Ally Quick Start

High-Impact Accessibility Fixes (Without Rebuilding Your Course)

What Ally Is (and Isn’t)

• ✅ Is: A tool that helps students access your content in multiple formats
• ✅ Is: A way to quickly improve usability and clarity
• ❌ Is NOT: A requirement to reach 100% or redo your entire course

1️⃣ Where to Find Your Accessibility Score

1. Open your course
2. Go to Details & Actions
3. Select Books & Tools
4. Open Accessibility Report (LTI 1.3)

👉 Your score reflects content types, not teaching quality.

2️⃣ Common Ally Issues

These are normal—and fixable:

• ❌ Images without alternative text
  Cell diagrams, anatomy illustrations, micrographs
• ❌ Scanned PDFs
  Lab manuals, worksheets, old articles
• ❌ Charts or graphs explained only by color
  “The red line shows…”
• ❌ Tables without headers
  Data tables copied from Word or PDFs

3️⃣ What NOT to Worry About (Yet)

• ❌ Getting to 100%
• ❌ Fixing optional or unused content
• ❌ Rebuilding publisher materials unless required

Progress > perfection

4️⃣ Start Here: Highest Impact, Lowest Effort

Focus on content students must read or use.

✔ Images & Diagrams

• Add alt text that explains what students need to learn (Ally has AI generated option)
• Example:
• ❌ “Cell diagram”
• ✅ “Diagram labeling nucleus, mitochondria, ribosomes, and cell membrane”

✔ PDFs & Lab Materials

• Use Ally to convert scanned PDFs to accessible versions
• Prioritize:
• Lab instructions
• Safety procedures
• Required readings

✔ Charts & Tables

• Add table headers
• Briefly describe trends or outcomes in text

5️⃣ A Simple, Sustainable Workflow

Week 1

• Fix top 5 Ally issues
• Focus on images + PDFs

Week 2

• Address lab documents and charts

Ongoing

• Fix content as you reuse it
• Build habits, not backlogs