Electronic Proceedings
of the 12th Asian Technology Conference in Mathematics
Abstract for 12901
Using MS Word and Field Codes for Teaching
Calculus for the Blind
Authors: Felino Pascual
Affiliations: Mathematics/Statistics, Winona State University
Keywords: Undergraduate Level, Calculus, Blind, Braille
At Winona State University, we have had a few blind students major
in or take courses in the mathematical sciences. This talk relates
some of my experiences in teaching calculus to a blind student in a
classroom situation, including some of the problems we faced, and
the strategies, technological and non-technological, that we used to
get around these problems. During lectures, I used MS Word, which
made typed transcripts of the lectures immediately available for
Braille translation. I also used a standard feature of MS Word
called Field Codes with which I could create mathematical
expressions that could be rendered in Braille. The talk will feature
some examples of Field Code-generated expressions and the creation
of shortcut keys for these expressions.