[Athen] Math Lab accessibility

[Jeffrey Dell]

Sorry I should have been less generic with my comments.  The MathTrax
program was designed for high school rocket telemetry functions.  It
was never designed for students at the University level.  It is also
from my experience not completely reliable with what can be read in
the UI.  As far as the AGC from View Plus goes It is not as complete
as a TI-80 series calculator.  But of course costs three times the
TI-83.  The feature where you can read the table of results is nice.
One thing that I think that it is missing is the ability to follow the
curve of the graph by moving a cursor and getting the XY coordinates
while you move the cursor up and down or back and forth along the
curve.  This is a powerful function in the TI-80 calculators.  The
feedback for the Find Intercept is Kind of clumsy and difficult for
students to read.  At Cleveland State most of our heavy use of
graphing calculators is in the business program.  These programs fall
short of meeting the requirements of a graphing calculator for
business or engineering.  Since the TI-80 calculators are not in
anyway accessible for blind students, for some work they will have to
make due.
Jeff
On 3/9/09, Gaeir Dietrich <gdietrich at htctu.net> wrote:

> Hi Jeff,

>

> Just out of curiosity, what is it that you do not like about the Audio

> Graphing Calculator and MathTrax?

>

> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

> Gaeir (rhymes with "fire") Dietrich

> High Tech Center Training Unit of the

> California Community Colleges

> De Anza College, Cupertino, CA

> www.htctu.net

> 408-996-6043

> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>

> The HTCTU provides leadership, training, and support to the California

> Community Colleges in using technology to promote the success of students

> with disabilities.

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On

> Behalf Of Jeffrey Dell

> Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 10:58 AM

> To: Access Technology Higher Education Network

> Subject: Re: [Athen] Math Lab accessibility

>

>> ViewPlus creates the Audio Graphing Calculator and there is another

> company that creates one called the Accessible Graphing Calculator

> that work with speech and auditory output for graphing.  I really

> don't like either of these products but if the student has no other

> means of performing complex graphing functions it can make due.  The

> view plus product can also work with their braille embossers to create

> embossed graphs.  MathTrax is a free graphing calculator that performs

> more basic functions that was made by NASA but it kind of sucks.  You

> need to evaluate each to make sure that it provides the functions that

> your students need.

>

>

>

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