Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) outlines the requirements for making services accessible to people with disabilities. In April 2024 new guidelines were released by the U.S. Department of Justice specific to standards for digital accessibility. This semester the campus will be outlining what this means for Fredonia, but in Online Learning we would like to start with an important tool in every course, the course syllabus.
Overview
Using FREDLearn and Ally make the necessary edits to your syllabus to ensure a score of 90% or higher is obtained.
- Upload or build your Fall 2025 syllabus in your FREDLearn course shell. Review the Ally score and feedback.
- If your score is less than 100% review the feedback and make the necessary updates to the syllabus. If necessary replace the original syllabus in FREDLearn to recheck the score.
- Once a score of 90% or higher is obtained, submit the syllabus information for your accessible syllabus to the Fall 2025 Accessible Syllabus Challenge form.
Supports for Making Syllabi Accessible
Using Ally to Review Accessibility
Ally is a content accessibility tool integrated into FREDLearn. It scans course files (like PDFs, Word docs, PowerPoints, FREDLearn webpages, etc.) and measures the accessibility of each file attached to your course. It gives instructors a score for each file and offers guidance on how to fix accessibility issues. Steps for obtaining and working with Ally scores is provided.
Common Alerts from Ally
Ally will provide a report for any identified issues and provide details on how to mediate these issues. Below are some of the most commonly identified issues.
Headings
Many documents contain visual headings by making content larger and/or bold. Using formal Headings allows for a similar look but also provides structure to a document. This allows individuals using an assistive device to navigate and make sense of a document. Microsoft provides instructions on creating Headers as well as managing the font and style being used by headers.
Table Headers
Table header rows act as titles and provide more information to users about the type of information they find in the table. Also critical, table header rows inform a screen reader how to read a table, helping the user to make sense of the table cells. To be sure that tables can be recognized and read, identify the table’s row and column headings and repeat table headers on subsequent pages
Alt Text
Alternative text (Alt text) is a short, written description of an image or object. Alt text helps individuals utilizing a screen reader to understand what an image or object is and the information it provides. Adding Alt text does not make it visible in the document but placed in the code of the object.
Contrast
Color contrast refers to how one color stands out against another. The use of color in a document can make a document visually appealing but needs to be used responsibly. Color should not be the sole way of noting important items. When using color be sure the contrast between the text and background it is on. Avoid green/red and blue/yellow combinations. When a contrast issue is identified, many times selecting a darker or lighter version of the color will correct the issue.
Descriptive Links
Descriptive links, or URLs, should tell a user where the link is going when they click on it. They should make sense to the user when taken out of context, on their own. Avoid using ambiguous words such as “click here” or pasting the entire link into the document.
- Avoid ambiguous click here links
- Pasting long URLs forces screen readers to read out each letter. Example: https://www.section508.gov/blog/accessibility-bytes/descriptive-links-a…
- Follow best practices for descriptive links to ensure accessibility.