In this paper we study the accessibility by visually impaired people of the Learning Management System (LMS) Moodle 2. The study is conducted by testing four different visually impaired subjects, with different degrees of disability and performing different tasks connected to different roles in the LMS. A peculiar focus is given to the accessibility of content involving mathematics. At the end of the paper some recommendations to improve the accessibility of Moodle 2 are given.
Accessing mathematical formulae within digital documents is challenging for blind people. In particular, document formats designed for printing, such as PDF, structure math content for visual access only. While accessibility features exist to present PDF content non-visually, formulae support is limited to providing replacement text that can be read by a screen reader or displayed on a braille bar. However, the operation of inserting replacement text is left to document authors, who rarely provide such content. Furthermore, at best, description of the formulae are provided. Thus, conveying detailed understanding of complex formulae is nearly impossible. In this contribution we report our ongoing research on Axessibility, a L A T E X package framework that automates the process of making mathematical formulae accessible by providing the formulae L A T E X code as PDF replacement text. Axessibility is coupled with external scripts to automate its integration in existing documents, expand user shorthand macros to standard L A T E X representation, and custom screen reader dictionaries that improve formulae reading on screen readers.
Assistive technologies for visually impaired people (screen readers and braille displays) perform satisfactorily with regard to digital documents containing alphabet characters, but they still have a long way to go as far as formulae and graphs are concerned. In general, the most spread digital documents are in PDF format. However, in the case of mathematical contents, they are not accessible at all, since formulae are usually unreadable by screen readers. Currently, a standard and fast method for inserting accessible formulae into a PDF document is still lacking despite it is a very important issue for spreading accessible digital scientific documents. In this paper, we propose a method for automatically generating a PDF document with mathematical contents accessible by assistive technologies for visually impaired people. Specifically, we have developed a LaTeX package that produces a final PDF document where the formulae are totally accessible by screen readers and braille displays.
This paper describes the design, implementation and outcomes of a teaching activity in high school setting, aimed at supporting a student with visual impairments in learning Mathematics and promoting inclusive learning involving all other students. The teaching activity was defned following an adoption-centered approach. During the initial needs-fnding stage, we explored the available instruments for inclusive access and authoring of mathematical formulae, and we identifed the LaTeX typesetting language as the instrument of choice. The use of LaTeX was motivated by the fact that it provides a textual representation of mathematical content, thus making it accessible through standard assistive technologies, such as Braille displays and screen readers. LaTeX is also widely used in higher education to author scientifc documents, and therefore constitutes a useful skill for future education and employment of all students. We then defned the main steps needed for addressing the topic during a traditional high school mathematical curriculum, and scheduled them in relation to other teaching activities.The students had no difculties in following the teaching activity, including learning and using LaTeX, and most were eager to apply the acquired skills for authoring lab reports and homework. However, the acceptance of the assistive tool by the student with visual impairments was low. Additionally, most of the other teachers displayed high resistance to change and therefore were not interested in supporting the activity and integrating it with their classes. We highlight the key fndings and limitations of the project, and discuss possible improvements over the current approach. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Empirical studies in accessibility; Accessibility systems and tools; • Social and professional topics → People with disabilities.
Optical Character Recognition software (OCR) are important tools for obtaining accessible texts. We propose the use of artificial neural networks (ANN) in order to develop pattern recognition algorithms capable of recognizing both normal texts and formulae. We present an original improvement of the backpropagation algorithm. Moreover, we describe a novel image segmentation algorithm that exploits fuzzy logic for separating touching characters.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.