This page contains an overview of the accessibility information that only the instructor can see. This includes the Accessibility Score, which is indicated by a colored indicator gauge, the Instructor Feedback Panel, and the Course Accessibility Report.
(or separate page for Course Reports?)
For information about the specific accessibility issues that are identified by Blackboard and how to fix them see the Accessibility Issues page on this site.
Blackboard is continually adding information to the feedback, so if you have any questions, please contact us at 803-777-1800 or through the Service Portal at http://sc.edu/ITHelp.
Word documents
PDF documents
PowerPoint presentations
OpenOffice/OfficeLibre documents and presentations
Image files
HTML files
Note: Students do not see the accessibility indicators or have access to the feedback.
Remember that students cannot see this information.
When you hover over the indicator, you will see a gauge:
"Scores range from Low to Perfect. The higher the score the fewer the issues.
Red (0-33%): Needs help! There are severe accessibility issues.
Yellow (34-66%): A little better. The file is somewhat accessible and needs improvement.
Light Green (67-99%): Almost there. The file is accessible but more improvements are possible.
Dark Green (100%): Perfect! Ally didn't identify any accessibility issues but further improvements may still be possible."
The information will vary, based on the type of file and the issues that are found. In general, though, you will see the following:
(A) A statement of the issue
(B) Button: What this means
(C) Button: How to [repair this item]
(D) A place to upload or browse for the repaired file
Above the statement of the issue, you might also see the [All Issues] button (see image below). You will only see this if there is more than one issue that needs to be remediated:
In this image:
The first item has a [Fix] button beside it, which will take you back to the [What this means] and [How to fix..] buttons.
The second issue has the note "Guidance coming soon". Blackboard will eventually provide it, but in the meantime, we will provide some assistance. See the Accessibility Issues page on this site.
An early report shows the top 15 issues that were discovered by this tool in order of frequency.
More information about these issues and how to avoid them can be found in the Accessibility Issues page on this site.
The document/presentation has contrast issues
The document/presentation does not have any headers
The document/presentation has images without alternative descriptions
The document/presentation does not have a language set
The [PDF] document is untagged
The [PDF] document is missing a title
The image does not have an alternative description
The document/presentation has tables that don't have any headers
The [PDF] document is scanned
The image has contrast issues
The document/presentation's heading structure does not begin at one
The document/presentation does not have the correct language set
The document/presentation does not have an appropriate heading structure
The document/presentation is malformed
The document/presentation's heading structure goes beyond six levels
Ally Quick Start for Instructors [Blackboard Help] help.blackboard.com/Ally/Ally_for_LMS/Instructor/Quick_Start
Improve File Accessibility [Blackboard Help] help.blackboard.com/Ally/Ally_for_LMS/Instructor/Improve_File_Accessibility
Ally for Instructors in Blackboard Learn (YouTube 0:56) www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRtdPyLr-uw
Ally Institution Report help.blackboard.com/Ally/Ally_for_LMS/Administrator/Ally_Institution_Report
Institution Report Overview help.blackboard.com/Ally/Ally_for_LMS/Administrator/Institution_Report/Overview
“The report also compares the accessibility score of content with and without Ally. What does that mean? It’s a comparison of the overall accessibility score before and after improvements are made to content. All content receives an initial accessibility score before anything is done by or in Ally to improve it. This is “Without Ally”. As improvements are made, the accessibility score of content updates. This updated score is “With Ally”.
Blackboard Ally Accessibility Section Report help.blackboard.com/Web_Community_Manager/Administrator/Create_Content/Section_Workspace_Overview/Ally_Accessibility_Section_Report
see https://sites.google.com/site/blackboardalternativeformats/instructor-feedback
If you click on the [All issues] button, you will see a list of issues.