Ally
Ally is a service that makes it easier for employee’s at LU to produce and publish accessible material via Canvas. Students can use Ally to access their material in a way that suits them best – this might be listening to mp3 files, reading with an eBook, or “seeing” with the help of braille.
Ally – support for teachers and students
Support for making documents accessible for those with different needs in your course
Ally is a service which makes it easier for you to create, edit and publish accessible documents including other alternative versions for your students in Canvas. When Ally is activated students can automatically download different versions of your course material. The service is a support for simplifying and to an extent automating work to make materials accessible and adhere to The Act on Accessibility of Digital Public Services (read more in the fact box below).
Read more about
Some icons with different colours have appeared in my course, what do they mean?
It means that Ally has scanned the files you have uploaded to your course. The different colours give you an indication on how accessible your documents are and how you can improve them. Please note that it is only you as a teacher that can see these colours.
Do I have to fix all the documents at once?
As a government institution it is mandatory that we make sure that our documents are accessible for all our students and participants. There is a lot of material uploaded on Canvas and it must be seen as a process that occurs over a long period of time to fix all the documents. Most importantly is that there is a plan for the work.
How can I get support for this work?
- Take part in the guide: Get started with Ally is a resource in Canvas that describes Ally’s functionality and goes through step by step how to approach working with accessibility in your documents.
Get started with Ally in Canvas - Attend a webinar: Make your course accessible is a short presentation (45 min) that runs regularly. Here you can ask questions and get information that you need for your work.
Workshops on Accessibility in our Calendar - Contact canvas [at] education [dot] lu [dot] se (subject: St%C3%B6d%20av%20studenter%20f%C3%B6r%20tillg%C3%A4nglighetsanpassning) (canvas[at]education[dot]lu[dot]se) for questions regarding hands-on support from our student assistants.
How can I inform my students?
If you want to inform your students on what they can use Ally for you can link them to the module on Ally in the student guide:
- To information pages about Ally in the Student guide in Canvas
- To the homepage of the Student guide in Canvas
Where can I get more information about accessibility at LU?
Read more about the accessibility work that happens at LU on the staff pages:
Why accessibility
Lund University’s websites and web-based systems, such as Canvas, fall under the new law on on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies (EU web accessibility directive). The aim of the law is to increase digital accessibility for all users, including people with disabilities. The law entails that content published digitally – documents, web pages, videos, etc. – is to be adapted for accessibility according to a particular international web standard (WCAG 2.1 level A+AA).
The public authority responsible for monitoring compliance with the law on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies is the Agency for Digital Government, Digg
