For Faculty
Goal: Increase accessibility in MSU Courses as evidenced by Bb Ally scores
How can Blackboard Ally help?
Ally works seamlessly with Blackboard Learn.
- integrates seamlessly with Blackboard Learn, Blackboard Open LMS, Instructure Canvas, and Self-hosted Moodle
- Automatically checks course materials against WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards
- Provides students with accessible alternative formats such as audio and electronic braille
- Delivers guidance to instructors to improve the accessibility of their course content
In addition, Ally automatically creates alternative versions of your files. This allows students to choose the type of file that best fits their needs.
Getting Started in Ally
Ally Communication Kit
This "Communication Kit" is designed to facilitate the addition of Ally to your courses. It includes the following:
- An example email message/Announcement that you can tweak and send to your students
- An optional statement to include in your syllabi about Ally
- Suggestions on how to support student use of Ally
- Bb Course Menu suggestions
- Communication Kit (entire kit in one download)
Training Links and Videos
- Introduction to Alternative Formats (for Faculty) (video 7:50 minutes)
- Steps to improving the accessibility of your courses (PDF)
- How to Run a Course Report
- How to correct Scanned PDFs
- How to Tag a PDF
- How to add headings to a document
- Improve Heading Accessibility (video 1:25 minutes)
- How to add Alt Text to images in Blackboard (video 43 sec)
- Improve Accessibility with Alt Text (video 2:07 minutes)
- How to add image descriptions
- How to Create Accessible Links in Word (video 2:09 minutes)
- How to Create Accessible Tables in Word (video 2:18 minutes)
- How to Add Alt Text in Word 2013
- How to Add Alt Text in Word 2016
- How to Run Accessibility Checkers
- How to Add a Library Reference
- Scanning Pages from Inaccessible Documents
Other Ways to Support Accessibility in Your Courses
- How to Create Accessible File Names (video 1:57 minutes)
- What Does Ally Do with YouTube Videos?