Anthology Ally is a tool that runs within Canvas and gives an indication to faculty members about the accessibility level of content loaded into Canvas (ex: PDF Documents, PPT Documents, Word Documents, etc.)
Faculty will see the file accessibility icons displayed next to files in course shells. These icons will indicate the accessibility level of the content similar to the following:
There are three gauge icons that measure your file’s accessibility:
| Accessible | |
| Somewhat Accessible | |
| Not Accessible |
When the icon is clicked, an explanation behind the rating is displayed along with ways to improve the rating for each document in the course.
Ally is always running in the background. It will assess new file accessibility when a new file is placed in a course and display the accessibility score icon within a few minutes of being added.
How to address file accessibility issues
- Identify sources documents - PDF files are usually created from source Word or PowerPoint files and are the files that must be edited to remove/modify content that do not follow accessibility standards.
- Use the Accessibility Checker in Microsoft Office applications - depending on the version of Microsoft Office, the Accessibility Check is usually available under File>Check Document.
- Become familiar with accessibility requirements before you begin creating file content.
Learn about accessibility tools within Microsoft Office by pressing the F1 key and searching for Accessibility.