How accessible is your course? Are you sure? If the content in your course is not accessible, students will not be able to use it. Therefore it leads to lower retention, lower student satisfaction, and lower levels of learning. Fortunately, the new installation of Ally will help you determine if your content is accessible and offer ways for you to fix the content so it is in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Let’s take a closer look.

How to Add the Report to Your Course

To use the Accessibility Report, you first have to add it to your course. You can either add it as a menu tool or a content tool. Personally, I install it as a menu tool but I will show you both ways.

Install the Accessibility Report as a Menu Tool

Here are the steps for installing the Accessibility Report as a menu tool:

1. Mouse over the Add Menu Item dropdown menu and select the Tool Link.
2. Type Accessibility Report for the name and select Accessibility Report as the type. I recommend leaving the checkbox for Available to Users unchecked.
3. Click Submit.

The report will be found at the bottom of the left-hand menu. Feel free to move it to another location on the menu.

Install the Accessibility Report as a Content Tool

Here are the steps for installing the Accessibility Report as a content tool:

1. Navigate to an area in your course where you want to add the Accessibility Report.
2. Click on Tools, then click on More Tools, and finally, click on Accessibility Report.
3. Leave everything as is and I recommend clicking on the No radio button for Available.
4. Click Submit.

The report will be found at the bottom of the content. Feel free to move it to another location on the menu.

How to Use the Accessibility Report

Using the Accessibility Report is quite easy. Begin by clicking on the Accessibility Report link.

The accessibility report provides you with a lot of important information. To include (1) a course accessibility score, (2) a choice between an overview view and content view of issues to adjust, (3) quick access to fixing high or low scoring content, (4) quick access to fixing the major issues, and (5) a list of issues that needs to be fixed. The Overview screen also shows the number and type of items being reviewed.

You can decide how you want to start to fix your issues. You can start with your low scoring content, major issues, or just run down the list of issues.

If you select Content from the menu, you then have an opportunity to sort the list by score.

The types and severity of issues vary. Here are some links to help you better understand the Accessibility Report as well as suggestions for improving your content.

• Course Accessibility Report
• Ally Quick Start for Instructors
• Improve Content Accessibility
• Accessibility in Ally for LMS

I would also recommend that you take one of our accessibility courses. They will help you create better content.

Summary

The Accessibility Report will help you quickly identify content that should be fixed to create a better student experience. If you see a score that is red or orange, please take the time to fix it.

If you want to learn more about how to do this, please contact a member of the TEI team.