Speaker 1: Okay, we are recording, Baiyun. Thank you for your patience and go ahead and take it over.

Speaker 2: Thank you, Sue, and thank you everybody for joining us today for a presentation on navigating accessibility guidelines and best practices in STEM courses. So today we're going to share with you input languages and tools for accessible math content. And we have four presenters from UCF today and actually Rosalind cannot make it for a personal emergency, but both Rosalind and I, we are instructional designers working with STEM disciplines. And Kylie, she is an experienced programmer who specializes in accessibility. And Dr. Tian, she is an associate lecturer from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. And Dr. Tian, I'll let you take the floor to start your discussions on the accessibility challenges.

Speaker 3: All right. Thanks to Baiyun for the introduction. So again, I'm Tian Tian. And for the past decade, I have been a part of the Mechanical Engineering faculty at UCF. But the recent focus on improving accessibility has opened my eyes to new challenges and ways to enhance how we present our courses. So here on this slide, I have put together some of the challenges I have encountered while trying to make my courses more inclusive and accessible. So we're navigating through areas such as adapting notation-heavy documents while preserving the integrity of the documents, ensuring the absolute accuracy of digitized equation sheets, which are, of course, vital for examinations. Crafting assessments with complex notations, delivering precise captions for complex scientific content in our lecture videos, and converting complex diagrams into alt text that fully explains the diagrams. So as many of us here are educators and instructional designers, I'm really interested in your perspective. So out of these challenges, which ones strike you as the most important for making our classes more accessible? Or which of these challenges resonate with you the most? So I'm looking forward to discussing this with you, either through chat during the session or in follow-up conversations. So to give you a better understanding in the next few slides, I'll walk you through some specific examples of the challenges I've faced. First up, Bai-Yin, can you move to the next slide? So first, let's look at some typical class notes from one of my engineering courses. So just to give you a bit of context, in a single course, I might handle 30 to 40 PDFs like this, each one packed with complex equations, diagrams, tables, and my own handwritten notes crafted during lectures. So these documents are, of course, crucial for learning, and they need to be made accessible, which is a challenge in itself. So next, Bai-Yin, can we move to the next slide? Yes, yes, yes, this slide. Thank you. So now I want to show you an actual equation sheet used in exams. So for exams, of course, precision is absolutely critical. So there's no room for mistakes. Previously, we have been taking shortcuts. We might have taken shortcuts by using clipped images directly from the textbook, but that approach now falls short of our accessibility standards today. So we need to come up with tools that guarantee the precision needed for assessments. Can we move to the next slide? So now we want to move on. I want to show you an actual exam. Next slide, please. Yes. So this is an actual exam. As you can see, just like our equation sheets, our exams are also densely packed with complex mathematical notations, diagrams, and charts. So each symbol, every line matters, and we need to make them accessible for students. And lastly, can we move to the next slide? So now let's shift our focus to lecture videos. So across a typical course, I may share 15 to 20 videos like this, each about 30 to 40 minutes long. They are loaded with specialized notations, equations, charts, everything. So these videos challenge the limits of auto-captioning technology. So very often, auto-captioning is not sufficient. So this means we need to seek better solutions or new solutions, or we have to invest time in manual captioning to ensure every term and formulas conveyed correctly. So it's time-consuming, but an essential step for accessibility. Thanks for your attention. Now I'm going to pass it over to Baiyun for the next part of our presentation.

Speaker 2: Okay, and thank you, Tian. And so now let's just do a little bit of the fun game here. So here is a fun game called This or That. So we have two displays of the same integral equation for estimating the area between two curves. So which of these two equations is more accessible, A or B? And A is an equation created using the word equation editor, and B is a screenshot image of the equation. So please type your answer in the chat window. I see A's all throughout the chat room. You're absolutely correct that A is more accessible since it can be read by a screen reader. Okay, now I have a more challenging question for you. So this question, we also have two options. A is a math equation image with R tag that can be read by a screen reader, and B is a math equation created with math ML code, which can also be read by a screen reader and zoomed out for accessibility purposes. So which option is accessible? Please type your answer here. One, two, three, go. Okay, B. You guys are definitely correct. So actually, both options are accessible, and since both equations can be read by a screen reader. But I would say that B and math ML code and the version created with math ML code is definitely a recommended method for creating accessibility, accessible equations, and since it has additional accessibility features, such as zooming. Okay, I have the third question for you. So this is our last question for everyone, and so please select the tool or tools that you think have an accessible building equation editor. We have four choice options there in Canvas, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat. Please type in your answers in the chat window. So it can be a multiple correct answer here. A, B, C, A. Okay, so here, the correct answers are Canvas and Microsoft Word. So both tools have accessible building equation editor, and the native Canvas equation editor is in LaTeX based, and Canvas pages can also work with math ML codes as well. And so this is the recommended method for creating accessible equation content here at UCF. And Microsoft Word also has an accessible equation editor, and the editor works directly with LaTeX and the math ML code, and unfortunately, the PowerPoint building equation editor does not produce equations that are able to be accurately read by a screen reader. For Adobe Acrobat, there's no building equation editor, so instructors cannot directly put in math formulas in PDF. However, in a properly tagged PDF, screen readers can still correctly read an equation image with LaTeX. So with that, I'm going to give it to Kylie. She's going to do a quick demo of MathPix.

Speaker 4: Thank you, Baiwen. Yeah, I just wanted to show you guys, hopefully, a really quick demonstration of MathPix, which is one of the online tools that you can use to convert your mathematic equations and formulas into accessible formats like LaTeX or math ML. There's a lot out there, but this is the one that we decided on and that we have been using for a while. So let me share my screen. It's really, really simple. The only thing is you do need a PDF. So if you do have images of mathematic equations like screenshots, you would have to put them in a PDF or convert them into PDF format, which isn't that difficult, thankfully. But once you have it, you can just upload it here with the plus sign here. And then, as you can see, it kind of portions out each line into snippets that you can then copy. By default, it'll be in LaTeX. For instance, if it has just a little copy icon, it's going to copy over LaTeX format. And I can show you guys what that looks like in webcourses, if that's where you're going to put it. But you can put it anywhere that accepts LaTeX or math ML. But the webcourses equation editor is found by going to the insert menu and then hitting equation. And then we can just paste that LaTeX directly into there. And the only thing is the way webcourses equation editor works is sometimes it might not like some of the LaTeX that comes over. So in this instance, I would just have to delete the slash in the parentheses that's at the beginning of the end. But otherwise, it comes out really well. I haven't run into a single issue that the like a screenshot of a formula came over incorrectly. But if you're doing handwriting, which is also an option in MathBix, which is great because it was one of the only tools that I found that had that. It does a really good job. You do have to kind of double check it, though, just to make sure that everything came over correctly. But for math ML, which I can copy here, you can also put that into webcourses. You just have to click on the code editor. Like right here. And then you just copy over that. This is what the math ML looks like. It's very confusing. But you don't have to worry about that. Thankfully, just paste it in.

Speaker 2: Are you sharing the screen or maybe I'm not seeing it correctly? Oh, is it sharing? I don't see your screen. And it's just showing my this page is a MathBix demo page. Yeah, I think we're still seeing the slide.

Speaker 1: So, Kylie, do you want me to just stop sharing from here and then you can share from the beginning?

Speaker 2: Okay, well, can everyone else see the webcourses page that I'm on?

Speaker 4: I do not. I just see a flat page that says MathBix demo.

Speaker 1: Oh, is it because we're are we both sharing at the same time? So some people are looking at your share. Now it's there. I just stopped sharing.

Speaker 4: And yours popped up, Kylie. I've been screen sharing. I have all the screen sharing stuff up. I'm sorry.

Speaker 1: Okay, that's all right. I didn't realize Zoom did that.

Speaker 4: Okay, so someone is saying that you do have to pick what screen to watch. It didn't it didn't automatically take over like teams would do. We all learned something today about Zoom. But yeah, sorry about that, guys. Basically, I was just showing this is the MathBix screen once again. And it does take PDF, so you can grab it each line here in your PDF. And the default is LaTeX, like I said. So sometimes it'll only have like a little copy icon. That means it's in LaTeX. But if it has the dots, then that means that you can pick several other languages. And this is what they look like. This is the LaTeX that was entered in through the equation editor, which you can get to by going insert and then equation and putting it there. And then this here was the handwritten equation here that I I just drew and then I just copied it. So you can see it does a pretty good job. It's just important to always check over and just make sure. And if you do need help, kind of editing that, then there are there are some other tools that you can use. But yeah, that's basically it. So I will let Baiwen continue the presentation and I will stop sharing.

Speaker 2: OK, and can you see the screen sharing for me right now? OK, can you see the screen sharing now?

Speaker 1: Yeah, we have a what's next and resources slide.

Speaker 2: Yeah, that's our last slide. And thank you so much. And this is a very short 15 minute session on a very challenging topic. So hopefully we have inspired your interest in this STEM accessibility topic and you have gained some practical tips and suggestions from us. And so you can see our contact information here on the slide. And we also have collaborated with our colleagues from Johns Hopkins University, who will also have a session on accessibility and this Friday at 2 p.m. And so working with them, we have prepared a handout that will give you more in-depth information on accessible math, languages, input languages and tools. And so the link is on the slide. It's the Bitly link. So here is the homework for you as well. And if you can review this table on accessible math and languages and tools, please think about how you can use the tool to help promote math accessibility on your campus. So, again, thank you so much for joining us today. And we wanted to end the session with the message that accessibility journey is not a sprint. So this is the time for us to work collaboratively to improve accessibility and also to provide content that is inclusive for all. So I think with that. And so do we still have time for questions or.

Speaker 4: Well, you can reach out to any of us, I think, if you do have questions or need clarification on everything.

Speaker 1: Oh, goodness. I'm so sorry. I was muted the whole time I was talking. So we have another session that's going to start right now afterwards. But our third session ended up canceling. So we will have a 15 minute area at the end. And I was going to open it up for both your presentation and for Stacy. So if you don't mind hanging around for 15 minutes, we'll do a Q&A afterwards. OK, that sounds good. Thank you. Wonderful. Can you stop sharing your screen, please? Thank you. All right, let me go ahead and make sure. By when is not pinned and that we get Stacy in here. Right. Wonderful. Hopefully, Stacy, you are seeing now that you are the coast. If there's anything I can do to help you set up on your end, please just let me know. Awesome. Thank you. Is it possible to make Kenya Wilson the additional coast as well?

Speaker 4: Thank you.