Small Fixes, Real Impact: Using Ally to Improve Course Accessibility
- Jul 5
- 2 min read
Every Rutgers Canvas course already has a tool built in that can tell you, file by file, how accessible your course materials are — and exactly what to do about it. It's called Ally, and if you've never opened it, you're not alone. But a few minutes spent with it each semester can make a real difference for your students.
What Ally Actually Does
Ally reviews the files and content in your Canvas course and shows a colored accessibility score next to each item. Click the score, and a feedback panel opens, explaining the issue, why it matters, and how to fix it—in plain language, no accessibility background required.
Ally also does something faculty don't always realize: it automatically generates alternative formats for every file in your course — audio, HTML, ePub, tagged PDF, and electronic braille — that students can download themselves, anytime, without asking you for anything.
Why It's Worth a Few Minutes
Accessibility work can feel like a big lift, but Ally is built for small, steady progress rather than a one-time overhaul. A red score means a real barrier — something a screen reader user may not be able to access at all. An amber score means partial access. Green means you're in good shape. Working through your red-scored syllabus, assignments, and core readings first covers the materials that affect every student in your course.
Most of the fixes Ally surfaces — adding real headings instead of bold text, writing alt text for an image, replacing "click here" with a descriptive link — take a few minutes each once you're in the source document.
Where to Start
Open the Course Accessibility Report from your Canvas course navigation. It gives you a full picture of your course and lets you filter by score or file type, which is especially useful if you're working through a course you've taught for a few semesters.
For the full walkthrough — how to read the accessibility scores, common issues Ally flags and how to fix them, and a faculty checklist to work from — see the Knowledge Base article:
Questions about a specific file, or need a hand getting started? Academic Technology Services is here to help — reach out anytime.