We are conducting a survey of current and past students who are blind or have low vision about their experiences studying mathematics in senior secondary school in Australia. You are invited to first fill out a 5-10 minute online survey, with the options to go into a prize draw for a $100 voucher and register your interest in a 1.5 hour group forum or interview to discuss your experiences.
To take part, please read the explanatory statement below and go to the survey here.
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Students and ex-students who are blind or have low vision
Project ID: 50083
Project title: Mathematics Accessibility for Students who are Blind or have Low Vision
Dr Leona Holloway
Department of Human Centred Computing
Faculty of Information Technology
Monash University
Phone: 0420426823
Email: leona.holloway@monash.edu
A/Prof Melissa Fanshawe
University of Southern Queensland
Email: Melissa.Fanshawe@unisq.edu.au
Dr Samuel Reinders
Monash University
Email: Samuel.reinders@monash.edu
Invitation
You are invited to take part in this study. Please read this Explanatory Statement in full before deciding whether or not to participate in this research. If you would like further information regarding any aspect of this project, you are encouraged to contact the researchers via the phone numbers or email addresses listed above.
Your participation
What does the research involve?
We are undertaking a three year project aiming to improve access to mathematics for students who are blind or have low vision by developing an accessible digital mathematics notebook. As a first step, we are consulting with current and past students to understand your perspective on the challenges and what you require in a technology solution.
There are two separate studies:
First is an online survey to gather basic information about your needs. The survey will be conducted online using Qualtrics, and has been tested for screenreader accessibility. It should take no more than 5-10 minutes to complete. At the end of the survey, you can indicate whether you are interested in taking part in the second study.
In the second study you will be asked to speak further about your experiences in an interview and/or discussion group with selected applicants. The interview/discussion will be held online via Zoom and take no more than 1.5 hours. It will include a brief explanation of the technology that we are designing. The session will be recorded for notetaking and analysis, but will not be shared outside the research group.
To take part in the studies you must have studied mathematics in year 10 (or higher) in Australia while receiving educational services relating to a vision impairment – blindness, low vision or cerebral vision impairment.
Consent and withdrawal
For study 1 (the online survey), clicking the Next button to start the survey indicates your consent.
For study 2 (interviews and/or focus group), you will be provided with a consent form that you can fill out via return email.
If you share your email address at the end of the survey, you can withdraw from the study before publication by contacting the researchers and your data will be removed. In all other cases, your survey responses will be anonymous so we will not be able to withdraw your data.
Payment
If you complete the whole survey you will have the option to enter a prize draw for one lucky $100 voucher, but you will need to share their email address to do so.
Those taking part in interviews and/or focus groups will receive a voucher valued at approximately $75 ($50 per hour spent), regardless of whether you withdraw from the study.
Please be aware that to receive a gift voucher, your name will need to be shared with the Monash FIT finance team.
Possible benefits and risks to participants
There are no direct benefits for participants.
More generally, we hope that results from the studies will assist in improving mathematics accessibility for students who are blind or have low vision by
(a) providing evidence that can be used to raise awareness of the issue and advocate for improvements and
(b) helping to guide our work so that it is more useful for future students.
Society as a whole can benefit from the achievements of blind and low vision students who are able to reach their full potential in mathematics and STEM fields.
Some questions may prompt you to recall difficult situations that you have faced during your education.
Confidentiality
The survey is hosted on Qualtrics. Please note that Qualtrics uses anonymised, aggregated survey data to train its AI model. It does not use individual or identifiable data.
If you register your interest in the interview/ focus group, this information will be associated with your survey responses and be known only by the researchers.
If you share your name and email address to enter the prize draw and allow for public thanks, this information will not be associated with your survey responses.
The online interviews and focus group will be held on Zoom, using the Zoom recording function. If you take part in a focus group, your participation will be known to the other students and ex-students in the group.
You will have the option to be named in the acknowledgements section for individual papers and/or for the project as a whole.
Your participation will otherwise be kept confidential.
When reporting results, we will restrict information about individual participants so that identities cannot be guessed, and use pseudonyms or code numbers to attribute quotes.
Data handling
Data Storage
The data will be stored for at least 15 years on secure Monash University servers accessible only to members of the research team (current and future).
Results
A summary of the results will be available on the project webpage at https://www.accessiblemaths.org/news-events within three months of data collection. This page also provides monthly project updates and notification of any publications based on our studies.
Accountability
Source of funding
This research is being conducted as part of the Australian Research Council Linkage Project LP240100506, with support from our partners Monash University, the University of Southern Queensland, Vision Australia, South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment (SPEVI), the Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities Inc. (Round Table) and the Departments of Education in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.
Conflict of Interest Declaration
Some of our research team members have additional associations with the project’s partner organisations.
- Leona Holloway is Chair of the Australia and New Zealand Accessible Graphics Group (ANZAGG), a voluntary position with Round Table.
- Melissa Fanshawe is an ambassador for Vision Australia.
- Kim Marriott has an immediate family member who works for the Department of Education Victoria.
Complaints
If you have a complaint concerning how this research project 50083 is conducted, please contact:
Executive Officer
Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (MUHREC)
Office of Research Ethics and Integrity
Room 116, Administration Building B (3D)
26 Sports Walk, Clayton Campus
Monash University VIC 3800
Tel: +61 3 9905 2052
Email: muhrec@monash.edu