Math content and the JAWS screen reader

[szw151]

We have a student who is blind and using JAWS in a math course. The exams are in the old (original) quiz platform and the math content was added with the built in math editor.

When I tested the content with the JAWS screen reader, I encountered an issue. The math read correctly and then JAWS said, "math content" at which point I should be able to press Enter and explore the equation using my arrow keys, but instead I got a math scripting error message. I tried it on Chrome and Firefox and had a coworker test this as well. We both got the same result. 

This is an issue because unless the student has perfect memory for everything they hear, they are going to have a hard time understanding the math without the math viewer window feature. My short term "fix" is to print the exams and convert them to accessible Word files, but this seems like something Instructure should fix.

Is anyone else having this problem?

[MonicaOlsson]

Have you sent a ticket to Instructure about this? I wonder if there is a larger problem with the Math equation editor itself. One idea I have is to create the Math formulas in Word using MathType plugin and then upload those accessible Word docs to your course. If the student is using NVDA, then would also need to use the MathCAT plugin. I am not sure if JAWS requires that plugin too.

MathCAT: https://addons.nvda-project.org/addons/MathCAT.en.html 

[szw151]

Yes, I did put in a ticket about this and my understanding is that someone at Instructure is looking into it. Currently we are providing the student with the content in Word using MathType and we will be converting all the Canvas exams as well.

JAWS does not require MathCAT to read math correctly. I know NVDA + MathCAT is a good option - in this case we don't want to ask the student to learn new AT in addition to learning calculus. 

Thanks.