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Thread: Math
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From: Poore-Pariseau, Cindy
Date: Thu, Sep 20 2012 12:40PM
Subject: Math
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Greetings,
I am looking for guidance on how to provide access to Intermediate Algebra for 2 college students who are blind. Can JAWS be used effectively to allow access to math textbooks? Or is Braille a must? How about a refreshable Braille display, is this an effective solution?
Any guidance you can provide will be most appreciated. Thank you.
"If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow" ~John Dewey
Cindy Poore-Pariseau, Ph. D.
Bristol Community College
Coordinator of Disability Services
Office of Disability Services, L115
1
1 Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
c Phone: (508) 678-2811 x 2470
Fax: (508) 508-730-3297
From: Lucy Greco
Date: Thu, Sep 20 2012 1:06PM
Subject: Re: Math
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math is the hardist thing to make accessable. but you can do it. using
tools like math jax and math ml with the math player. its pritty
intensive but if you do it write it can work. check out the folliing
links
http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathplayer/tech/
http://www.mathjax.org/resources/articles-and-presentations/accessible-pages-with-mathjax/
hope this helps lucy
From: Noble,Stephen L.
Date: Thu, Sep 20 2012 1:14PM
Subject: Re: Math
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The ultimate answer will in part be dependent upon the user's need and customary way of reading mathematics...but here are the options:
1) Mathematics can be rendered in speech through the use of Mathematical Markup Language (MathML). To get JAWS to correctly read the math, the student needs to use Internet Explorer and install the free MathPlayer plug-in. This assumes the content is created as HTML+MathML, XHTML+MathML, or using HTML with MathJax. Another route is saving the content as DAISY+MathML and using ReadHear, which is a DAISY reader which can handle MathML. If you want to do ePub3, there's also the accessible IDEAL ePub reader for the Android platform which supports MathML.
2) Currently, no vendor supports refreshable braille access to math braille. You only get computer braille, which is of limited value for math. This is unfortunate, but there is some work being done on that problem.
3) Having hard copy math braille is often considered essential for studying college-level mathematics. This is especially true if the student is already trained in reading math braille (in the US, it is Nemeth math braille code).
4) Some blind students who go into the science or math fields decide to learn LaTeX, which is a simple qwerty math code that has been around for decades and is still used by many sighted math college professors. That's one other possible way of providing access...but again it is dependent upon the student.
Here are a few resources you may want to consult:
http://www.access2science.com/
http://www.dessci.com/en/solutions/access/
Hope that helps!
--Steve Noble
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
502-969-3088
http://louisville.academia.edu/SteveNoble
From: Ryan E. Benson
Date: Sun, Sep 23 2012 12:29PM
Subject: Re: Math
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> 3) Having hard copy math braille is often considered essential for studying college-level mathematics.
> This is especially true if the student is already trained in reading math braille (in the US, it is
> Nemeth math braille code).
I agree with Steve here. At the university I used to work at, the two
students that took math courses solely relied on Nemeth. The
disability service office found somebody who could covert the math to
LaTeX, and I would convert that into Nemeth.
--
Ryan E. Benson
From: Iza Bartosiewicz
Date: Thu, Sep 27 2012 2:25AM
Subject: Re: Math
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Thursday, September 20, 2012 2:40 PM Poore-Pariseau, Cindy wrote:
> ...I am looking for guidance on how to provide access to Intermediate
Algebra for 2 college students who are blind.
Hi Cindy,
Here's another resource that might provide you with some guidance:
Effective Practices for Description of Science Content within Digital
Talking Books
http://ncam.wgbh.org/experience_learn/educational_media/stemdx
"This website provides both general guidelines that should be followed when
describing STEM images and many examples of how the guidelines can be
implemented. The guidelines are the result of a seminal 4-year effort
encompassing multiple surveys with describers and with students and
scientists with vision loss to research preferred practices for description
of visual information in textbooks and journals."
cheers
Iza
----
Iza Bartosiewicz
Web Coordinator
RMIT University Library
03 9925 3103
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www.rmit.edu.au/library
www.linkedin.com/in/izabartosiewicz
twitter.com/mr0wka18 <http://www.twitter.com/mr0wka18>;