Ally = Alternative Accessible Content

Accessibility isn’t limited to in-person delivery alone; as content creators we bear the responsibility of ensuring our online and hybrid courses are inclusive, equitable, and accessible to all learners.

Ally is a tool integrated into our learning management system to help improve the accessibility of your course content. It provides feedback and guidance on how to make your materials more accessible and offers alternative formats for students. This ensures that all students have equitable access to course resources.

Accessibility Indicators and Scores

ALLY’s content accessibility checker for files uploaded into Talon. An “Accessibility Indicator” will appear next to the document title or above the content page. This feature provides feedback to instructors about the accessibility of content in their course. Once the scan is complete, content items will be assigned an accessibility score and indicator.

Instructor Feedback Panel

Clicking on the Accessibility Indicator reveals the “Instructor Feedback Panel” for a course file. You can find the file’s accessibility score, along with its accessibility issues and step-by-step instructions for fixing them.

Tackling these issues ensures course materials are accessible to students with diverse needs and removes potential barriers to learning.

Alternative Formats for Download

ALLY automatically generates alternative formats for course materials, such as audio, electronic Braille, and mobile-friendly HTML, ensuring that students with different learning preferences and assistive technologies can access the content in a way that suits them best.

How to Access and Download Available Alternative Formats

• When you hover over the icon next to the document, you will see an “Alternative Formats” icon.
• When you click it, you will access a list of alternative formats. Select the alternative format desired and click the Download button.

ALLY Course Usage Reports to the Instructor

The Ally Usage report provides details on how your students are using Ally. You can see how often students download alternative formats and which documents need to be remediated to improve accessibility. The ALLY course report is only accessible via the “ALLY Instructor Tools” widget which must be added to a course homepage.

To run and receive a full course report:

• The ALLY course report is only accessible via the “ALLY Instructor Tools” widget which must be added to a course homepage
• This video explains setting up the “ALLY Instructor Tools” widget
• Go to Course Admin > Site Setup > Homepages
• If the active homepage is editable, click on it to open its edit menu; otherwise, click the action arrow [V] next to the currently active homepage and click “Copy”
• In the “Active Homepage” dropdown box, change the active homepage to your copy and click on the copy to open its edit menu
• Scroll down to the widgets section of your homepage  and click the Add Widgets button
• Locate the “Ally Instructor Tools” widget, checkmark it, and then click “add” (if you are not happy with where it is placed you can drag it to another location)
• Save your changes / updates and close the window
• Click the link to view your Course Report
• The report breaks down your course content by the file type
• Fix errors by using the Start button next to the type of error you want to address, or navigate to the “Content” tab and look through the issues assignments have one at a time
• In the section entitled “Remaining issues,” which sorts content accessibility issues by problems they have in common, so you can see if there’s a particular issue affecting a large amount of your course content.

The content retrieved  from “Talon: A User’s Guide; Exploring Kirkwood’s Learning Management System (LMS).”

Create a File in Talon to Inform Students About Ally Alternative Formatting

In Talon, you can create a content page to inform students about Ally alternative formatting. Ally generates alternative files that are easier for all students to use.

Steps to create an Ally Information page for students

• Log in to your Talon account and navigate to the course where you want to create the informative page. It’s recommended to add this page under the “Start Here” module, as it’s the most suitable place for such information.
• Click “Upload/Create” and select “Create a File”. After adding the Title of the Page,
• Click “Select a Document Template”.
• From the drop down menu, select “Ally for Students”.

• All necessary information for the students will be there.
• Click “Save” or “Save and Close” and review the information.

Resources

1. Talon: A User’s Guide; Exploring Kirkwood’s Learning Management System (LMS).
2. Talon Instructor Training. 
3. Ally for Learning Management System (LMS) Help