Ally: An ELMS-Canvas Accessibility Tool

What is Ally?

Ally is an accessibility tool designed to improve usability and accessibility for teaching and learning and is available to all ELMS-Canvas courses at the University of Maryland.

Ally integrates seamlessly with ELMS-Canvas to automatically check course content and files uploaded by instructors for accessibility issues. Using advanced machine learning algorithms, Ally generates alternative formats—such as text that is readable by a screen reader, electronic braille, or audio—that students can download and use to support their learning.

Digital Accessibility

Current Phase 2 Schedule

Technicians are currently performing hardware upgrades in UMD buildings. Hardware upgrades entail replacing all building switching and wireless access point equipment while maintaining the current network configuration. These upgrades require interruptions in wired and wireless networking while the work is performed. Outages are scheduled around peak building usage periods.

This upgrade process should result in very little, if any, disruption to users after the new hardware is installed.

View the schedule below:

Network and Infrastructure

Our network and infrastructure continue to serve as the backbone of our campus, digitally connecting our students, faculty, and staff. DIT supports wifi activity across the university while keeping connections secure through its virtual private network (VPN).

Click on a tab below to learn more!

Learning and Collaboration

UMD provides a number of different services to learn about innovational pedagogy, academic technology, as well as to connect with experts and peers. For instance, DIT helps members of the UMD community stay updated with the latest news and updates on the DIT website, and campus information on the UMD app.

IT Services and Support

DIT provides a number of different services to support our campus's academic, instructional, and technological needs. These include IT live support, provided online and over the phone by the DIT Service Desk, and in-person at Terrapin Tech. Classroom Technology Support is provided to 336 classrooms across 41 on-campus buildings. DIT also supports IT self-service through regular updates to support articles, service catalog articles, and trainings.

Integrated Academic Tools

In addition to the core academic technologies, DIT offers a range of tools that can be integrated into ELMS-Canvas or other platforms. These tools are designed to promote student engagement through mobile polling and online discussions, facilitate methods of assessment for instructors, empower students to showcase their work through e-portfolios, and provide accessibility solutions to UMD community members.

Core Academic Technology Tools

Core academic technology tools serve key aspects of the instructional learning environments for the majority of students and instructors. On a daily basis, over 30,000 students and 2,000 instructors log into ELMS-Canvas, UMD's Learning Management System, Zoom supports video conferencing and recording for over 3,000 online meetings, and members of the UMD community watch over 1,500 hours of online video lectures in Panopto.