Posted:
April 05, 2021Coming to a D2L Course Near You: Ally for Document Accessibility
Have you ever wished your D2L course materials would come in different formats? Perhaps an MP3 that you could listen to, or a document that would fit better on your cellphone screen?
Well, Century College is getting closer to achieving that by adopting a new tool called Ally. This tool is designed to provide different formats of course materials to accommodate your learning needs and preferences.
Soon you’ll be able to go into the Content section (under the Material Tab on the Navbar) of your D2L courses and see next to each document a little A with an upward arrow next to it (Please see the image below):
If you hover your cursor over the A icon, you’ll see the words “Alternative Formats” pop up. When you click on it, another window will pop up, listing the various formats you can view or listen to:
- ePub: This version enables you to read the document as an e-book on an iPad and other e-book readers. It will also fit better in your cellphone screen.
- Electronic braille: With the appropriate software, this will produce an electronic braille display.
- Audio: You’ll be able to create a version that you can listen to in MP3 format.
- BeeLine Reader: This version uses different color combinations of text for easier and faster on-screen reading.
- Translated version: If you a prefer a version other than English, you can machine translate the original document into more than 70 different languages (including Spanish and Somali, among others).
One special note, however, involves encrypted materials. If the text is from a publisher, you won’t be able to change the version. A message will pop up letting you know that you cannot change the format. Also, if you click on links inside a text, they will not be available in different formats. Please let your instructor know if you cannot access an article in an alternative format.
Ally is designed to promote accessibility for online learning. If you still have questions about Ally, please contact Dr. Caroline Toscano at caroline.toscano@century.edu