math-a11y

Microsoft Equations Usability/Accessibility Walk-through Script

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Introduction to the Usability Study

Purpose

We are conducting a study to evaluate the usability and accessibility of the Microsoft Equation Editor feature in Microsoft Word 365. Our goal is to understand how the tool performs for non-visual screen reader users like yourself. Please remember, this is not a test of your abilities but an evaluation of the tool itself.

Notes

In this document, the following terms will be used:

• Participant: The person using the product or system being tested. They provide feedback based on their experiences and interactions during the study.
• Moderator: The person conducting the usability study. They guide the participant through the tasks, ask questions, and observe the participant’s behavior.

Instructions for the Moderator

[TODO]

Instructors for the Participant

Think-Aloud Protocol

As you go through the tasks, we would like you to ‘think aloud’ as much as possible. This means you should:

• Describe what you are attempting to do.
• State what you think the math expression is.
• Explain where you think you are in the expression.
• Share any thoughts or difficulties you encounter.

Your verbal feedback will help us understand the challenges you face and identify potential improvements.

Post-Task Feedback

After completing the tasks, we would appreciate it if you could share your thoughts on the following:

• What features did you find helpful?
• What difficulties did you encounter?
• What features do you think are missing or would be great to have?

Your insights are invaluable in helping us improve the accessibility and usability of the equation editor.

Recommended Configurations and Setups

The operating system, software, and assistive technology configurations described below are designed with two goals in mind:

1. To stay within the initial scope of the project which is to focus on the latest desktop version of Word 365 on the Windows OS.
2. To keep AT configurations to known best practices with the goal of avoiding confounding factors. In other words, we want to avoid known issues with how AT speaks/renders mathematics in favor of understanding how well digital math works in Microsoft Word.

Operating System

If possible, please have the participant use an up-to-date version of Windows 10 or 11. Results/issues from other operating systems will be accepted but are not in this project’s scope.

Microsoft Word

If possible, please have the participant use the latest version of either:

• Microsoft Word 2021 (part of the Office 2021 suite)
• Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365 (part of the Microsoft 365 subscription service)

For Microsoft Word 365 configuration details and usage hints, please see: Recommended Microsoft Word 365 Settings

Screen Reader

Please use either:

• NVDA with the MathCAT add-on
• JAWS 2024 with MathCAT enabled in the Early Adopter dialog

For screen reader configuration details and usage hints, please see either of these two documents:

• Recommended NVDA Screen Reader Settings
• Recommended JAWS Screen Reader Settings

These documents should be available wherever you find this one.

Information to Capture Before Starting

Please record the following information:

• The date
• The Operating System
• The Version of Microsoft Word
• Screen reader version
• MathCAT add-on version (if using NVDA)
• Relevant screen reader settings:
  • Voice synthesizer
  • Voice
  • Screen reader verbosity settings
  • Math / MathCAT settings

Walk-through Script

The following web page and EPUB resources with sample math homework problems are available for use with this script:

• Math Homework Problems Webpage
• Solutions for the Math Homework Problems Webpage
• Math Homework Problems EPUB

Navigate to a web page or EPUB that has a set of homework problems to solve.

• Open your web browser and go to the designated homework website.

Find the first homework problem on the web page.

• Use your screen reader to navigate through the webpage to locate the first math problem.

Listen to the math expression.

• Ensure the screen reader speaks the expression correctly, or that the braille is correct if using a refreshable braille display.

Copy the expression from the web page.

• Highlight and copy the expression using your screen reader commands.

Paste the expression into Microsoft Word.

• Open Microsoft Word and paste the expression into the document.

Listen to the pasted math expression.

• Ensure the screen reader speaks the expression correctly, or that the braille is correct if using a refreshable braille display.

Move to a new line and recreate the expression

• Move to a new line in the Word document that is beneath the expression you pasted in above.
• Recreate the expression from scratch (don’t copy and paste it this time). Refer to the original expression as necessary.

Copy the expression down to a new line.

• Copy and paste the expression to a new line in the document.

Edit the expression to solve for the variable.

Rearrange and solve the equation step-by-step, copying to new lines and editing as necessary to show detailed work. For example solutions of the homework problems see the homework solutions web page.