What is Ally?

Improve the accessibility of your course content with Ally

Ally is a function in Canvas which gives the students access to course material in alternative formats and assists teachers in creating accessible content. Ally provides advice and tips for long term improvement of content accessibility. Ally achieves this in the following ways:

• Generates alternative formats which participants can download
• Provides feedback of the accessibility of your content
• Assists in improving the accessibility of your content with step by step instructions

In addition to providing an overview of content accessibility, Ally will also automatically generate alternate versions of your files. It makes it possible for participants to choose the type of file which best suits their needs. As your work to improve the files, participants can still access alternate copies.

Do I need to fix all of my documents and files right now?

As a government institution it is mandatory that we make sure that our documents are accessible for all our students and participants. There is a lot of material uploaded on Canvas and it must be seen as a process that occurs over a long period of time to fix all the documents. Most importantly is that there is a plan for the work.

Keep in mind that you are responsible only for your material. This means that you are not responsible for the accessibility of other materials, for example a scientific article you have attached in your course. That responsibility lies with those who have published the articles.

Divide the work of fixing your self produced material into two parts:

1. New documents which you create in your courses
2. Old documents that you reuse in your courses

Learn how to think about making your material accessible when creating your new documents. Help can be found at Simple tips on how to create an accessible document and Lund University's templates with instructions. Go to the image and media bank to download the templates. Links to an external site.

When you are planning a course and look through your old material, review the materials based on availability and fix a few at a time.

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