Ally Product Pulse

# Accessibility

# Ally

January Edition

Katie Grennell, PhD.

Issue #4: January Edition ❄️

Welcome to the first Ally Product Pulse of the new year! I hope everyone has started the year strong and in good health. I read somewhere (probably while doom scrolling) that setting intentions instead of resolutions is a great way to start the new year. Resolutions can crack under pressure, but intentions bend, shift, and grow with us—much like accessibility, which thrives through steady, ongoing commitment rather than one‑and‑done goals. So this year, I invite all of us to set an intention around accessibility, one that lasts long after the Title II deadline and becomes a meaningful, everyday practice we grow into together. Ally, the product and the people behind it, are here to support that intention every day, all year long.

Inside this month’s issue:

Feature spotlight: Institutional Report’s Usage Data

Recently published content: Coppin State University Case Study

Upcoming Events

Did you Know?

Feature Spotlight

This month, we’re shining the spotlight on the usage data inside Ally’s Institutional Report, a true goldmine of engagement data. Available as an excel spreadsheet with five individual sheets, administrators can view detailed engagement data with both alternative formats and instructor feedback from a selected period of time (i.e. August 1^st, 2025-December 15^th, 2025). Below is a short list of example data points that are included in the usage data:

# of alternative format launches

# of alternative format downloads

breakdown of alternative format type downloads

# of launches of instructor feedback

# of instructor fixes to content

# of times the suggested alt text from the AI Alt Text assistant was used

Image description: Screenshot of a usage data report displayed in a spreadsheet format, showing instructor engagement metrics, including counts for launching instructor feedback, total fixes, conversion rate, and launching the course accessibility report. A bar chart visualizes these metrics, and a table below lists courses with improvements, including the number of fixes. A highlighted box shows “469 total fixes” and another notes “25 courses with fixes.”

The usage data in Ally’s Institutional Report can be a powerful driver of institution-wide progress, especially as institutions in the United States work to strengthen accessibility efforts ahead of the Title II updates. By revealing trends in how instructors engage with Ally’s feedback, such as where engagement is growing, where it may be lagging, and which courses are leading the way, this data helps identify where targeted outreach, training, or support could have the greatest impact. For example, you can use student engagement trends to help instructors craft simple, encouraging language that raises awareness of Alternative Formats in their courses. You can also spotlight courses with a high number of instructor fixes, celebrating their progress and inviting those faculty to share their approach with colleagues. And by examining the total number of instructor fixes completed last semester, you can work with departments to set realistic, targeted goals for next semester, using data to guide momentum, not just measure it.

Related resources:

Usage Data Support Article

Ally Adoption Strategy Guide: as part of Ally’s Communication and Adoption Toolkit, the adoption strategy guide talks about how to evaluate and use your Ally data, including your usage data.

Recently Published Content

Our newest case study, Coppin State University: Leading with Accessibility Long Before Title II, features the exceptional work of Wendy Vélez‑Torres and her team, who have used Ally to empower faculty and foster a campus‑wide culture of accessibility. Between highlighting faculty progress, engaging deans and department chairs directly, maintaining a digital accessibility hub, and leading faculty-focused training on Ally and accessibility, Wendy and her team have collectively created an environment where accessibility is both prioritized and celebrated. A heartfelt thank-you to Wendy and the entire Coppin State team for their partnership and their unwavering commitment to inclusive education.

Upcoming Events

We have a full and exciting month ahead, packed with opportunities to learn, connect, and explore what’s new with Ally. Here’s what’s coming up!

Ally Roadmap Session: Get ready! Our next Ally Roadmap Session is right around the corner, and we’re pulling back the curtain on the newest features, upcoming enhancements, and long‑term vision. Please join us on Wednesday, February 4^th at 11:00am EST for Ally’s roadmap session, hosted by the Ally Product team. To register, visit Ally Roadmap Session Registration Site.

Ally Office Hours: new year, new monthly office hours cadence! Due to popular demand, we are moving office hours back to a monthly cadence. Please join us for our first office hours of the new year, on Monday, February 9^th at 11:00am EST. To register, visit Ally Office Hours Registration Link. We’d love to see you there!

Ally User Group: the first Ally User Group meeting of the year is coming up on Thursday, January 29^th at 10:00 am EST. This meeting will feature two of our 2025’s Fix Your Content Day winners, California State University, Chico, and the University of Law, as they share how they climbed to the top of the leaderboard and made meaningful accessibility changes across their campuses. To register, visit Ally User Group Meeting Registration Site.

Western Region Ally User Group: to better accommodate our Ally users on the West Coast, we’re launching a new Ally User Group for the western region. This group will operate similarly to the current Ally User Group but will meet later in the day to better align with their time zones. The first meeting of the new year is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, February 5^th at 1:00 pm EDT. We will share the registration link as soon as it is made available.

Did You Know?

Did you know that World Braille Day is observed every year on January 4^th? This day marks the birthday of Louis Braille, inventor of the tactile reading and writing system used worldwide by blind and visually impaired people. Braille is a tactile reading system that uses patterns of six raised dots, allowing people to read using their fingertips. Proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018 and first celebrated in 2019, the mission of the day is to raise awareness of braille as an essential tool for communication and access to information for blind and visually impaired people.

Ally helps extend this mission by offering a braille ready format (BRF) as one of its alternative formats. These BRF files can be used with refreshable braille displays or compatible braille software, giving students immediate, self‑serve access to course materials in a braille‑ready format without waiting for manual conversion. This not only empowers learners with timely access but also helps reduce the volume of embossed braille production accessibility services offices’ need to manage, ultimately saving time, resources, and turnaround while still meeting students’ accessibility needs.

Braille has also become more heavily woven into everyday life, showing up in more places and in more creative forms than ever before. From elevator buttons and public signage that support independent navigation in buildings to braille labels on household items like spices, medications, and appliances that make daily tasks easier at home, tactile access is becoming a more commonplace part of public and private spaces. And as a bonus did you know, did you know that Lego has created braille bricks, which incorporate braille letters and numbers directly into Lego studs? Now children who are blind or have vision impairments can learn braille through playful, inclusive experiences alongside their sighted peers. In many ways, this growing presence of braille across daily life is exactly what World Braille Day celebrates: a world where tactile literacy is embraced, supported, and accessible to everyone.

To learn more our braille ready format file, visit Ally's Alternative Formats Support Article.

Ally Resources

For additional resources and support, please explore the list below:

Ally Communication and Adoption Toolkit-collection of resources for administrators and faculty to support their Ally adoption efforts.

Ally Help Site-help documentation for Ally for students, faculty, and administrators.

Accessibility and Ally: A Resource Roundup for Inclusive Learning Blog Post: collection of accessibility and Ally-related resources to peruse.

Ally Release Notes: stay up to date on current releases, including bug fixes, improvements, and features.

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