Ally is an accessibility tool integrated with Canvas. It helps instructors identify common accessibility issues in course content, including content created in Canvas and files uploaded to a Canvas course. It provides guidance for improvement and automatically generates alternative formats for students.
Note: Students do not see course or item scores, they only see Alternative Formats (info below).
WYSIWYG Accessibility Checker
The Ally WYSIWYG Accessibility Checker checks content in the Canvas Rich Content Editor (RCE).
The RCE is available in the following Canvas tools:
- Announcements
- Assignments
- Discussions
- Pages
- Syllabus
- Quizzes
When you edit one of these item types, the Ally Accessibility Score appears in the upper-right corner.
Note: It takes a minute for the icon to display.
Click the icon to view accessibility issues and available fixes.
Find out more about the Ally WYSIWYG Accessibility Checker: WYSIWYG Accessibility Checker
Course Accessibility Report
The Course Accessibility Report provides a course-wide overview of accessibility, helping you identify and prioritize areas for improvement. The Overview tab gives a summary of accessibility issues and the Content tab gives detailed information about specific course content.
Find out more about the Ally Course Accessibility Report:
You won't have access to the Ally Course Accessibility Report until you turn it on. You can find instructions on how to do that at the bottom of this page.
File Accessibility
Ally produces an accessibility score for each file you've uploaded to your course. Click on the Ally accessibility icon near the file to view accessibility issues.
Ally identifies accessibility issues and offers instructions for fixing them, but it cannot make the fixes for you.
How to fix accessibility issues with files:
- Download the file from the Ally sidebar in Canvas.
- Make changes to the document & save it on your computer.
- Re-upload it to the Ally sidebar in Canvas.
Re-uploading a file in the Ally sidebar updates the original file without breaking links to it.
Find out more about Ally File Accessibility: Ally File Accessibility
Alternative Formats
Alternative formats are automatically generated versions of course content that give students additional ways to access content. Multiple alternative formats are available, so students can choose the format that works best for them.
Important note: Alternative formats are only as good as the original. If the original isn’t accessible, the alternative format won’t be either
Find out more about Ally Alternative Formats: Alternative Formats
Ally and Alt Text
Alt text is important for all images, but in order for the Alt text to copy over with a course import, it's important to add it in the correct place.
Find out more about Ally and Alt Text, including where you should add it: Ally and Alt Text in Canvas - A Quick Guide for Instructors
How to Turn on the Ally Course Accessibility Report
Ally is on in your courses, but the button to access the Course Accessibility Report is not.
To add the Course Accessibility Report button to your course:
- Go to Settings in your course.
- Click on the Navigation tab.
- Scroll down ad look for Ally Course Accessibility Report
- Click the 3-dots icon and select Enable.
- Click the Save button at the bottom of the page.
You'll now be able to access the Ally Course Accessibility Report by clicking the button in global navigation (blue bar) on the left.