Blackboard Ally Reviews & Product Details

The simplicity of the product for the user to easily evaluate the accessibility of their course content in an online or distance learning course. In addition, the development team is well beyond brilliant in their approach to support higher education institutions in their accommodation initiatives. They are charging the path setting high expectations to meet the needs of diverse learners. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Lack of closed captioning coverage for videos outside of the LMS. Should be an integral part to any LMS and not considered an extra charge. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like that Ally is easily incorporated into our LMS. It has allowed us to work with individual faculty with varying levels of issues within their courses to become compliant. It becomes less of a challenge to get to the 85% passing score when it comes across as gamification of accessibility. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I would say the cost is the one thing that essentially threw a curve into our implementation. I think the product is great, I think it would be good to have reps visit campus to show impact across the industry. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Blackboard Ally, or just Ally for short, is an incredibly helpful tool. It has one primary function, which is to auto-scan and evaluate Blackboard Web Community Manager (WCM) content's accessibility. The part I like best about Ally is its overview page, which shows me a summary of what is going on with our website's content. On the overview page, I can quickly scan and see an overview of scanned files, pages, and sections, along with an overall accessibility score. Having this information at-a-glance helps me to know which content needs to be addressed, and even, which content I should prioritize changing, so that our website maintains accessibility. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Ally is perfect in almost regard, but has one to two shortcomings that I've noticed. The first shortcoming is that our accessibility score is determined on a month-to-month basis. That means that if I go in and improve the accessibility of specific web pages and files, I really won't see the results of my actions until the next month's accessibility report comes out. This is frustrating as I would love to be able to filter the score on at least a week-by-week basis and even shorter intervals. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It has a good foundation of tools and functionalities, so it is a solid option for those who are considering an online learning platform. I love how you are able to upload assignments and administer tests/quizzes online to keep everything on one platform. Great way to keep things organized as well! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Biggest issue is the amount of glitches/bugs/freezes that you encounter. Overtime, it gets frustrating, especially with a busy schedule or when you lose some unsaved work. Some of the navigation is not intuitive either so it is hard to find tools. In addition to the uncompetitive cost, we have decided to switch to a different platform. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It has a way to chat and communicate with others who are learning too. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The loading screen inbetween submission of a paper, quizzes,essays,etc. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like the gauges for quick monitoring of accessibility. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Sometimes it's a bit tricky to know where the ADA non-compliance really is. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I would have to say that I like the home screen of Blackboard Ally the best. Or, in other words, the display that is shown when you have the dashboard open for the site. Not only is the dashboard easily customizable to ensure that you are seeing the ideal environment for online learning, but it is also very nicely designed and spaced. Blackboard Ally is one of the best online learning platforms that I have used in my education career both as a student and as a teacher so far. It is easy to navigate throughout the site to different pages within as well. I can easily organize all of my different courses and efficiently check assignments and grades within just a few simple clicks of the mouse with little to no thinking. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Overall, the Blackboard Ally platform is very well designed and formatted. There is little to no issue that I can see with the site in general. The only issue I have ever encountered is occasionally when I click a certain button on the webpage, it clicks another button. This is due to the page sizing issues. If I make Blackboard Ally a split-screen with something else, sometimes it messes up the alignment that is presented on the Blackboard Ally page. While this is fairly insignificant because I can fix it by just making it full screen, it would be more promotive to multitasking if this issue was not occurring on the Blackboard Ally site. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like many of blackboard ally canvas’s features including the ease of accessibility for users and the feedback aspect so you know how well/easily your courses/information are able to be accessed. You also have the choice of making your course content more accessible OR your website content so that’s a great feature as well. Ally is definitely a reputable and valued resource. Ally can teach and reach a broad range of students as well with it being online. Plus, there are training courses for users which is wonderful to have when you are unfamiliar with it in the beginning. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I’m not sure I could say I really dislike anything about ally. Maybe a few glitches throughout the process but overall a great resource. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like how the tool has everything related to the course. It has great interface and is compatible even on mobile. It’s easy to attend virtual classes and it has features to record which is very useful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I think the meeting feature can further be enhanced if there’s better muting feature by which instructors can mute other speakers as sometimes there’s unwanted noise. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The product is user friendly and it is easy to evaluate the accessibility of your course content in an online or distance learning course. The data is very useful for creating content that is effective for your course. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The software can be buggy at times when using other applications, like on the mobile phone or website when accessing grades. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.