lack relevant information and are used for visual appeal should be marked as decorative.

Importance of Image Descriptions

Alternative image descriptions are important for numerous reasons, including:

• Part of the WCAG 2.2 guidelines.
• Images can be searched by students.
• Improve image perception for students with visual impairments.
• Enhance image perception for students with poor network connection
• Allow screen readers to describe images for users.
• Descriptions may improve a student’s ability to learn.
• Text scales better than most images when the screen or page is enlarged.

Instructors often incorporate links within the course content to give students more resources to improve their learning. Unfortunately, some links may be broken due to incorrect website addresses or unavailable content. Broken links will cause 404 “Page Not Found” HTML errors.

Ally’s Role

Ally helps instructors identify broken links by:

• Flagging broken links within files.
• Providing instructor feedback for remediation.
• Highlighting broken links across a course.

In all these cases, instructors have two options in remediating broken links. First is viewing all broken links in the Accessibility Issues table of the “Overview” tab and selecting an item to fix using the Instructor Feedback panel.

The second option is to focus on one file with the Instructor Feedback panel by selecting All Issues and This item contains broken links to see all occurrences of this issue.

Ally will guide instructors on how to fix each broken link. Instructors can choose to Learn More about the issue and either Update URL to the correct address or Remove Link to discard it.

Most instructors prefer exporting files as a PDF document. It’s important to be aware the PDF may not be tagged properly during the file conversion, so instructors need to check the file’s accessibility using a built-in or third-party checker and ensure document tagging is turned on in the export setting before downloading the PDF for easy navigation.

Ally will give an untagged PDF a low accessibility score. Instructors must fix this issue in the original source file.

Fixing Untagged PDF Files

There are two methods to resolve an untagged PDF. The first option is to update the export settings from the source file. Once the source file has been updated, upload it to the course again.

• Microsoft Word: Select File and Save As. Select PDF from the File Format menu. Select Best for electronic distribution and accessibility and select Export.
• PowerPoint: You can’t save PowerPoint files as tagged PDFs. Upload the PowerPoint file instead.
• LibreOffice Writer and Impress: Select File and Export as PDF. Select Tagged PDF (add document structure) and Export bookmarks in PDF Options. Select Export.

The second way to fix this issue is by uploading the original source file. No PDF tagging issues will be detected with this method.

Although many scanned PDFs come from books to be easily accessed by students, these documents are very inaccessible and cause challenges in studying. Ideally the PDF can be replaced with a proper digital text document.

If this poses a challenge, then adding a library reference is the best option. The Optical Character Recognition (OCR) alternative format is another way to try making the document accessible but is still insufficient.

Although OCR significantly improves accessibility by making text searchable and readable by assistive technologies, it does not solve all accessibility issues. OCRed PDFs can still be difficult for users to read. This is especially true for those created from poor‑quality scans.

While additional guidance for improving OCRed PDFs may be developed in the future, instructors can further enhance the student experience by replacing OCRed PDFs with alternative formats or properly formatted, fully accessible PDF files.

Tables provide a way for organizing complex information. Some are more accessible than others. Instructors can ensure their tables remain effective and accessible by adding headers.

Ally will give a file with missing headers in its data table a low accessibility score. This can be remediated through the file’s original word processor and uploaded to the course again.

Table Header Best Practices

Follow these best practices to create good column headers for tables:

• Use the tools in the chosen software to identify headers.
• Write clear and concise headers.
• Ensure each header and their associated cells make sense when read together.
• Keep the table layout simple for screen reader compatibility.
• Avoid merging cells, splitting cells, or nesting tables in tables.
• Don’t leave rows or columns completely blank.

Importance of Table Headers

• Table headers are in the WCAG 2.2 guidelines.
• Sighted users can scan the table and understand the meaning of the information.
• Screen readers read one cell at a time and reference the associate header.
  • Users don’t lose context as they navigate through the table.

Adding bibliographic information is generally the last resort when nothing else works. Contacting the library for another document format or accessibility services to accommodate students is a good idea.

By including references, students can try to find solutions for the inaccessible content so it may help to include links related to the content.

In Ally, these are the steps to add a reference:

1. Select No when asked if you can get hold of a text-based version.
2. Select Yes when asked if the document or presentation can be found in the library.
   • Selecting No to this as well will generate alternative formats but won’t improve the score if the PDF is untagged.
3. Fill out as much information in the Ally feedback form as you can and select Add reference.

For students, the Library reference is located in Alternative formats next to the file name.

Some media elements instructors include in their course can boost student engagement. However, not all media receives a warm welcome. GIFs, rapid movements, flickering media, and even busy still images can trigger seizures or other harmful responses in students.

Due to this possibility, Ally gives the file a 0% accessibility score. Unless the file or its content is necessary for the course, instructors should replace it with something similar with less complexity.

Keeping the Content

When instructors opt to keep potentially harmful content, Ally flags it and alerts students prior to accessing it. This way students who may be susceptible to seizures or other harmful responses will be warned ahead of time.