- Hellooooo!
- Status update
- How is everyone doing?
- Acknowledgements: on about page
- 1475: Lin is using Ariane’s video resource guide – will verify it fits.
- Ariane will make Lin admin on the VRG
- 1372: Marianna – Collecting video resources. Working with Suman – will make him an admin on the 1372 course hub.
- Organization of Lessons: Are we numbering them? Or name by topic? Should numbering skip exams?
- Inviting course coordinators to join our meetings? (Henry, Holly, ??Ezra/Thomas)
- Pass along links to course coordinators
- Would be great to have their input but not being paid
- Lin: Henry modified course outline for 1475. Will reach out to Henry (cc Jonas) – will use his new course outline, will keep track of any changes.
- Invite to a meeting in August
- Accessibility issues – making content accessible
- Some basics to keep in mind:
- People using screen readers (translate the text on the page to speech).
- Download links (include explanatory text, avoid opening in new tabs, use text rather than URL in link.
- Question: linking to external resources that you might want to access without losing your place on the OpenLab? (e.g.: include text “link opens in new tab” or “to open link in new tab, right click…etc”)
- Ariane – attended webinar by AMS – accesibility expert in UK. Especially critical in math! (pdf is the worst format for screen readers)
- Color contrast – text on colored backgrounds
- subtitles for videos – (waiting to hear back – maybe Youtube is preferred?)
- Alt tags for images
- ASSIGNMENT: Read through these two posts on accessibility on the OpenLab:
- WAVE – tool for checking all contrast on a page at once
- On Dashboard/Plugins:
- WP Link Checker plugin – check for broken links
- TablePress plugin – for making nice tables
- Some basics to keep in mind:
- Design:
- Similar enough so folks recognize “course hub”
- Distinct enough by course so folks make connections between course resources (course hub, model courses, Video Resource Guides)
- Existing resource design – each course has a color:
- Could consider a pic/graphic theme –
- Pexels has free photos – https://www.pexels.com/search/math/
- or take pictures ourselves – notebooks, textbooks, blackboards, etc
- IDEA: Use color scheme for each course, e.g. 1475 is blue, but different visual elements for each different site (e.g. different elements).
- QUESTIONS:
- Ariane: embedding video from Dropbox?
- JONAS: reach out about embedding video – why is it small sometimes? Compare MAT 1275 lesson 14 vs lesson 16? (sometimes is converts video block to HTML block?!)
- Lin: how to duplicate a lesson?
- “clone” option appears in bulk edit dropdown but not in mouseover menu (?)
- for Ariane: OG summer salary/webwork dev?
- Focus on 1275, then clone and update for 1275CO
- Focus on Course Hubs now – worked on WeBWorK in June, and will in August, also build resource page for 1575 (?). Will coordinate with Kate (and use videos recommended by Samar)
- Will look into existing VRG – ask for cloning assistance if needed.
- Menus & Sidebars:
- As you create lessons, add them to the “Lessons” Menu
- For now, don’t worry about the menu in the sidebar (Jonas is going to do some work on this).
- Spoke to Sandie a few days ago re: online training in August
- Sandie: in the module that we’re building, use 1275/1275CO as an example/model.
- NOTE: for fall, looking like we have many more 1275 sections than 1275CO sections (new placement criteria?)
- NOTE: Lin is also involved in SStF. Sandie says we have have funding going forward (next year) – RT. (last year: Andrew, Ariane, Lin – not sure about this year, also probably no Developmental work in this program this year??)
- Ariane: embedding video from Dropbox?
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Here is the link to the talk about accessibility that I mentioned in the meeting today.
https://ams.zoom.us/rec/play/uZQkdOqu_Do3HNLAuQSDBvZ7W9S_J6-shCYe-fBbnhu1BSFSYwKkZrJBN-CSBM9mU8hJDm0nSiy8K25a?startTime=1594663084000&_x_zm_rtaid=G3eG5WUCRu6YNkL3XGSb9Q.1595552860988.071624c19f5f855552bd820ecbacdd45&_x_zm_rhtaid=954
Accessibility Best Practices for Moving Mathematics Online
For many years there has been a push for moving teaching and research content online in a form that goes beyond just linking print versions of documents. The COVID pandemic has only accelerated this trend, forcing all faculty to focus on how to deliver courses online. However, hastily moving material online bears the risk that important accessibility considerations are neglected, threatening fair and inclusive education for all. This is especially true for mathematics and other STEM fields where complex structures such as equations and diagrams play an integral role. In this webinar we will advocate that in addition to moving content online quickly, instructors can use best practices developed for authors to ensure accessibility of math content from the start, thus avoiding additional and duplicate work.
Our presentation shall give an overview of different requirements on presentation and content for students and readers with special needs and how assistive technology support can be provided. We shall particularly concentrate on what this means for math content and how it is made accessible on the web. We argue that the web is the ideal platform for hosting and curating modern content regardless of their original sources like LaTeX, Word, or plain text. And we will demonstrate how accessibility can be practically a free byproduct of conversion from traditionally authored content. In conclusion we discuss ways of authoring, preparing, and teaching accessible web documents containing mathematics, highlighting some of the best practices.
Presented by Volker Sorge, University of Birmingham, UK & MathJax Consortium
This looks perfect – thanks, Ariane!
Question for the OpenLab team:
When using the “video” block to embed video from Dropbox, sometimes we get odd behavior:
1. Sometimes the video size is small, sometimes large. On this page, we inserted the video twice using essentially the same method – you’ll see one is small and one large:
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/mat1275coursehub/lessons/lesson-14-distance-formula-midpoint-formula-and-circles-perpendicular-bisector/
Furthermore, after viewing the page and returning to “Edit” mode, sometimes the video block remains normal but sometimes it has been converted (automatically?) to an HTML block…
Here’s a page with a normal (large) video:
2. https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/mat1275coursehub/lessons/lesson-16-nonlinear-systems-of-equations-in-two-variables/