Dear ITC Panda,

This is my first time teaching at ARC, and I have one online course in Canvas this semester. I have noticed little gauges on my pages when I am working on them. The gauges are on the bottoms of images and files I use on my Canvas pages. I have used Canvas at other schools and haven’t seen this before. Can you explain them, please?

Prof S.

Dear Prof S.

Thanks for your question.

Los Rios has provided a tool called Ally in our Canvas courses to help us become allies to inclusive learning by reducing and overcoming the barriers that might occur in digital content. Those little gauges/dials are provided by Ally as visual indicators of the accessibility of any non-text items on your Canvas pages. You will also notice them when you open Files from the Course Navigation for your class. When you select the gauges, you will see suggestions for improving the accessibility when needed.

 

 

Since it takes a while to fully update all your files, Ally is already at work behind the scenes with a temporary solution for your students. Without any intervention from you, students are able to download more accessible, alternative formats of your Canvas pages and documents. Note that while the alternative file types are great for delivering content to students in a format that works for them, the result can also be dependent on the accessibility of the original document. When clicking on the arrows, students see options like these, depending on the file:

 

 

 

 

Ally also helps identify accessibility issues with course resources and provides information about how to improve their accessibility. Notice that the arrow inside the gauges indicate how much attention an item needs to make it accessible for users.

For more information about how to use Ally, please refer to this illustrated quick-start document called Ally for Instructors for an introduction. To learn more about Ally for Instructors, go to Ally for LMS Help for Instructors.

We have a document for students, too, called Ally for Students with instructions for downloading alternative formats, and some detailed explanations to help make decisions about which type of format will be best for each user.

For more information on including Universal Design and Accessibility features in your class, visit the ARC ITC Universal Design at ARC webpage and if you would like individual assistance with any aspect of Universal Design in your class, please email Lori Hokerson (she/her), Universal Design and Accessibility Coordinator at hokersl@arc.losrios.edu or ITCtraining@arc.losrios.edu.

Thanks for your question!

ITC Panda