Many classrooms today, both physical and digital, are integrated. Students with diverse needs are expected to complete exactly the same work in exactly the same manner. Alternative formats provide greater opportunities for everyone to access the information they need in the way they need or want it. With alternative formats, all students can meet the same learning objectives using resources that are built to target the needs of the individual student. For example, Ally creates audio and electronic braille alternatives for students with visual impairments.

Alternative formats aren't just for a select group of students. Alternative formats benefit everyone. For example, maybe you have a lot of course material to read and get eye strain, or maybe you’re an auditory learner. Listen to an audio format of the learning materials instead.

Don’t stick to just one format! Use as many formats as you want. For example, if the content isn’t in your first language, you could follow along in the ePub as you listen to the audio file.

Ally provides alternative formats for these content types:

PDF files
Microsoft® Word files
Microsoft® Powerpoint® files
OpenOffice/LibreOffice files
Uploaded HTML files
Content created in the LMS course editor (WYSIWYG)

These alternative formats can be generated:

OCR’d version (for scanned documents)
Tagged PDF (currently for Word, Powerpoint and OpenOffice/LibreOffice files)
Immersive Reader
Mobile-friendly HTML
Audio
ePub
Electronic Braille
BeeLine Reader

Learn more about Alternative Formats by visiting the ALLY Alternative Formats information pages, and by watching the video below: