Blackboard User Guide: Instructor Feedback Panel

Ally First Steps Guide: Feedback and Guidance Video

Blackboard Ally first steps video guide helps instructors learn about and improve the accessibility of their files in the context of their own course.

Improve file accessibility

Ally provides instructions to improve file accessibility within the instructor feedback panels.

Select the file accessibility score to open the feedback panel. Follow the instructions to improve the file accessibility.

These instructions change depending on the file and the accessibility issues found. For example, with a PDF you may see instructions on how to make the PDF tagged. Select How to Make a PDF Tagged. Follow the steps to find the original document on your computer and open it. Continue to follow the instructions to tag the original document and upload it again.

Ally produces feedback for both images or text. Image feedback often suggests a one step for improving the accessibility. You may need to add a description for clarity or reconsider using the image at all.

Text feedback often includes multiple step instructions for your preferred software, such as Microsoft Word or LibreOffice. Common issues include untagged PDFs or contrast issues.

Select the file accessibility score and follow the instructions. These instructions change depending on the accessibility issues found. For example, with a PDF you may see instructions on how to make the PDF tagged. Follow the instructions to find the original document on your computer and open it. Continue to follow the instructions to tag the original document and upload it again.

Ally might prompt you to add additional information or to upload resources to make the file more user friendly. Depending on the issue, there could be several steps you need to take to make sure your file is accessible.

After you make your file more accessible, the accessibility score updates next to the file in the course. If you are unable to make your file more accessible, the file will remain with a low accessibility score. If you have multiple issues within your file, Ally will alert you of the next issue to fix.

The feedback panel

Find a file and select the Accessibility score indicator to view the instructor feedback panel.

For accessible files, Ally tells you what you did correctly. For files with Low to High scores, Ally shows you the issues and gives a step-by-step guide on how to fix them.

1. Accessibility score: See the overall score for the entire file.
2. All issues: Select All issues to see every issue in the file. This view shows you by how much the score can improve by fixing each issue. Find the issue you want to start fixing and select Fix.

   

3. Description of issue and step-by-step help: See the description for an issue with the file. Ally organizes this feedback in a decision tree, so all you need to do is read the directions and respond to the prompts. Learn what the issue is, why it matters, and how to correct it appropriately.
   1. Select What this means to learn more about the issue.
   2. Select How to and follow the steps to improve the file’s accessibility. In some cases, Ally allows you to make the fix directly, such as adding an alternative description to an image file. In other cases, Ally links you to resources to help solve the problem in the tools you’re using to create content. Upload a new file directly to Ally, and watch your score improve.

      These instructions change depending on the file and the accessibility issues found. For example, with a PDF you may see instructions on how to make the PDF tagged. Select How to Make a PDF Tagged.

4. Upload: Upload updated files to replace the existing one.