Mind the Gap: 6 Accessibility Features to Improve Your Ally Score

You just finished uploading a PDF - a syllabus, lecture notes, or a set of slides exported for printing. It looks fine to you, but how does it perform for a student relying on a screen reader? Would those scanned pages you dropped in actually be readable at all?

That is the exact gap Blackboard Ally is built to close. Running quietly in the background of every course and organization, Ally checks your files and gives you quick, actionable ways to fix what it finds. Here is a refresher on how Ally helps you save time, improve readability, and create a better learning experience for every student.

1. See Accessibility at a Glance with Color-Coded Meters

Every file you upload and link in Blackboard is scanned by Ally. Next to each piece of content is a color-coded accessibility meter that resembles a gauge. These color-coded gauges are visible only to you, never to students. The color coding can tell you at a quick glance the level of accessibility -- ranging from green or orange (high to perfect) to yellow or red (low to medium). 

Image: Ally scores range from Low to Perfect. 

• Low, medium, high, and perfect ratings give you an immediate sense of priority without opening the file.

• Click any meter to see exactly what's wrong and how to fix it, right where the content lives in your course.

2. Use the Course Report to Prioritize Your Time

Rather than checking every file one by one, Ally’s Course Accessibility Report (accessed and launched from Books & Tools -> Ally) gives you a course-wide score, a breakdown by content type, and a list of issues sorted by severity.

• Start with "Easy issues to fix" -- these are often the fastest way to raise your score.

• Many easy fixes turn out to be missing image descriptions, so that one filter can knock out a lot of ground quickly.

3. Fix PDF Problems Without Leaving Blackboard

Ally's "quick fixes" handle some of the most common PDF issues, such as missing titles, missing language settings, and scanned-only pages. All are visible right inside the Instructor Feedback panel.

• Add a title or set the document language in seconds through a simple field or dropdown.

• Convert a scanned PDF to readable text with built-in OCR, with the option to preview and download the original first.

4. Let Ally Auto-Tag Your PDFs

With Ally's Auto-Tagging feature, UMBC instructors can now generate a full tag structure for an untagged PDF automatically. 

• You review and approve the tag structure before anything is applied, and you can download the original file first.

• It won't fix everything (image descriptions, tables, and contrast still need separate attention), but it removes the heaviest lift.

5. Give Every Student a Format That Works for Them

Ally can also generate alternative versions of your files, including audio, mobile-friendly HTML/ePub, Immersive Reader, and BeeLine Reader, which lets students choose what fits their needs, device, or moment.

• A student might listen to the audio version on a commute, or use the HTML version to read comfortably on a phone.

• Framing these as options for any student, not just those with accommodations, helps normalize their use.

6. Get AI-Assisted Suggestions for Image Descriptions

Missing alt text is one of the most common issues Ally flags. When it finds an image without a description, Ally can now generate a suggested one automatically.

• You always review and approve the suggestion before it's saved; nothing is applied automatically.

• For complex images or diagrams, tools like Gemini, Copilot, or ChatGPT can help you write a more detailed long description when Ally's suggestion isn't quite enough. 

Coming Soon: AI Alt Text for Images Inside PDFs

Ally's next update extends AI-generated image descriptions into PDFs, so images embedded inside PDF files, not just standalone uploads, will be eligible for AI-suggested alt text. As with existing AI suggestions, instructors will review and approve every description before it's applied. We'll share more as this rolls out.