[Athen] a non-techy person with a question

[Tina Kissell]

We are transitioning from a small testing space (6 rooms) to a larger testing area with 18 individual testing rooms all equipped with computers.  We have been able to handle the locking down of computers (so students testing cannot access the internet,  etc.) with this smaller number of computers but have been asked by our technology team members to reach out to ask if there are specific programs other universities use to lock down their computers in testing spaces.

Your help is greatly appreciated.


Tina Kissell, Ed. D.
Assistant Director of Disabilities Services
Academic Support and Advising
Elon University
Duke 108G
Office (336) 278-6500, Fax (336) 278-6514
tkissell2 at elon.edu<mailto:tkissell2 at elon.edu>
http://www.elon.edu/e-web/academics/support/disabilities.xhtml
Mailing Address:
Elon University, 2251 Campus Box, Elon, NC 27244
[Elon University Logo]
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From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Cassandra Tex
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 3:00 PM
To: athen-list at u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Athen] Converting Math Books

From: Cassandra Tex [mailto:clt3 at humboldt.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 3:04 PM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: RE: [Athen] Converting Math Books

Has anybody used the (newish) Texthelp product, EquatIO?  I participated in a webinar last week, and it looks promising.  It’s free for educators, and works with Windows, Mac, and Google Docs and Sheets, and the resulting documents are readable by Read&Write.  As best as I can tell, when you put an equation into a document, the math goes in as an image with the alt text of the image being how one would speak the math.

With EquatIO, you can enter the math in several different ways.  For more information:  https://www.texthelp.com/en-us/products/equatio/

I’m still trying to wrap my head around a workflow.  Just wondering if this will make math easier for us in the future?

By the way, I’m having trouble with EquatIO for Windows…the technical support from Texthelp told me my computer didn’t meet the specs that EquatIO expects to have (which I found odd since I thought I had a pretty high-end machine), but EquatIO seems to be working well in Google Docs.

Cassandra Tex
Assistive Technology Specialist
Humboldt State University

From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Noble,Stephen L.
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 1:30 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Converting Math Books


Yes...but it isn't so easy. To get Read&Write to read math expressions in a textbook, you'll need to...

1) Create the book so that the end product is HTML where all the math expressions are created as MathML (e.g., use MathType's "publish mathpage" command).

2) Load the book in IE11 on a windows PC which has MathPlayer installed

3) Use the "Read the web" setting in R&W, but be sure to turn off the setting to automatically read the next block of text



You may find it simpler to create the textbook as a Word doc (no need to export to HTLM) where the math expressions are either MathType expressions or native Word OMML expressions (either is fine for consumption), and then have the student use the free Central Access Reader to read the Word doc on their PC. While it doesn't have all the nice features of R&W, it will probably be simpler in the long run.



Hope that helps,



--Steve Noble
steve.noble at louisville.edu<mailto:steve.noble at louisville.edu>
502-969-3088
http://louisville.academia.edu/SteveNoble<https://exchange.louisville.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=CdhMttRtdkSZAY1GqZCRu5k28cp7bNAIPUU6wKc1De8y-_GlninyxASwkrwRp4PfcJ9J6C2iqrk.&URL=http%3a%2f%2flouisville.academia.edu%2fSteveNoble>

________________________________
From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu>> on behalf of Robert Spangler <rspangler1 at udayton.edu<mailto:rspangler1 at udayton.edu>>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 4:09 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: [Athen] Converting Math Books

Hello all:
Currently we have a textbook that we are editing and splitting into chapters.  It is an engineering book with many mathematical symbols throughout.
Our student workers use Abbyy FineReader for editing the books.  Generally, they will convert text by selecting it and choosing text, or selecting it and choosing picture.  It is easier to choose picture in a paragraph that contains a lot of symbols; otherwise, they would have to go through and convert all of the symbols as pictures.  This, however, results in the paragraph not being readable by TTS.
What do folks do for converting math and engineering books?  Our students use Read and Write for reading their books.  I think, since most of them have reading disabilities, they primarily use TTS for reading the text but actually look at the math symbols when working out the problems.  Is what we are doing now sufficient?  Is there actually a way to make Read and Write read out the mathematical symbols?  I understand that if this book were being prepared for a blind person such as myself a lot more work would be involved.  We have not had to do this yet, but when we do I'm sure I'll be depending a lot on the expertise of people on this list.
Thanks so much!
Robert


--
Robert Spangler
Disability Services Technical Support Specialist
rspangler1 at udayton.edu<mailto:rspangler1 at udayton.edu>
Office of Learning Resources (OLR) - RL 023
Ryan C. Harris Learning & Teaching Center (LTC)
University of Dayton  | 300 College Park  |  Dayton, Ohio 45469-1302
Phone: 937-229-2066
Fax: 937-229-3270
Ohio Relay: 711 (available for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing)
Web Site: http://go.udayton.edu/learning<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__go.udayton.edu_learning&d=DwMFaQ&c=OAG1LQNACBDguGvBeNj18Swhr9TMTjS-x4O_KuapPgY&r=67olWPWhVEsI50vpRdydglG2RHA1T81UHrTuRDeUqW4&m=umwUFIcpmU2sWnC1dtbSCm7sefPAmO290-QeRUnV3rg&s=JnF0mxIT5ZLZQlIOvEPzfSqFJs_otuF4Nu5yXgd2Dno&e=>
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