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Re: Table Directions in educational format

for

From: Jim Allan
Date: Apr 15, 2020 9:52AM

since you have a group of google docs anyway. What if you created a
separate doc on how to use the tables (table description), then put a link
(Description of Table layout) in all of the other documents?

Jim

On Tue, Apr 14, 2020 at 12:39 PM glen walker < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> If I go back several decades into the last millennium, I remember the type
> of table you're talking about in my Spanish class. Note that if you posted
> an example of what the table looks like, it did not format correctly. The
> table was serialized similar to if I use the down arrow with a screen
> reader to walk the DOM but the way you described it made sense.
>
> I'm not as familiar with tables in Google Docs but I know in Word Docs I
> can mark column headers but cannot mark row headers. If you can provide
> your tables in html, that has the best accessibility. You can have both
> column and row headers (and header groupings). You weren't asking about
> the accessibility of the tables themselves but rather if you had to
> describe the format of the table every time, but the accessibility of the
> table is also important.
>
> In html, you can describe the table with the <caption> element. See
> example 5 in the <caption> spec,
> https://www.w3.org/TR/html53/tabular-data.html#example-5a2a7373
>
> Whether you have to describe the layout of the table every time is
> debatable. I would think the first couple or so times that the table is
> introduced you might want to reinforce how the table is laid out but in
> subsequent lessons it might not be needed. But you can always have a
> separate document that explains the table layout and the student can refer
> back to that document when needed. Having a link to that document in all
> subsequent documents might be helpful.
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 14, 2020 at 8:09 AM Laurie Kamrowski < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> wrote:
>
> > Hi everyone!
> >
> > My school is creating our own text for our Spanish 101 class, and
> > distributing it for free for the students via Google Docs. We are
> creating
> > 15 separate files for each of the 15 weeks of class, and one of the
> things
> > that we are covering is the conjugation of the stem-changing verbs. There
> > is a table of sorts that has long been established in teaching Spanish
> > called the boot table or the boot verbs.
> >
> > My concern is over the cognitive accessibility. I am worried that every
> > week, if we are using the 'boot table', do I need to include the
> > explanation of the table every time that we use it? This is what I am
> > referring to:
> >
> > //begin excerpt. This is the actual explanation text that I have created:
> > Stem-Changing Table Explanation
> >
> > To properly explain these tables, imagine a table, two columns wide and
> > three rows deep and it consists of the six variants of each verb. The
> first
> > column, from top to bottom, consists of the ‘I' form, the ‘you' form and
> > the ‘active' form. The second column, from top to bottom, consists of the
> > ‘we' form, the ‘formal you' form, and the ‘they' form. The table would
> look
> > like this:
> >
> > Column 1
> >
> > Column 2
> >
> > I
> >
> > We
> >
> > You
> >
> > You (Formal)
> >
> > Active
> >
> > They
> >
> > If we were to only select the forms that will change, which is the entire
> > first column, and the only the bottom cell of the second column, the
> > resulting shape looks like a boot. To clarify, the only forms that change
> > stems are ‘I', ‘You', ‘Active', and ‘They'. The stem undergoes the change
> > only when stressed.
> >
> > Column 1
> >
> > Column 2
> >
> > I
> >
> > We
> >
> > You
> >
> > You (Formal)
> >
> > Active
> >
> > They
> >
> > //End excerpt
> >
> > I'm inserting that whole explanation into any file that has the 'boot
> > table' in it. It takes an entire page to place it, and I am worried that
> it
> > may just get in the way and cause cognitive overload all by itself if it
> > appears in every file.
> >
> > My possible solutions:
> >
> > 1. Leave it in every week, regardless.
> > 2. Only include it in one week, trusting that the faculty will present
> it.
> > This makes me nervous because while we have an amazingly dedicated
> Spanish
> > professor who is developing this, we have also had adjunct faculty who
> > literally presented a blank moodle shell in an online only course (no
> > longer works for us, but it still lessened the quality of the education
> > that the students enrolled in that class received).
> > 3. Compile the entire text into one single file, placing a link to the
> > explanation text every time it is called. I would have to have approval
> > from the professor to compile it.
> >
> > Any ideas or input would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Thank you for your time,
> >
> > Laurie Kamrowski
> > She/Her/Hers
> > Accessibility Specialist
> > Mid Michigan College
> > > > > > > > > >
> > > > >


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Jim Allan, Accessibility Coordinator
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