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<p class="MsoNormal">I enrolled for a beginning course on Python from Harvard, with a LMS maintained by Edx. I had trouble figuring out how to make the environment where homework is accepted accessible to me, a screen reader user. It’s frustrating that their
accessibility expert simply redirected me and that I am stuck myself figuring out partial solutions – see my correspondence below.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At the college where I work, we’ve seen quite a few screen reader users fail or drop courses because nobody knows much about accessibility. I do what I can to troubleshoot issues and find work-arounds but I’m just an advanced level screen
reader user, not an accessibility expert myself nor was I hired to be one. It’s really the manufacturers of products who should be confirming accessibility or the platform maintainers who should be working on this.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the example below, I knew beforehand the platform was accessible, but one aspect is tricky and I haven’t fully figured it out yet.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> Deborah Armstrong <br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, May 27, 2022 8:27 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> certificates@cs50.harvard.edu<br>
<b>Cc:</b> accessibility@edx.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> FW: [edX] Re: CS50P and CodeSpaces<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I originally sent this accessibility query to the accessibility email address at Edx and was, as you can see from the below email, redirected to you.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don’t know who handles accessibility for this course, but my query should be passed on to them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the meanwhile, I have figured out a partial solution. Though the normal way to get to Settings in CodeSpaces is to click on the “gear icon” the keystroke is control-comma, that is the comma key pressed together with control.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After that an accessible tree view opens. The user arrows down to editor, and then in to the accessibility subgroup. There, Screen reader is set to Auto. This works with VSCode on the desktop, but not in CodeSpaces because there, VSCode
has no way of determining whether the user has a screen reader running. It has to be set to on, which automatically turns all the other screen reader choices in that subgroup to on as well. This also makes the editor work well with a Braille display.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After that, the screen reader does read the terminal output. However I still have not figured out how to paste from the terminal – I need to paste my public key. Pasting in to the terminal works fine. Luckily I already know Linux so I just
have to find some sort of work-around there.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I suggest that accessibility instructions for screen reader users be included in one of the help topics for the course. Most students will be beginners and if they cannot figure out accessibility will drop the course and perhaps never
enter this field. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At a conference I attended, it was my understanding that both Harvard and Edx have full-time accessibility experts, so it seems to me they should be doing their job and writing these help topics!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Respectfully,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Deborah Armstrong<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">(User ID DebeeArmstrong)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Milpitas, CA<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> edX accessibility <<a href="mailto:accessibility@edx.org">accessibility@edx.org</a>>
<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, May 26, 2022 6:48 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Deborah Armstrong <<a href="mailto:armstrongdeborah@fhda.edu">armstrongdeborah@fhda.edu</a>><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [edX] Re: CS50P and CodeSpaces<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.5pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#B5B5B5">##- Please type your reply above this line -##<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p style="line-height:13.5pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#444444;border:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"><img border="0" width="100" height="100" style="width:1.0416in;height:1.0416in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:~WRD0004.jpg" alt="Image removed by sender. edx logo"></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height:13.5pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#444444"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height:13.5pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#00262B">Your inquiry (CS50P and CodeSpaces) has been closed with the message below. If you wish to reopen this request, simply reply to this email.</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p style="margin:0in;line-height:13.5pt"><strong><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#1B1D1E">Maria</span></strong><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#1B1D1E"> (edX)
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#BBBBBB">May 26, 2022, 8:47 PM CDT
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.5pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#2B2E2F">Hello Deborah,<br>
<br>
Thank you for your participation with edX. We appreciate your enrollment in CS50.<br>
<br>
We understand that being redirected when asking for help is inconvenient. However, support for this course is handled by the Harvard course staff outside of edX.<br>
<br>
For support with your CS50 course, please contact the CS50 team directly at <a href="mailto:certificates@cs50.harvard.edu">
certificates@cs50.harvard.edu</a> for assistance.<br>
<br>
Thank you.<br>
<br>
Best Regards,<br>
<br>
Maria<br>
the edX team<br>
Find more answers in our <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/support.edx.org/hc/en-us__;!!A-B3JKCz!BwILBnvNJnFU5aWPv-Ot5AE6mfl5_XKM11d2sni20Vn7h2dMbfx451XyTwxu3szqq4WAsy4Fk_g-Rdgsyfz8GosCjy166Q$">edX Help Center</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p style="margin:0in;line-height:13.5pt"><strong><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#1B1D1E">Deborah Armstrong</span></strong><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#1B1D1E">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.75pt">
<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#BBBBBB">May 26, 2022, 5:07 PM CDT
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.5pt">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#2B2E2F">I am a screen reader user on Windows. I know all three popular screen readers on this platform.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.5pt">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#2B2E2F">I’m taking CS50, the Python version of the course. I already know how to write code, but not in Python and not in a cloud-based environment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.5pt">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#2B2E2F">To do my project assignments I understand I use codespaces on github. I also understand this cloud environment is accessible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.5pt">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#2B2E2F">However, I cannot read the terminal output. I did a little searching and understand that an environment variable for screen readers needs to be set to True.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.5pt">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#2B2E2F">I am not experienced enough to know if I can do this myself, or even how to do it. Can this be documented with the beginner in mind, or can you reply to my email with
instructions?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.5pt">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#2B2E2F">Thanks for your time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.5pt">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#2B2E2F">--Deborah Armstrong<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.5pt">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#2B2E2F">Edx User id: DebeeArmstrong<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.5pt">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode",sans-serif;color:#2B2E2F">Edx User Email:
<a href="mailto:armstrongdeborah@deanza.edu">armstrongdeborah@deanza.edu</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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