Overview
In this issue, we're focusing on a tool that's already quietly at work in every bCourses site: Ally.
If you've been in bCourses, you may have noticed small colored dial icons appearing next to your files: red, orange, or green. If you've clicked on one, or wondered what they mean, you've already encountered Ally. Ally is an accessibility tool built directly into bCourses and enabled for all bCourse sites at Berkeley. This issue is about what it does, what it's telling you, and how to make it work for you and your students.
Ally in bCourses
Ally does two separate things, one for students and one for instructors, and it helps to understand them as distinct.
For Your Students
Regardless of whether you've ever opened Ally or looked at a score, your students already have access to something called Alternative Formats through Ally. Next to most files in your course, students see a small download icon that lets them access the same content in different formats: an MP3 audio version they can listen to on a commute, an ePub for reading on a phone, an HTML version that works better with screen readers, or an electronic Braille file. Ally generates these automatically from your original files. It's worth letting your students know this feature exists. A quick mention in your syllabus or a brief note at the start of the semester goes a long way. You can share our Ally Tutorial for Students at UC Berkeley, which walks them through how to access alternative formats in bCourses.
That said, alternative formats work best when the original file is already reasonably accessible. If a file is a scanned image-based PDF with no real text underneath it, Ally doesn't have much to work with, and the converted version won't be meaningfully more accessible. This is why making your source files as accessible as possible is most important. Alternative formats are a bonus layer, not a substitute.
For You (an Instructor)
Accessibility Score Indicators: The colored dials next to your files are Ally's way of flagging accessibility issues and showing you where to start. These are visible only to you; students never see scores or dials. Here's what the colors mean based on Anthology’s documentation:
- Red (0–33%): Severe issues – often a scanned image-based PDF or a file with no structure at all.
- Orange (34–66%): Some accessibility features present, but significant issues remain.
- Light green (67–99%): Mostly accessible with minor improvements possible. (For most course materials, this is a strong and practical target.)
- Dark green (100%): Ally found no issues.
Clicking on any dial opens a panel that tells you exactly what the problem is and walks you through how to fix it, step by step, right there in bCourses. RTL has an Ally tutorial for instructors using bCourses that covers the key features.
A few things worth knowing about what Ally can and can't see: it checks files you've uploaded directly to bCourses – PDFs, Word docs, PowerPoints, images, and bCourses pages. It does not check external content, such as a Google Doc you've linked to or a website URL. It also doesn't check your Kaltura videos for captions. And like any automated tool, it has limits. For example, it can tell you that an image is missing alt text, but it can't tell you whether the alt text you wrote is actually meaningful. Think of it as a helpful starting point, not the whole picture. (For guidance on writing meaningful alt text, visit our guide on Common Teaching Scenarios.)
The Course Accessibility Report: If you want the full picture of your course at once, open the Course Accessibility Report. You'll find it in your course navigation menu under "Ally Course Accessibility Report."
The report has two tabs. The Overview tab shows your overall course score and the biggest problem areas, for example, "you have 12 scanned PDFs." The Content tab is your to-do list: every file and page in your course, with their individual scores. From here, you can sort by "Easiest to Fix" to find quick wins, or by "Lowest Score" to tackle the most urgent items first.
One thing that may surprise instructors the first time they open the report: Ally scans everything in your course, including unpublished files. So if you have old materials sitting in your Files section that students can't even see, they're still factored into your score. Before diving into fixes, consider whether students will ever use the file.
A Practical Starting Point
If you open your report and feel overwhelmed by what you see, here's a simple place to start: sort by "Easiest to Fix" and pick three items. Fix those. Close the tab. That's a real, meaningful improvement and can be enough for today.
If you see a long list of red PDFs, don't try to fix them all at once. Focus on what students will use in the first two weeks, unpublish anything that isn't actively in use, and gradually work through the rest. The +1 approach from our April issue applies here, too.
Final Thoughts
Ally works best when you treat it as a guide rather than a grade. It's showing you where the barriers are so you can decide which ones to address and when.
As always, our Accessibility in Teaching & Learning Resource Hub is your go-to for guidance on all things accessibility. For Ally-specific questions, you can reach the Ally support team directly at allyhelp@berkeley.edu. For general accessibility questions or requesting department visits, you can reach us at course-accessibility@berkeley.edu or through our RTL accessibility intake form.