[Athen] math note-taking support

[Joshua Hori]

Hello Natalie,

Sam Dooley hosts remote Zoom sessions on his Accessible Equation Editor (AEE), which is a web-based equation editor that displays math visually and in connected braille displays, in real time. The notetaker can also attend these meetings to learn more about the product, although I would schedule time with Sam and the notetaker for an introduction to the product.

Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmkaje7-oMk

Note: The AEE is no longer a Pearson product. Sam has all the code now hosted on another site.

Join the listserv: https://www.lakepinesbraille.com/contact-us/
Use the editor: https://www.lakepinesbraille.com/aee/

I would suggest a mathpix.com subscription for textbooks, exam and quiz conversions into HTML or DOCX formats. Using this service, we improved our turnaround times from 2 weeks to 2 days.

The AEE would remove the need for visual descriptions of math content since it’s being provided in a refreshable braille display.

Sincerely,

Joshua Hori
Accessible Technology Coordinator
Information Educational Technology
Academic Technology Services
50 Hutchison Dr.
Davis, CA 95616
530-752-2439
Schedule a meeting via Calendly<https://calendly.com/d/ytt-hsj-vbn>



From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> on behalf of Natalie Davison <nataliedavison at boisestate.edu>
Date: Friday, January 19, 2024 at 3:30 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Athen] math note-taking support
Good afternoon,

I am working to consider options for an accommodation request that I am bringing to this group for any ideas or advice. I would appreciate hearing any experiences anyone has had with similar requests or innovative approaches to providing live notes for advanced STEM content, such as math equations, on the whiteboard in lecture courses.

A blind student in a math graduate program has historically received note-taking services through "note-processors" who type the notes provided in lecture (mainly whiteboard content), then convert them to a LaTex document and send this to the student post-lecture. The student has requested a revised note-taking accommodation that would allow her to receive the whiteboard content at the same rate as her peers in the course, instead of 24-48 hours after class, specifically on her refreshable braille display. My initial brainstorm figured this would involve a live typist in the course working in a LaTex document on the student's computer to type the whiteboard content (mainly math equations) so it would display as close to live as possible on the student's refreshable braille display. The barriers with this approach involve the difficulty finding a student who 1. wants this position, 2. can type fast enough, specifically in math notation, and 3. understands the upper-level math content. While LaTex is a “common math notation language”, individuals who use and are fluent in it and understand the graduate level math are difficult to recruit. We have found one student who can meet these criteria, but only by using "snippets" that don't appear live in the LaTex document, but do appear at a slight delay. I would estimate the rate of notes provided by the note-taker is equivalent to the rest of the students in the course hand-writing their notes based on the whiteboard content.

The student asked if there was a professional service similar to CART or ASL interpreters that would provide live audio descriptions on the whiteboard content in her preferred format, but I am not aware of a service such as this or a vendor that provides it. If there is, I am interested in learning more about it, or similar services.

I thought that one close accommodation solution would be to retain the hired live note-taker to provide the service at a slight delay, but also remind the instructors to narrate visual or written content in the course and consistently check in on this.

TLDR- Has anyone worked on ways to instantly convert and transmit math data to a refreshable braille display?

Thank you,
Natalie Davison
--

Natalie Davison, MS, CRC ( she / her / hers )
Access Coordinator, Assistive Technology Senior

Educational Access Center Boise State University



Appointment Scheduling: click to schedule here<https://calendly.com/nataliedavison>

Phone: (208) 426-1083

EAC Office: (208) 426-1583


Fax: (208)-473-2984
Email: nataliedavison at boisestate.edu<mailto:nataliedavison at boisestate.edu>
<mailto:heathercarlson2 at boisestate.edu>Mail: 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID 83725-1372
Location: 1607 University Dr (first floor Lincoln Office Suites)<https://maps.boisestate.edu/?id=715#!ce/8943?s/veteran%20services>
Web: boisestate.edu/eac<http://boisestate.edu/eac>

[Image removed by sender.]
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/pipermail/athen-list/attachments/20240120/f17721ba/attachment.html>