Accessibility of maths e‑assessment
Christian Lawson-Perfect
Newcastle University
Durham University Education and Pedagogy seminar, 2026-03-18
Abstract
I’ll give a brief introduction to the topic of accessibility, then talk about particular access considerations for mathematical e-assessment.
About me
Learning software developer in the digital learning unit of Newcastle University’s school of Maths, Stats and Physics.
Developer of Numbas and Chirun.
Disabled in a few ways.
What does 'accessibility' mean?
“Accessibility means that people can do what they need to do in a similar amount of time and effort as someone that does not have a disability. It means that people are empowered, can be independent, and will not be frustrated by something that is poorly designed or implemented.”
— Alistair Duggin, Accessibility in government
I’ll extend “disability” to “any circumstance that poses an obstacle”.
Our obligations under law
The Equality Act 2010 and PSBAR 2018 requires all public sector organisations to provide online content that meets the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.
accessibility.education.gov.uk and JISC have helpful pages.
In short:
- You’ve got to do it.
- Unless it would impose a disproportionate burden.
- But that doesn’t mean what you think it means.
- Just do it.
What that means for you
System developers need to know this in detail.
Content authors should be familiar with the ideas.
E-assessment development puts you somewhere in the middle.
The principle
Let the student show you what they can do.
Help them to feel comfortable while they do that.
Some access needs
- Sensory
-
- Blind
- Colourblind
- Deaf
- Visual sensitivity
- Cognitive
-
- Dyslexia
- Dyspraxia
- Processing disorder
- Memory loss
- Autism
- ADHD
- Physical
-
- Limited mobility
- Tremors
- Fatigue
- Cultural
-
- English as an additional language
- Anxiety
- Resources
-
- Poor internet connection
- Small screen
- Limited keyboard
- Slow computer
- Limited time
These can be permanent, temporary or situational.
Why should you care?
Accessible teaching can:
- Allow students to access teaching!
- Make students feel welcome.
- Reduce mental load.
- Be the difference between staying on the course and dropping out.
Most common adjustment requirements
- Extra time.
- Choice of text colour, font and size.
- Different format.
Most common access barriers
- Imperceptible content: undescribed images, non-semantic decorations, changing content not announced, use of colour.
- Inoperable with keyboard: usually interactive diagrams.
- Poor explanation.
How WCAG thinks about it
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are concerned with whether content is:
- Perceivable
- Operable
- Understandable
Perceivable: Can mathematical notation be read?
If you use MathJax, it provides lots of tools to make notation accessible.
Mathematical notation is a mess
Mathematical notation is not universal, unambiguous, or even consistent.
See WhyStartAt.xyz.
Ensure that students understand the notation you use.
Mathematical notation: Conventions
If the system forces a particular convention, either use that convention in your other teaching material, or explain it in the assignment.
e.g. (a,b) could mean:
- The gcd of \(a\) and \(b\)
- A 2D vector
- A cyclic permutation
- The ideal generated by \(a\) and \(b\)
- The open interval between \(a\) and \(b\)
Mathematical notation: Small details
Many students can not reliably notice the small differences in font styles that convey information in maths notation.
Diacritics convey meaning but are easily missed or confused.
Perceivable: Horizontal scrolling is tricky
Break up long lines of maths.
Tables with lots of columns can also overflow.
Perceivable: Minimise vertical scrolling
Does the student have to scroll up and down lots, to refer back to data?
Perceivable: Colour - try not to
Don’t use only colour to convey meaning.
Perceivable: Colour - annotate instead
Decorations or annotations can work instead of or as well as colour.
Check that annotations are announced by screen readers.
Perceivable: Colour - beware missing contrast
Some colour combinations are invisible to colourblind people, e.g. red and black.
Perceivable: cope with customised display
The system should allow students to change the interface to suit their needs, e.g. colours, text, scaling.
Make sure your content is still accessible after this.
Perceivable: Data in a table
Include headers
Avoid horizontal scrolling
Perceivable: Text formatting
Be consistent with text formatting.
This includes mathematical notation.
Perceivable: Answer input
Can the student tell how their answer will be interpreted?
If they’re shown a live preview, make sure it is announced by screen readers.
Perceivable: Diagrams
Diagrams must have text descriptions.
If they contain text, why not put it in the prose too/instead?
They should be high enough resolution to be legible when zoomed in.
Label things and refer to them by that label.
Diagrams: Descriptions
Write short alt text, and a longer description of the important information elsewhere.
There isn’t a good automatic solution for describing diagrams.
Diagrams: Write descriptions yourself
“An abstract image featuring a gradient of horizontal green lines fading into a white background, creating a soft contrasting effect. The design is minimalistic with an emphasis on simplicity.”
Get an LLM to write alt text AT YOUR PERIL.
Operable: Entering answers
Can the student enter answers?
This requires both knowledge and ability. Particularly challenging for mathematical expressions.
Operable: Syntax
Is the syntax well understood? Do they need guidance?
- Greek letters
- Names of functions, e.g.
sqrt. - Symbols - must they type the name? If so, tell them. Some students will go and find the Unicode character.
- Objects outside polynomials/trig usually have different notation on computer to handwritten.
Operable: Numbers
Different conventions around number notation exist, across countries and disciplines.
Make sure the student knows which convention to use.
Operable: Special characters
Can their keyboard type the necessary characters?
People with e.g. Chinese keyboards have different sets of symbols available.
Limited mobility makes typing non-alphanumeric characters difficult.
Mobile keyboards like to add spaces and punctuation unless told otherwise.
Operable: Timing
An extended or removed time limit is a really common adjustment. Consider just not having one!
Operable: Submission
Why limit the number of submissions?
Students might mistakes entering their answers (and might be more likely to make mistakes due to disability).
Anxiety might prevent students from entering an answer if it’s their only chance.
Understandable
This is the thing that most question authors can actually do something about.
Does the student understand what they need to do?
Remember to tell them!
Understandable: Prompt
The prompt should tell the student what to do, unambiguously.
It’s important to make sure you give enough information.
Understandable: Feedback
Can the student make sense of feedback?
Write in full sentences.
Try not to show the student codes that they don’t recognise.
Feedback should explain how the score was calculated.
When referring back to things, use the same names, e.g. prefer “coefficient of friction” to “input 1”.
Understandable: Reading level
WCAG has a “reading level” criterion.
But can we assume undergrad maths students have a higher reading level?
Think about dyslexia, EAL.
Students taking maths service courses have a lower maths reading level.
Adapt your language accordingly.
Interactive diagrams: Allow reset
Make it possible to reset interactive diagrams.
Interactive diagrams: precision
Snap to grid points or objects when it makes sense to.
Consider the “grab radius” of objects.
Listen to students
When students tell you an assessment is inaccessible, act.
Ask students if they had any trouble accessing assessments.
Iterating
After an assessment has run, look at the answers students gave, for signs that:
- instructions were unclear
- students didn’t know how to enter their answers
- students accidentally entered something other than their intention
- students got confused
Other aspects of accessible teaching
Work with Scarlett Spackman in 2024:
Accessible conferences and events
Guidance written by me, Elaine Lopez, Jennifer Deane, and others:
People working on maths accessibility
Thanks!
- Numbas
- numbas.org.uk
- msp.digital.learning@ncl.ac.uk
This is the screen where I configure the display to suit the audience. This text is here so I can see what a long line of text will look like!