Blackboard Ally

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Accessibility Report

The "Accessibility Report" course menu option is enabled by default within all Canvas courses. If it is not enabled within your course, follow these steps:

1. Log in to Canvas
2. Select a course you are teaching
3. Select the "Settings" option from the course's navigation
   
4. Select the "Navigation" tab
   
5. Within the bottom set of selections, locate "My Media" (near the bottom of the page)
6. Select the three stacked dots icon and then select "Enable" (you may also drag it to the top set of options
   
7. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select the "Save" button.

Selecting the "Accessibility Report' menu option will open the report showing any content issues that may cause barriers for individuals using assistive technologies. Below the score are two options "Content with the easiest issues to fix" and " Fix low scoring content." Below the summary and two options under the "Remaining issues" heading, the issues with the most impact on your score are prioritized.

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Alternative Formats

Alternative formats are the same file in a different format or opened in a different program than the original.

• Supported files are: PDF files, Microsoft® Word files, Microsoft® PowerPoint® files, OpenOffice/LibreOffice files, and uploaded HTML files.
• The alternatives are mobile-friendly HTML, BeeLine, Braille, MP3 Audio, Tagged PDF, Microsoft Immersive Reader, and ebook (epub) for the supported file types.

Disabling Alternative Formats for Select Files

You may not want to provide alternative formats for select files within your course. Disabling alternative formats for each file is easy to accomplish.

1. Locate the file within the files section of your course or select the "Alternative Formats" option or icon for a file.
2. Select the down arrow beside the title "Download alternative formats" for the file.
3. Then select "Disable alternative formats for this file."
   

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Score Indicators

Blackboard Ally provides selectable visual indicators for uploaded content. Indicators are present within your Canvas files menu within a course and for files linked within Canvas Content. Once selected, a feedback window will open listing issues and providing feedback on how to fix them. The highest impact issues on your file score are images missing alternative text and text with low color contrast. These indicators are only available for individuals with a role of Teacher or higher within your course and will not be visible to students.

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Making Improvements

There are several ways to access feedback for uploaded files, addressing issues, and improving Canvas content.

Access the Accessibility Report for Your Course.

Oftentimes, most issues will be missing alternative text for images, color contrast, and scanned PDF documents.

• Consider working through the area of the report labeled "Content with the easiest issues to fix" first. They will most likely be adding descriptive text alternatives to images and improving color contrast.
• After you have worked through those items, then consider accessing the " Fix low scoring content" section of the report. These issues will most likely be scanned PDF documents. To address PDFs, consider downloading the OCRed PDF version from the Alternative Formats and replace the original document.
• Finally, try to improve the rest of the issues listed under the heading "Remaining issues." These may require some expertise. Reach out to elearning@fsw.edu.

Select the "Gas Gauge" Indicator for Canvas Files.

Focus your attention on the Red Low score () and Orange Medium score () "gas gauge" indicators within your files and on Canvas pages. Fixing the issues for these items will have the most significant impact on your overall course accessibility score and for your students. When you select an indicator, a feedback window will open with a preview of the item and list any suggestions for fixing issues.

From the screenshot above, there are three areas to assist you:

1. Next to the page count above the file preview, there is an area to view specific issues and how many are present. If there is more than one type of issue, you can select the down and up arrows to focus on each type.
2. Under the Accessibility score for the file, there are two buttons, the first is "What this means." This will open an explanation on the side panel to describe the issue and how it can potentially impact individuals within your course.
3. The second button is linked to support feedback on how to correct each issue. There is guidance available on PowerPoint, Word, LibreOffice programs, and other authoring tools.

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