[Athen] Online homework systems

[Randa Roland]

Thank you! That helps immensely.

Randa


> On Jun 1, 2016, at 12:19 PM, Karen Sorensen <karen.sorensen at pcc.edu> wrote:

> 

> Hi Randa,

> Not a dumb question at all! Very astute in my opinion. You will not get straightforward answers from publishers who want to sell you their product. Publishers online homework systems are notoriously inaccessible. And chemistry and math are some of the more challenging subjects to make accessible. 

> We did a quick screen reader test with OWLv2 and found that the Try another version button wasn't accessible. It also was difficult for our screen reader user/tester to get from the question link to the content part of the page, but that's more of a usability issue. 

> We tried testing WebAssign but never could get the screen reader set up in the way they claimed would make it read the equations and notations correctly. And what it could read, couldn't be read one character at a time, making it very difficult for a student who is blind to study the equation. 

> I'm not familiar enough with the other products specifically, but I am familiar with other products from the same companies and would guess that they aren't any further along accessibility wise. 

> I would also urge you to ask about the accessibility of the textbook content as that is what the homework system will use. The images should have sufficient alt text and equations and scientific notation should be in MathML.

> Our Chemistry instructor who teaches online likes Cengage Owlv2, so she is working with the Cengage folks to make the areas we found to be inaccessible, accessible or to develop accessible alternatives. The course is supposed to be ready for fall. I'll try to write you and let you know how successful they were or you can write me in August. 

> Hope that helps!

> Best,

> Karen

> Karen M. Sorensen

> Accessibility Advocate for Online Courses

> www.pcc.edu/access

> Portland Community College

> 971-722-4720

> Twitter: @ksorensun

> 

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