accessiblemath@mathdemos

Improving Accessibility of Web and Multimedia Resources for Mathematics

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Dissemination

This project is supported by the National Science Foundation Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Adaptation & Implementation Program.

Project Description

Mathematics teaching continues to significantly evolve to embrace enhanced computational and graphical technologies and the Internet. The National Science Foundation funded proof-of-concept project, Demos with Positive Impact (NSF CCLI-EMD DUE-9952306), developed a readily available source of free instructional demonstrations to enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics and through broad dissemination efforts, connected this resource with instructors across the country and world.

"An Accessible Online Resource for Mathematics Students and Instructors" adapts selected materials from the Demos with Positive Impact collection for use by students and mathematics instructors who have physical and sensory needs, thus building a valuable resource for a population significantly different from the one for which the materials were originally intended

This project extends and adapts materials from Demos with Positive Impact, a collection of more than eighty instructional demonstrations for teaching mathematics. The prototype website has been recognized for excellence by the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse, having been selected as a featured site in the ENC Digital Dozen in 2002 and 2004. Materials from the collection have been featured in the MAA MathDL Digital Classroom Resources and have received favorable reviews from AP Central. Demos with Positive Impact is a member of GEM (Gateway to Educational Materials) and has been included in the UK-based Internet Guide to Engineering Mathematics and Computing. It was also a featured site in the MathForum@Drexel newsletter. The project was cited in the recently published MAA Undergraduate Programs and Courses in the Mathematical Sciences: A CUPM Guide (Illustrative Resources) as a resource that supports problem solving and promotes understanding. Demos with Positive Impact is a participating organization in the Math Gateway, an NSDL Pathways project recently funded by NSF. Most recently, Demos with Positive Impact was awarded a 2008 MERLOT Classics Award for exemplary online materials.

Major development goals of this current project include:

• adapting existing animations for captioning and audio and provide guidance on how to incorporate these resources into instruction,
• address issues of text legibility for math displays,
• adapting existing web pages so that they can be effectively used with screen readers.

The end result will be a comprehensive collection of accessible teaching and learning resources for calculus. Assessment goals include:

• validation of XHTML and CSS according to World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards,
• assessment for compliance to accessibility standards (W3C Web Content Accessibilty Guidelines (WCAG) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973),
• assessment by project evaluators of accessibilty and usabilty of the website and materials in the collection,
• evaluation of mathematical content incorporated into captions and audio.

The range of demos included in the adaptation effort provides a rich set of resources for the target audience. A broad dissemination plan will promote the project and connect the collection to the target audience. While the adaptation efforts are designed to make Demos with Positive Impact materials accessible, many of the techniques for making the materials accessible will help to improve existing materials for non-impaired students and instructors, which provides a value-added aspect to the project. The web-based implementation of the project and establishment of a stand-alone web server will provide self-sustaining national distribution of the materials. Broad dissemination efforts via appropriate professional meetings will reach experts in accessible instructional technology as well as mathematics educators. Communication with college and university student learning support centers will provide another means of dissemination of the work of the project to the target audience and instructors of individuals within the target audience.