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This is our community grown gloassary of terms, software, methods and more that often come up in discussions about accessible mathematical content. If there is a term missing that you think should be here, please do get in touch so it can added.
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Ally is an add-on to the Blackboard, Moodle or Canvas VLE (Ally for web is a sister-product for other types of websites). Ally has two key purposes: it provides guidance and feedback to instructors/page owners on the accessibility of their online information, and it allows the students/readers to download documents in a variety of accessible formats including audio (MP3), electronic braille, HTML, Tagged PDF, EPUB, BeeLine reader as well as machine translations into different languages. This enables students to receive information in a format that is accessible to them. More information on Blackboard Ally is available at Blackboard's Ally website.
Alt Text
Alt Text
Alt text is descriptive text for images or equations that describe the contents of the image for those using screen readers (or if the page containing the image doesn't load properly). The WebAIM page on alt text outlines the importance of providing clear and conext sensitive alt text.
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B
Beamer (~Bee-muh) is a LaTeX editor for creating slides featuring overlays and animation. It is an alternative to PowerPoint and provides support for more complex mathematical notation. Use Beamer to create macros for use within a LaTeX source file. Using Beamer requires knowledge of LaTeX. In terms of accessibility the drawback is that the output is PDF and therefore extra work may be needed to ensure that the content is tagged for accessibility and that the equations contained have the correct descriptive information.
A popular VLE.
Bookdown is a package for use in R (the statistical programming language) designed for converting R Markdown documents into a variety of print-ready outputs, including HTML, PDF and Word. At its heart it's a package which uses Pandoc (with lots of fancy options) to convert your source document into the output of your choice, while offering strong support for objects you can first create in R, like graphical plots. The HTML outputs use MathJax for rendering equations, so work well with assistive technologies.
Brickfield Moodle Accessibility Toolkit is a plugin for the Moodle VLE for finding issues in Moodle content, fixing the content automatically and using triage interfaces and futureproofing the platform with improvements to the Moodle workflows and user interface. It enables students to download alternative document formats from the file resources uploaded by the teacher including as Word Documents, Tagged PDFs, Mp3 - with seven different speed, .mobi, epub, daisy and braille.
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A popular VLE.
Chirun produces flexible and accessible course notes, in a variety of formats, from LaTeX or Markdown source. It is aimed primarily at notes in the mathematical sciences. Still early in development. There is a web interface or you can run it on your PC as a Python package.
Built-in screen reader for Chromebooks. Can be turned on or off by pressing Ctrl+Alt+z. Help on using ChromeVox.
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Desmos is a free suite of maths software tools for students, including Desmos Graphing and Scientific Calculator. Can be used on Windows, Mac, Chromebook PCs and iPads. Visit the Desmos website for more information.
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E
Based on Jupyter Notebooks (see below), this is an integrated solution for displaying learning content and tutorials, alongside equations and data visualisations. Developed by Edina based at the University of Edinburgh, the tool offers subject-based notebook styles which draw upon libraries used in that field. The tool can also be used to deliver student assignments and feedback, based on the live use of data within the web-based notebook/s. Notebooks include: Standard Notebook (pandas and many standard data viz and calculation packages); SageMath Notebook; RStudio Notebook; R with Stan Notebook; Language and Machine Learning; Chemistry Notebook; Geospatial Notebook
For more information here is a full list of notebook descriptions at the Edina Noteable site.
Live coding environment similar to a light-weight VLE. Organised around course or module structure and posing problems for students to solve either individually or in groups. Includes social/chat-style tools for students to collaborate on solutions. Also provides discursive tools for students to ask for help with specific equations or problems. At present there is not much information on the EdStem website, beyond some screenshots, so it seems like quite a new solution.
Easy-to-use tool from Texthelp for students and teachers. EquatIO is used to create equations, formulas, mathematical and scientific notation, through voice, handwriting or typing at a keyboard. Good for beginners and LaTeX users. Includes graphing tools. Also see Uni of York resources.
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F
Nothing here (yet)!
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GeoGebra is a free mathematical software that includes an online calculator, graphing tool and spreadsheet capability. It also has a host of classroom resources and interactive applets.
Grackle is an accessibility checker for Google Docs, and can help to generate more accessible PDFs (compared to saving as a PDF from Google Docs).
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Open-source software for educators that is used to create interactive web experiences, for example interactive videos, quizzes and presentations. Creates HTML5 content and applications. Free to use, and a paid version is available where integration with the VLE is required. When creating content, H5P features helpful tools to help ensure that content is accessible such as clear alt text fields, clear feedback areas, and keyboard friendly navigation in most learning object types. For more information visit the main H5P website and for the paid version you can visit the H5P software as a service website.
Used to create accessible online presentations for web browsers using HTML and CSS code. This means that browser-based accessibility tools can be used to access and adjust slides (e.g., up to 500% magnification), code blocks and equations can be integrated as part of the slide. Slides can be operated using mouse and/or keyboard. Presentations are created as single XHTML files. Tags are used to define slides and slide elements, e.g. <div class=”slide”> … slide content ... </div>. Stylesheets are used to control formatting of slides. More information on Slidy at this exemplar Slidy presentation showing how to use the tool.
Testing: Has been tested with JAWS (July 2021), but JAWS users will need some guidance on using it. Also, some contrast issues with instructions text which is in grey as compared to the background.
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The Image Accessibility Generator tool from Arizona State University auto-generates alt-text using the GPT-4o model provided by OpenAI. Upload an image, add descriptors (optional) and click ‘Create Image details’ to generate an image description. This comes in the form of both a long description and image alt-text, which can then be copied for use.
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Jupyter Notebook
Jupyter Notebook
Jupyter Notebooks is an open-source web application for building interactive textbook type activities using popular coding and data visualisation languages and libraries, including: Python, Julia, R, C++, Scheme, and Ruby. 40 different language are supported and notebooks can be shared using shared file storage, GitHub, or using the public nbViewer site. The tool can also plug into big data, allowing the use of pre-existing datasets to provide authentic activities for students to perform. More information at the Jupyter Notebooks main website. Related: Edina Noteable
JSXGraph is a cross-browser library for interactive geometry, function plotting, charting, and data visualization in a web browser. More information at: https://jsxgraph.uni-bayreuth.de/wp/ and https://github.com/jsxgraph.
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KaTeX is a cross-browser JavaScript library used to displays mathematical notation in web browsers which emphases speed and ease of use. Originally developed by Khan Academy, it has a smaller set of notation that LaTeX and produces HTML output. (Also see LaTeX)
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Typesetting/document preparation system for technical and scientific documentation. Available for Linux, macOS, Windows and online. The main issue with LaTeX is that it is typically used to generate images of equations, which are then included as part of learning materials. Images of equations are not accessible for students who use a screen reader or need to convert the equation into a different format (e.g., Unicode). Therefore, the syntax used in LaTeX code can be more accessibly rendered in other tools such as MathJax and Numbas (based on MathJax). Visit the LaTeX website for more information. (Also see KaTeX)
An option for transforming LaTeX to XML. More details on the LaTeXML site
Learning Management System (LMS)
Learning Management System (LMS)
See Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI)
Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI)
An education technology specification developed by 1EdTech which specifies a method for a learning system to communicate with external systems and tools. A VLE uses LTI to host content and tools provided by external, third-party systems, such as chirun or stack, without requiring users to log in separately.
A package to convert LaTeX to html. There is a tutorial written by Nic Freeman at the University of Sheffield.
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M
Markdown is a format for text files designed around being readable with any text editor, but while incorporating a limited set of standard syntaxes to cope with frequent examples of formatted text, like links, images, tables, bold and italic. Many variants of Markdown have been invented for use in more specialized fields, such as RMarkdown. Typically tools like Pandoc are used to convert Markdown files into your favourite (hopefully highly accessible) file type.
Open source cross-browser JavaScript library used to display mathematical notation in web browsers. Install MathJax on your server and link to web pages to display notation written in LaTeX or MathML markup. More information at the MathJax website.
Mathematical Markup Language is used to display mathematical and scientific notation on web pages (standard HTML has no tags to markup mathematical expressions). MathML can also be used for print typesetting. MathML tags can describe the presentation as well as the semantics of an equation so that blind and visually impaired readers can understand the significance/role of individual elements and the meaning of the equations. Web pages need to call the MathsJax library in order to display information coded with MathML. Information on MathML.
Mathpix is a conversion tool that can convert handwritten maths, images and PDFs to a range of outputs including Markdown, LaTeX (including straight to Overleaf), DOCX, Excel or even ChemDraw. It also has a markdown editor.
MathType is a formula editor and equation writer by the company, Design Science. Also known as Wiris MathType, it is the Maths editor found in the Blackboard VLE. It can also be bought as an add-on for Microsoft Office.
Maxima is a Computer Algebra System (CAS) for the manipulation of symbolic and numerical expressions, including differentiation, integration, Taylor series, Laplace transforms, ordinary differential equations, systems of linear equations, polynomials, sets, lists, vectors, matrices and tensors. A very good introduction is given in Minimal Maxima.
A popular VLE.
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Maths electronic assessment tool for creating tests. LaTeX format equations, text-based content, videos, and interactive diagrams are supported. The tool is free and was developed at the University of Newcastle. Tests can be created as SCORM packages (Shareable Content Object Reference Model) and deployed via VLEs such as Blackboard and Moodle, so that student engagement and scores can be logged. Numbas has shared database of maths problems to provide a starting point for instructors' use. More information at the Numbas website.
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A tool that can convert documents between a wide range of file types.
A Python package that converts LaTeX documents into a variety of formats, including HTML.
An authoring and publishing system for authors of textbooks, research articles, and monographs, especially in STEM disciplines. The best of DocBook, LaTeX, and HTML. Outputs: print, PDF, web, EPUB, Jupyter Notebooks, braille, ...
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Quarto
Quarto
Quarto is an open source publishing system built on Pandoc largely created by Posit (formerly Rstudio). It is a markdown-based language agnostic successor to R Markdown/bookdown.
compared to RMarkdown/bookdown it removes overhead of having any knowledge of R (sometimes a blocker for those just making maths lecture notes). You can still compile from Rstudio, but also VSCode, Jupyter and others editors.
Quarto supporting Python, R, Jupyter, Observable JS.
Existing content written for RMarkdown/bookdown/revealjs should just work - see FAQ for R Markdown Users.
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R
reveal.js is an open source HTML presentation framework.
RMarkdown allows output of HTML that can be rendered with MathJax which works well with assistive technologies. The Learning and Teaching Hub at University of Bath have guidance on using RMarkdown to create content.
An open source Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for using the programming language R for data analysis and graphing. Information is given about the digital accessibility of R on the support pages.
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SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) is the most widely used eLearning standard. It provides the communication method and data models that mean eLearning content and learning management systems (LMS - see below) work together.
A statistical software package. Information from the makers IBM on their website.
STACK is n online assessment system for mathematics and STEM, designed to enable students to answer questions with a mathematical expression and provides sophisticated feedback. STACK provides a question type for the Moodle and ILIAS learning environments and it can be integrated into other systems using LTI. STACK uses the computer algebra system Maxima to power the assessment system. STACK provides fully support for scientific units and numerical answers. STACK questions can have embedded videos, plots and interactive diagrams. More information about STACK can be fing in the STACK demonstration site.
SVG images
SVG images
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an XML-based vector image format for defining two-dimensional graphics, having support for interactivity and animation. The SVG format stores images as vectors and the images can be resized to any dimension without losing any quality. In a learning context, an SVG file is an excellent option because it creates really sharp images which are good for people with vision impairments.
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TikZ
TikZ
A LaTeX package which creates graphic elements such as graphs, diagrams and charts.
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U
UDL stands for Universal Design for Learning and is a framework to improve and optimise teaching for all, developed by CAST (Center for Applied Special Technology) out of Harvard in the 1990s. The CAST UDL Guidelines form the basis for much of the theory of accessible design principles.
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Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
Also known as a Learning Management System (LMS), a VLE is a software application which aids in the delivery of education courses and materials, helping with tasks such as documentation, administration, and grading. Popular examples include Blackboard and Moodle.
VoiceOver is a screen reader built into macOS and iOS, with math support available in Safari.
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WCAG stands for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These are guidelines for making digital content accessible, currently at version 2.2 with a working draft of version 3 of the standards available from December 2024 onwards . An overview of the current 2.2 standards is available on the WCAG web site. This web site also contains a useful Accessibility Fundamentals Overview page.
WIRIS is a math editor and assessment tool with accessibility support through MathType. It is integrated with several Learning Managemenr Systems such as Canvas and Blackboard as it available to users through the rich text editing inerface in those platforms to allow the creation of maths equations direcly on the content page. Although perhaps not the quickest solution for creating long and complex documents with lots of math equation content, the WIRIS editor can readily be used to handle occasional equations here and there. More details about using WIRIS with LaTeX can be found on the LaTeX Support page of the MathType resources.
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XML sands for eXtensible Markup Language. This is the language that underpins formats like MathML and ChemML.
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ZoomText Magnifier/Reader is a fully integrated magnification and reading program tailored for low-vision users. Magnifier/Reader enlarges and enhances everything on your computer screen, echoes your typing and essential program activity, and automatically reads documents, web pages, email.
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