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Blackboard Ally

  1. Introduction
  2. Alternative Formats
  3. Exceptions & Exemptions
  4. File Accessibility Scores
  5. Instructor Feedback
  6. Course Accessibility Scores
  7. PDF Remediation Options
  8. Ally WYSIWYG

Feel free to navigate to Improving Content Accessibility for advice on creating accessible content.

1. Introduction

Before diving into making accessible course content, watch this Ally overview for instructors by Anthology:

2. Alternative Formats

Ally uses original files to automatically create alternative formats for the various diverse needs of students. They work on both desktop and mobile versions depending on the file type. These formats are offered with the original content and are made available based on the content for students to easily access everything available.

Alternative formats converted from the original file:

  • OCR’d PDF: Automatically extracted text for improved reading and searching.
  • Tagged PDF: For quicker viewing and screen reader compatibility.
  • HTML: For viewing in the browser and on mobile devices.
  • ePub: For reading as an e-book on an iPad and other e-book readers.
  • Electronic Braille: BRF version for consumption on electronic braille displays.
  • Audio: MP3 version for listening.
  • BeeLine Reader: Enhanced version for easier and faster on-screen reading.
  • Immersive Reader: Aid reading comprehension and grammar skills. Internet required.
  • Translated Version: A machine translated version of the original document.

Content types supported by alternative formats:

  • PDF files (custom encoded fonts are not supported)
  • Microsoft® Word files
  • Microsoft® Powerpoint® files
  • OpenOffice/LibreOffice files
  • Uploaded HTML files
  • Content created in the LMS course editor (WYSIWYG)

Alternative formats allow all students to learn course material using Ally’s resources regardless of disability. These formats accommodate both students with impairments or conditions and individuals who learn differently.

In Blackboard Learn with the Original Course View, instructors should choose “Build Content and Files” to ensure alternative formats is available on the Blackboard app.

Instructors have the option to turn this setting off for any content but this is discouraged as it may disrupt a student’s learning. This does not affect the original file. A message will inform students who try to download alternative formats that these are unavailable once instructors disable the option. Alternatively, Ally may be turned off for a course or a file is unsupported if you can’t find the download alternative formats button.

3. Exceptions & Exemptions

Exceptions

Exceptions provide students with assignment-based accommodations. They do not affect a student’s grades but will allow more forgiving submission times.

Adding Exceptions

Instructors can grant exceptions in these four methods:

  • Assessment submission page: Select assignment > Submissions > Add or edit exceptions
  • Student grading page: Select assignment > Click three dots next to grade pill > Add or edit exceptions
  • Gradebook tab: Select student’s assessment cell > Add or edit exceptions
  • Student menu option: Click three dots next to assessment > Add or edit exceptions

Instructors must inform students about their exceptions.

Students who have a due date extension and already see an automatic zero will nullify this grade after making a submission. In this regard, they MAY be notified about their exception.

Students with extended access will NOT be notified about their exception when the assessment becomes available. Regardless, hidden content will remain visible to them. A due date that is the same as the time when content is hidden marks the submission late in the gradebook.

Students granted additional attempts for assessments can create extra submissions in the event of an unexpected circumstance. If an assessment is already graded and posted, students will NOT be notified about their exception.

Exemptions

Exemptions excuse a student from an assessment or activity due to extraneous life events. The student’s grade will adjust according to the new overall score to ensure fair grading. Exempt a student in three ways:

  • Assessment submission page: Select assignment > Submissions > Add or edit exemptions
  • Gradebook tab: Select student’s assessment cell > Add or edit exemptions
  • Student menu option: Click three dots next to assessment > Add or edit exemptions

When exempting an item, the item won’t be:

  • included in the overall grade calculation,
  • marked late for students who don’t make a submission,
  • assigned an automatic zero.

It’s still possible for exempted students to make submissions for informal grading and feedback, but they will be excluded from the overall grade. Instructors must remove the exemption if a student wants the submission included in their grade.

Accommodations can also be applied to anonymous tests and assignments using the same methodology as exceptions and exemptions. This reduces grading bias while still permitting the basic functions of regular ones.

Instructors will still be able to view these details in the student menu option, Grades tab, and Students tab.

While instructors can delete a bad submission attempt, it’s best practice to grant the student an additional attempt to rectify the issue.

Occasionally students may ask you to verify their submission or claim to have made a submission you may not have seen. To find a submission, you can ask the student for the submission confirmation number and look it up in the gradebook. This number is available in the submission receipt.

4. File Accessibility Scores

Accessibility scores are provided for every file attached in a course based on the severity of issues. Content must be attached for Ally to score them with a numerical value and colored gauge. The following are the types of scores Ally gives content.

  • Low: File is not accessible and needs immediate attention.
  • Medium: File is somewhat accessible and could use improvement.
  • High: File is accessible but could be improved.
  • Perfect: File is accessible. No improvement needed.

Ally will provide instructors with step-to-step guidance on improving a file’s accessibility until it’s completely accessible. Follow the steps in the Instructor Feedback panel to learn how to remediate issues.

Currently, Ally checks files in these formats:

  • PDF files
  • Microsoft® Word files
  • Microsoft® PowerPoint® files
  • OpenOffice/LibreOffice files
  • Uploaded HTML files
  • Image files (JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF)
  • WYSIWYG/VTBE content
  • YouTubeTM videos embedded in WYSIWYG/VTBE content

5. Instructor Feedback

Ally helps instructors check and improve content accessibility through its detailed feedback. It explains the accessibility issues, their significance, and ways to remediate. A green gauge indicator with a high score is the goal.

6. Course Accessibility Score

There is also an accessibility score instructors can reference in addition to the file ones. It provides a broad summary of accessibility features or issues in a course, showing information such as:

  • Accessibility score for the course
  • Distribution of course content by content type
  • List of all issues identified in the course

There are two tabs for Overview and Content to understand the bigger picture and finer details for content accessibility. It allows instructors to prioritize what issues to fix with guidance through the Instructor Feedback panel.

  • Overview: Shows course accessibility score, content grouped by type, and all issues identified.
  • Content: Shows specific content with accessibility issues.

Navigate to “Course Tools” in Blackboard Learn Original or “Books & Course Tools” in Blackboard Learn Ultra for the CAR.

The report includes an accessibility score for the entire course.

Scores range from Low to Perfect. The higher the score the fewer the issues.

  • Low (0-33%): Needs help! There are severe accessibility issues.
  • Medium (34-66%): A little better. The file is somewhat accessible and needs improvement.
  • High (67-99%): Almost there. The file is accessible but more improvements are possible.
  • Perfect (100%): Perfect! Ally didn’t identify any accessibility issues but further improvements may still be possible.

All the content in a course is grouped by content type. Select Start to go to the Content tab and start fixing issues.

Use the report to help you decide what to fix first. For example, you could address content with most severe issues first or start with the content that’s easiest to fix.

Choose between Content with the easiest issues to fix and Fix low scoring content. See how many pieces of content you’ll be fixing. Select Start.

Issues are listed in order of priority from severe to minor. Those listed first should be addressed first. Ally looks at the number of students impacted, how often the issue occurs, and the accessibility score to determine the priority.

  • Severe. These issues are the greatest risk to accessibility and require the most attention.
  • Major. These issues impact accessibility, and while not severe, require attention.
  • Minor. These issues should be considered for a better accessibility score.

Select an issue to review all the content that has that issue. Select the co

7. PDF Remediation Options

Instructors can use Ally’s built‑in PDF quick fixes to address common accessibility issues. These fixes are available directly in the Instructor Feedback panel and can be used to add a missing title, set the document language, or apply OCR to scanned PDFs.

These quick fixes are meant to support Ally’s feedback and guidance, not replace it. They provide an easy way to make meaningful accessibility improvements without disrupting faculty workflow.

When a quick fix is applied, Ally creates a new version of the PDF and replaces the original file in the course. Instructors should download or save a copy of the original scanned PDF if they need it later because Ally’s actions cannot be undone, especially when using OCR.

Available PDF Quick Fixes

Instructors can set a title using the input field and can select “Apply fix” to save.

  • Titles may not be comprised of only special characters (like @ or !)
  • Titles may not end in a period (.)
  • Titles may not end with a file extension (like .pdf, .xls, etc.)
  • Title may not match the filename exactly

Instructors can select from the dropdown of available languages and select “Apply fix” to save.

Ally currently considers three types of PDFs, which can impact how the language is set on a document:  

  • Non-Tagged and already OCRed PDFs: Instructors can use the quick fix to manually set any language to resolve the missing language issue with no restriction on what is chosen.
  • Tagged PDFs: Ally will validate the language selected by the instructor against the language detected from the PDF. If the PDF contains multiple languages, the detection mechanism will identify the primary language to compare to the instructor’s selection.
  • OCRed PDFs: After using the OCR quick fix, PDFs typically have few language issues. However, PDFs created from Word or PowerPoint may still have language mismatches. In those cases, Ally limits instructors to selecting the correct language based on what the system detects in the PDF.

Instructors can use Preview and Apply to OCR a scanned PDF and view a preview of the results before saving any changes. Before applying the OCR fix, they have the option to download and save the original scanned PDF if they may need it later, since the process cannot be undone.

When OCR is applied, Ally uses optical character recognition (powered by ABBYY Vantage) to add a searchable text layer to the PDF, improving accessibility without removing or damaging the original content. Instructors must approve the previewed version before Ally saves the updated PDF to the course, ensuring they remain in full control of the final file.

Although OCR significantly improves accessibility by making text searchable and readable by assistive technologies, it does not solve all accessibility issues. OCRed PDFs can still be difficult for users to read. This is especially true for those created from poor‑quality scans.

While additional guidance for improving OCRed PDFs may be developed in the future, instructors can further enhance the student experience by replacing OCRed PDFs with alternative formats or properly formatted, fully accessible PDF files.

8. Ally WYSIWYG

Ally gives provides real‑time accessibility feedback while instructors create or edit content in their course editor. When in edit mode, an accessibility score appears in the WYSIWYG (or VTBE) editor. As instructors type or make changes, the score updates automatically.

The score ranges from Low to Perfect. A higher score means fewer accessibility problems. Clicking the score shows what issues exist and gives step‑by‑step instructions on how to fix them. Instructors can make quick fixes right in the feedback panel and preview changes.

Ally explains what each accessibility issue means, why it matters, and how to improve it. Instructors can view all issues at once and choose which ones to fix first. When done, instructors must save the content in the editor for changes to be applied.

After making the necessary changes, close the Ally feedback panel and save the updated content in the WYSIWYG editor to save changes. Be mindful changes will only be saved through the content editor.

Ally checks WYSIWYG content the same way it checks HTML files, and the results appear in both instructor and administrator accessibility reports. However, guidance is currently available only for certain issues. These include:

  • Text with insufficient contrast
  • Heading order
    • “The HTML’s heading structure does not start at the right level” is an issue reported in the CAR as well as the Institution Report. There’s no guidance for this issue in the WYSIWYG editor because of heading levels on the page outside the editor.
  • Image without a description
    • When adding images directly into WYSIWYG content, instructors must manually add alternative text to make them accessible. Once added, this information is kept when the course is copied.
  • Image with redundant descriptions
  • Tables without headers
  • Tables with empty headers

WYSIWYG Content Editor Score on Blackboard

Create or edit WYSIWYG content to see the Ally score.

  1. Go to a supported WYSIWYG content.
  2. Select Edit from the three dots in the corner of the content box.
  3. The Ally score appears above the WYSIWYG editor toolbar.
Supported Ally WYSIWYG Content

Information in the parenthesis refers to the related column heading in the Course Report export.

  • Content Folder (application/x-folder)
  • Content Item (application/x-item)
  • Lesson Plan (application/x-lesson)
  • A link to a Forum (application/x-link-discussion-topic)
  • Web Link (application/x-link-web)
  • Embedded LTI application (application/x-lti-launch)

Create or edit WYSIWYG content to see the Ally score.

  1. Go to a supported WYSIWYG content.
  2. Select the Options menu for the content.
  3. Select Edit. The Ally score appears on the right above the WYSIWYG editor toolbar.
Supported Ally WYSIWYG Content

Information in the parenthesis refers to the related column heading in the Course Report export.

  • Content Folder (application/x-folder)
  • Content Item (application/x-item)
  • Learning Module (application/x-learning-module)
  • Lesson Plan (application/x-lesson)
  • A link to a Forum (application/x-link-discussion-topic)
  • Web Link (application/x-link-web)
  • Embedded LTI application (application/x-lti-launch)
  • All other WYSIWYG content types including Blank page and Module page (application/x-page)