You can now earn recognition for the great work that you are doing at NIU to improve the accessibility of your course materials and being a champion for accessibility.
You can earn a digital badge for your work to be student centered, increase your overall accessibility score, find and fix accessibility issues, and add captions to multimedia materials. When you earn them all, you will truly be an Ally Hero!
Because improving accessibility is an ongoing process and not an all-or-nothing endeavor, most of the badges offer multiple levels. Start small and work your way up to the top!
Fight For Good: Student-Centered Focus On Accessibility
The easiest way to get started with Ally is to ensure that your syllabus is accessible and that your students are aware of the alternative formats. Check out the communication toolkit for resources to help you tell students about Ally. This badge has one level.
Requirements
- Syllabus accessibility score is 90% or higher
AND - You have shared information with your students about alternative formats, such as posting information in your Blackboard course, adding a statement to your syllabus, sending information via email, or demonstrating it in class
Super Strength: Lifting Your Overall Accessibility Score
Your overall accessibility score is a great indicator of how accessible your course materials are. As you improve the accessibility of your content, you will lift your overall accessibility of your content, you will lift your overall score, as well. This badge has three levels so that you can start small as you build your super strength.
Requirements
- Level 1: Increase the overall accessibility score in one course by 10% or more
- Level 2: One course has an overall accessibility score of 80% or more
- Level 3: One course has an overall accessibility score of 90% or more
Detective Work: Finding And Fixing Accessibility Issues
Finding and fixing accessibility issues in your course materials requires a keen eye for detail. This badge has three levels so that you can hone your investigation skills as you become a super sleuth.
Requirements
- Level 1: Make 5 or more fixes in one or across multiple courses
- Level 2: Make 10 or more fixes in one or across multiple courses
- Level 3: Make 20 or more fixes in one or across multiple courses (or have no issues left to fix in a course)
X-Ray Vision: Focus On Captions
Captions are a critical element of accessibility for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, but they can benefit all students. This badge has three levels so that you can focus your X-ray vision to see through the sound to the text captions.
Requirements
- Level 1: One of the following:
- Edit captions on one video or multimedia presentation that you created
- Replace a video or multimedia presentation created by someone else in order to have accurate captions
- Level 2: All video or multimedia content used that were created by others have corrected, accurate captions (i.e., not auto captions)
- Level 3: All video or multimedia content that you created have accurate, edited captions (i.e., not auto captions)
Ally Hero
When you have mastered all of the superhero skills for accessibility, then you will truly be an Ally Hero. To earn this badge, you must have achieved the highest levels of all of the individual skill badges. Truly, Ally Heroes are elite champions of accessibility!
Requirements
- Fight for Good: Syllabus accessibility score is 90% or higher
- Fight for Good: You have shared information with your students about alternative formats
- Super Strength III: One course has an overall accessibility score of 90% or more
- Detective Work III: Make 20 or more fixes in one or across multiple courses (or have no issues left to fix in a course)
- X-Ray Vision II and III: All video or multimedia content used in the course (whether created by you or others) have corrected, accurate captions (i.e., not auto captions)
