High-Quality Text Descriptions of Visual Elements in Online Interactive Versions of Traditional Print Mechanical Engineering Textbooks

Adrian Rodriguez; Oscar Rios; Ryan Barlow; James Eakins

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Engineering Libraries Division Technical Session 3: Technology
Page Count: 30
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40883
Download Count: 163

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Paper Authors

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Ryan Barlow zyBooks, A Wiley Brand

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Ryan Barlow obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Utah in 2012, his Master’s Degree in Science Education from the University of Maryland in 2016 and his PhD in Engineering Education from Utah State University in 2020. He is currently a Lead Content Author - Mechanical Engineering with zyBooks, a Wiley Brand. His current work centers on transitioning traditional print textbooks to the online interactive zyBooks format, making engineering textbooks more accessible, and developing innovative online engineering assessment.

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Adrian Rodriguez University of Texas at Austin

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Adrian Rodriguez is an Engineering Content Developer for zyBooks, a Wiley brand and a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include engineering education, multibody dynamics, contact and impact with friction, electro-mechanical systems, and nonlinear dynamics. He earned his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington.

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Oscar Rios zyBooks, A Wiley Brand

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James Eakins zyBooks, A Wiley Brand

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Abstract

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, there was an increased utilization of online course materials. Circumstances created by the pandemic increased the need for high quality online course content. These online course materials should comply with accessibility regulations and guidelines to provide an equal learning experience for all students. Although these guidelines describe broad requirements, specific standards for creating text descriptions of visual elements, both static and interactive, have yet to be created for mechanical engineering content. Research is lacking regarding accessibility of images and other visuals within online interactive mechanical engineering texts. Defining standards for how engineering visual elements like images and animations are textually described will provide a baseline to measure the effectiveness of visual elements for students who require assistive technology, such as screen readers.

The goal of this paper is to define accessibility standards developed for textually describing images, figures, graphs, animations, and other visual elements for a series of online interactive mechanical engineering textbooks that have been adapted from traditional print textbooks. The group of content authors working on these interactive mechanical engineering textbooks have written text descriptions (alt text) for the visual interactive content (animations) that have been added to the traditional textbook and in many cases have added to the text descriptions for figures including images, equations, and graphs that already appeared in the print text. The standards that have been used by this team of content authors include: (1) Writing text that balances precision with conciseness; (2) Structuring alt text to first capture important information, then incrementally filling in finer details; (3) Well-defined procedures for describing certain types of visual elements, such as phase diagrams and phase transformation plots in materials science and engineering, T-s, h-s, and P-v diagrams in thermodynamics, output response plots in control systems, as well as other common visual elements in mechanical engineering courses; and (4) Writing text for animated visual elements that describe in detail all dynamic processes and movements in the animation. This paper describes our guidelines in detail, and presents examples from three different online interactive textbooks used in mechanical engineering courses. These standards can be modified for use across various engineering disciplines and will enable authors of online content to provide higher quality material that meets accessibility standards.

Citation
Format

Barlow, R., & Rodriguez, A., & Rios, O., & Eakins, J. (2022, August), High-Quality Text Descriptions of Visual Elements in Online Interactive Versions of Traditional Print Mechanical Engineering Textbooks Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. https://peer.asee.org/40883

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, there was an increased utilization of online course materials. Circumstances created by the pandemic increased the need for high quality online course content. These online course materials should comply with accessibility regulations and guidelines to provide an equal learning experience for all students. Although these guidelines describe broad requirements, specific standards for creating text descriptions of visual elements, both static and interactive, have yet to be created for mechanical engineering content. Research is lacking regarding accessibility of images and other visuals within online interactive mechanical engineering texts. Defining standards for how engineering visual elements like images and animations are textually described will provide a baseline to measure the effectiveness of visual elements for students who require assistive technology, such as screen readers. 

The goal of this paper is to define accessibility standards developed for textually describing images, figures, graphs, animations, and other visual elements for a series of online interactive mechanical engineering textbooks that have been adapted from traditional print textbooks. The group of content authors working on these interactive mechanical engineering textbooks have written text descriptions (alt text) for the visual interactive content (animations) that have been added to the traditional textbook and in many cases have added to the text descriptions for figures including images, equations, and graphs that already appeared in the print text. The standards that have been used by this team of content authors include: (1) Writing text that balances precision with conciseness;  (2) Structuring alt text to first capture important information, then incrementally filling in finer details; (3) Well-defined procedures for describing certain types of visual elements, such as phase diagrams and phase transformation plots in materials science and engineering, T-s, h-s, and P-v diagrams in thermodynamics, output response plots in control systems, as well as other common visual elements in mechanical engineering courses; and (4) Writing text for animated visual elements that describe in detail all dynamic processes and movements in the animation. This paper describes our guidelines in detail, and presents examples from three different online interactive textbooks used in mechanical engineering courses. These standards can be modified for use across various engineering disciplines and will enable authors of online content to provide higher quality material that meets accessibility standards.

AU  - Ryan Barlow
AU  - Adrian Rodriguez
AU  - Oscar Rios
AU  - James Eakins
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - High-Quality Text Descriptions of Visual Elements in Online Interactive Versions of Traditional Print Mechanical Engineering Textbooks
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/40883
ER  -