My name is Jodin Morey. I am currently a doctoral student in the mathematics department at the University of Minnesota. With this blog, I will discuss mathematical pedagogy, as well as the challenges faced by people pursuing mathematics with a physical disability.
I have bilateral tendinosis of my hands, which requires the use of voice recognition technology to “type” mathematics. Indeed, I produced this blog post using voice recognition! As you might imagine, producing advanced mathematics using one’s voice is no small thing. I have some limited use of my hands, so I can direct a mouse. However, clicking is a problem. So, instead of clicking with the mouse, I click with a foot pedal (pictured above).
Accessibility
Three desktop applications coordinate to produce the mathematical script. First, I use Dragon Dictate for speech recognition. Then, an application called MathTalk (which has since gone out of business) reinterprets these words as mathematical symbols (requiring the user to learn commands for the different symbols, as well as the NATO phonetic alphabet). And finally, MathTalk enters the appropriate symbols into Scientific Notebook (think of this as a word processor, but for mathematics). Unfortunately, if you use a Macintosh (as I do), you need BootCamp, or some Windows emulator to get this set-up working.
Making all of this work well requires extensive training. To say the learning curve is steep would be an understatement. And even after one is trained in, it is still much slower to use than using one’s hands. But it has delivered me through most of a doctoral program!
Topics
I have two main areas I wish to explore with this blog. First, to offer pointers to those who might wish to pursue mathematics using MathTalk. And secondly, to discuss the unfortunate state of pedagogy in the field of mathematics. Much must be done to make the topic accessible to a wider, more diverse and underrepresented group of learners.