DACI Communications

Anthology Ally activated in Canvas on October 20, 2025

October 16, 2025

Dear Faculty,

As we prepare for the Spring 2026 semester, we want to reaffirm Rice’s commitment to ensuring that all course materials are inclusive and accessible for all students. Accessibility is not only a compliance requirement, but also an essential part of our mission to foster equitable learning.

To support this, we will be enabling the accessibility review tool, Anthology Ally, in Canvas on October 20. This tool works seamlessly within Canvas to provide you with feedback on the accessibility of your material and assist in remediation. Anyone with the course instructor role has access to the Ally tool.

What this means for you

Course instructors and TAs will begin seeing small accessibility indicators next to course files and when adding/editing content via the text editor. Indicators will be displayed in Pages, Announcements, Discussions, and other areas of the course.
The Course Accessibility Report tab will appear in the left-hand navigation bar of your course.
Students will have the option to download content in alternative formats (e.g., audio, ePub, mobile-friendly PDFs) but will not see the accessibility indicators.
Ally does not block or remove your materials—it simply provides feedback and practical suggestions for improvement.
See more details and learn how to use Ally in the Teaching for Inclusion course in Canvas.

Our priorities

Ally will be available in all Canvas courses, with an initial emphasis on preparing accessible materials for Spring 2026.
Deploying Ally now enables course instructors to take proactive steps as they create and edit their Spring courses, thereby avoiding larger remediation needs later.
Faculty are expected to engage with Ally and begin addressing flagged accessibility issues where feasible.

Support available

Rice's Digital Accessibility and Teaching & Learning Technology teams will provide guidance and resources to make the process of creating accessible and inclusive courses straightforward:

Register for live training on digital accessibility and the Anthology Ally tool through the Live Training and Events page and in the Teaching & Learning Technology Team's Training Center.
Watch the recorded session, Ally for Canvas Tool Overview, to learn about instructor and student accessibility assistance.
Enroll in the Teaching for Inclusion Canvas course to learn how to create accessible courses and materials, principles of universal design, and more.
Sign up for one-on-one consultations with Digital Accessibility Support (DAS) students to help you improve the accessibility of your courses using Ally.

Thank you for joining us in this important effort. Together, we can create more inclusive learning environments that benefit all students.

Sincerely,

Shawn Miller, Associate Provost for Digital Learning and Strategy & Angela Rabuck, Director of Student Lifecycle & Academic Technologies