[nabs-l] math in college

Sun Mar 29 12:12:03 UTC 2015

Trin, Jamie, and all,
	Jamie has made exceptionally strong recommendations for those pursuing a math degree, or even taking a single math course in college.
As a statistics minor and one pursuing a concentration in Mathematical Business, I would like to share some of my own experiences.

The biggest struggle I had with obtaining Braille books are space and time. There are nearly 50+ volumes for each Mathematics textbook. If one is taking multiple math courses, then finding a place to store all of these boxes is critical. Furthermore, like Jamie said, advance notice is key. Services for the Blind will most definitely prepare your materials, yet it is up to you to relay all necessary information to them in a timely manner.
Though I rely on Braille for every other subject in college, I use LaTex for all math courses. Since math textbooks originate from a TEX document, meaning LaTex format, we as blind students are able to read the textbook with all the other students. Then, when given an assignment, we can have the textbook open in one window and complete the assignment using LaTex in another window.

I highly suggest learning this computer language two weeks in advance of diving into a new math course with new concepts. Also, I frequently bluetooth my Braille display to my laptop in order to read the LaTex and not miss any of the symbols. 
I know this is a ton of information, but just know we are here to help.
Please do feel free to reach out off list and I would be more than happy to help you through this process. I absolutely love Mathematics and am so glad you are going to give it a shot!
I also, for anyone interested, have LaTex tutorials on my computer. I am glad to send those off to anyone interested.
Best,
Kathryn

Kathryn C. Webster
Board Member | National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut
President | North Carolina Association of Blind Students
Treasurer | Connecticut Association of Blind Students
Board Member | The Science and Engineering Division
(Coordinator | Connecticut BELL Program
Executive Editor | The Federationist Newsletter
203) 273-8463
kathrynwebster.nfb at gmail.com

On Mar 28, 2015, at 4:19 PM, Jamie P. via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hi Trin,
> I'm excited to hear that you're going to be taking Math classes in college
> and are taking the initiative to ask questions and prepare yourself ahead
> of time. This is an excellent thing to do for any class in college that
> you're not already experienced with taking.
> 
> I have a lot of experience with college level Math classes, both good and
> bad. Math, by its very nature, is NOT inaccessible or out of reach or even
> especially difficult. I can't stress that enough. But the way a university,
> or even an individual professor decides to format the course can make or
> break the experience for a student if you don't know what to expect. I've
> seen way too many blind students turned off of Math (and consequently,
> science) forever because of a series of bad experiences with a particular
> Math class. I was almost one of these students, but now I'm pursuing a
> highly math-intensive degree and can't get enough of the subject, in school
> or just for fun.
> 
> In college Math classes, homework can be done in a few different ways. Most
> often, your homework is going to be done through an online system.
> Pearson's MyMathLab is a very popular example of this, but some schools
> might have their own custom system for Math classes. I've even had one
> class that used the school's regular course management system for Math
> homework. When you do homework like this, you usually don't show your work.
> Instead, you just enter your answer with an equation editor or choose from
> multiple choices. Often, professors will advise you to still write out the
> steps you used to solve these problems and save them so you can ask
> questions later in class. Some of these systems give you multiple attempts
> on homework assignments with a vast problem bank so you can get lots of
> practice. Unfortunately, these systems are rarely (but sometimes) fully
> accessible with screen readers, and (someone correct me if I'm wrong) I've
> never heard of one being compatible with a braille display.
> 
> When you take a Math class that uses an inaccessible online homework
> system, you should be able to expect your professor to work with you to
> find a solution. Math is critical to your education, no matter what your
> major, so expect no less. Some possible alternatives to consider are doing
> homework out of a textbook. If your classmates are given multiple attempts
> on their online homework, you should also expect the same number of
> attempts on written homework. Most textbooks have enough exercises to make
> this feasible. If your classmates get corrected immediately by the online
> system, but you're doing textbook problems, you may be able to get a
> solution manual that goes with your book. This will allow you to see
> immediately if you got the right final answer like your peers can, but
> you'll still have to figure out exactly how to get that answer by doing the
> work yourself. Another way to get this benefit of your peers are receiving
> immediate correction and multiple attempts is to turn in your assignment
> early for grading, and re-doing the problems you get wrong. This, however,
> will be very time consuming for both you and your professor. Working with a
> reader to use the online system is another option. This gives you all the
> advantages of using an online homework system. However, some drawbacks of
> readers are having to coordinate with another person's busy life to get
> your homework done, finding a reader who understands Math well enough to
> know how to read it in a way that is most informative, and having to
> compensate another person for their time. The last drawback should be
> something your school is willing to address for you if they are choosing to
> use inaccessible software for their courses.
> 
> Some professors may assign all of their homework out of a textbook, in
> which case everyone is in the same paper boat, so to speak, and you
> shouldn't have to worry much about leveling the playing field.
> 
> I am a Math tutor, and I specialize in working with blind college students.
> I tell all of my students that Nemeth code is going to be their BFF in
> college level Math. Braille literacy is critically important to any
> student, but if you're going to be taking a Math class, I can't stress
> enough how much you will benefit from having strong Nemeth skills. Math
> isn't just about reading numbers. You need to be able to represent big
> ideas concisely. Phrases like "is greater than or equal to...", "the
> absolute value of...", "raised to the power of...", and so on need to be
> clearly represented with as few symbols as possible, or you're going to
> have mountains of paper to sort though just to get through one problem set.
> Nemeth isn't perfectly concise, but it tries, and it does reasonably well.
> Furthermore, you need to be able to manipulate symbols and numbers and
> operations at will. Maybe the most gifted among us can do this kind of
> thing in their heads, but there is a reason teachers want you to show your
> work, and its because doing it in your head is going to lead to mistakes,
> and headaches! There should always be someone in your school's disability
> services department who is familiar with Nemeth and can transcribe your
> work to a format your teacher will understand, and you should absolutely be
> able to get a textbook for your class in Braille. Just be sure you give the
> appropriate department ample notice because sometimes it takes a very long
> time to obtain or create these books.
> 
> I don't recommend settling for an audio math book if you're taking any
> class offered by your school's Math department (you *might be able to get
> away with this in the Economics or Statistics departments). The readers of
> these books aren't excellent, and it's difficult to see the whole equation
> when you have to keep rewinding and listening to it in a linear fashion.
> 
> Computer skills are also pretty important, and if you're very comfortable
> with a computer and a screen reader or braille display, you might benefit
> from learning LaTeX (often pronounced La Tek). Put very simply (because I'm
> running out of time), LaTeX is a way of coding Math on a computer for
> writing websites and documents that contain equations. It makes all the
> symbols look nice for sighted people, but it also means that we as blind
> people can read and write these symbols. If you can learn LaTeX, it will
> unlock some online resources that you can use to study Math and give you
> the ability to express ideas with mathematical notation that your peers and
> professors can read without waiting on someone to transcribe your braille
> documents.
> 
> This is all I have time to write today, but I would be happy to help you
> and answer any other questions you might have about studying Math in
> college. E-mail me off-list if you'd like to talk about this more.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Jamie Principato
> blackbyrdfly at gmail.com
> 
> On Sat, Mar 28, 2015 at 12:24 PM, Roanna Bacchus via nabs-l <
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
>> Hi Trin thanks for your message.  This is an awesome discussion topic for
>> the list.  When I took my two economics classes in community college, they
>> were both accessible were Jaws.  The exams were given in class so I took
>> them at the Disability Support Sgvices office.  These courses involved a
>> lot of reading from the textbook which I had on a Cd.  Any assignments that
>> had to be turned in were emailed to the professor on the appropriate due
>> date.
>> 
>> 
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