Question idea: media submissions
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Charilaos Skiadas
Jan 3, 2026, 12:14:26 PMJan 3
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I know Rob asked for a stop on new question types so I'm fully prepared for a straight up no, but I'd like to at least describe my use-case and have the conversation while it's on my mind. The bottom line is that I would like to explore the possibility of a question type where the user is expected to submit an audio (ideally also video option) as their submission (with no real expectation of those being auto-graded in any sense).
One of the patterns I've come to use in my classes is to have students do some reading ahead of time and submit a brief (less than 2min) recording where they tell me about 3 things they learned and 2 questions they have. I initially had these submitted as text, but I found students tended to do a lot of copy-pasting. I found having them talk about it allowed me to get a better sense of how much they have learned.
Now so far this has little to do with PreTeXt. I've implemented this by simply having a media assignment in Canvas or before that in Moodle, and it worked reasonably well. I've also worked on pipelines where all the student submissions get transcribed and AI-summarized, to give me a quick start on things I need to cover on the next day.
This term I've decided to "guide" their reading a little bit. So I have a PreTeXt "book/project" that basically acts a bit as a study guide for the actual class textbook. So the idea is that each section/subsection of my guide references some particular section of the target book, possibly other things like some source code, and intersperses in there quick comprehension questions, mostly multiple choice but later potentially mini-programming tasks. So my guide book contents are something like a paragraph saying "read section 4.1 of the textbook" followed by one or two checkpoint exercises, followed by "read section 4.2 of the textbook" and so on. Here's an example of one day:
So that's great, I can easily turn that into a Runestone assignment and use LTI to integrate into Canvas. And this is now the problem: For each reading task I have to create and track two separate assignments: One via Runestone for the checkpoints and one directly in Canvas for the audio submission. If I could add one more checkpoint exercise at the end of the pretext section, asking them for their audio submission, this would certainly simplify things. For now I'll probably rely on placing a link from the guided reading to the Canvas media submission assignment, but of course all those links will break the next time I offer the course.
So that's my use case, perhaps others can think of different use-cases.
In terms of implementation, I think the key question might end up being how and where to store these submitted files, as their size could easily grow. I imagine it would quickly put a strain on Brad's end in Runestone. Perhaps it is something that can be offloaded to an LMS via LTI, and only be a feature in terms of the permanence of the submission when a user is logged in via LTI integration?
And of course I can't think of any meaningful way to transfer that to non-HTML targets.
Anyway those are my musings on a Saturday morning when I try to productively procrastinate from preparing for the new term that starts on Monday.
Charilaos Skiadas
Department of Mathematics
Hanover College
Department of Mathematics
Hanover College
Andrew Scholer
Jan 3, 2026, 12:39:34 PMJan 3
to prete...@googlegroups.com
I believe the warning was focused on homework "systems" - full blown platforms for creating/assigning/grading exercises. A new exercise type for an established system might be a lower bar.
That said, shortanswer exercises (implemented in Ruenstone) provide a way to allow readers to add an attachment to their response. See:
https://runestone.academy/ns/books/published/PTXSB/rune-25.html#second-reading-question?mode=browsing
That said, shortanswer exercises (implemented in Ruenstone) provide a way to allow readers to add an attachment to their response. See:
https://runestone.academy/ns/books/published/PTXSB/rune-25.html#second-reading-question?mode=browsing
Those files are uploaded to an S3 compatible storage bucket. If you are hosting your own server, you would need to configure that. If you are using Runestone's servers, I think you get to store the files on Brad's dime. (But I could see him turning that into a "paid feature".)
Andrew
Andrew
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Bradley Miller
Jan 3, 2026, 2:11:52 PMJan 3
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What Andrew said….
I would add that although in theory one could attach any kind of file, I think the viewing side might require an hour or so of work to handle other files types beyond images and pdfs.
Brad
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/CACm44N8CRhZyScKYP1LP76MQCuYQq_37Jptf-s2WxH9rzkZyHg%40mail.gmail.com.
Charilaos Skiadas
Jan 3, 2026, 4:27:19 PMJan 3
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That is good to hear, I’ll need to look into what’s involved in enabling the S3 bucket. Followup questions then, because this is certainly in the right direction but not quite there yet from my point of view:
1. Is there a way to disable the textarea, so that an upload is the only available option?
2. It would be great if there was the option for the students to record themselves right there on the page, and maybe play back and verify the recording before uploading. But now we are talking about a lot more than just the ability to attach a file and not caring particularly about the file format, we are talking about the understanding of at least the basic different kinds of submission formats, a specification of what is allowed by appropriate attributes to the tag, and HTML/JS additions to enable things like in-browser audio/video recording. The pretext schema additions would probably be relatively minor and fairly localized.
Charilaos Skiadas
Department of Mathematics
Hanover College
Department of Mathematics
Hanover College
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/DC80CD8B-78DE-4DAC-8757-37840483DD1A%40runestone.academy.
Rob Beezer
Jan 3, 2026, 4:43:38 PMJan 3
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When I used my fone to look at the sample that Andrew linked to, it asked for permission to record audio. (!) Not in a position to go any further with that.
On January 3, 2026 4:27:05 PM EST, Charilaos Skiadas <cski...@gmail.com> wrote:
>That is good to hear, I’ll need to look into what’s involved in enabling the S3 bucket. Followup questions then, because this is certainly in the right direction but not quite there yet from my point of view:
>
>1. Is there a way to disable the textarea, so that an upload is the only available option?
>2. It would be great if there was the option for the students to record themselves right there on the page, and maybe play back and verify the recording before uploading. But now we are talking about a lot more than just the ability to attach a file and not caring particularly about the file format, we are talking about the understanding of at least the basic different kinds of submission formats, a specification of what is allowed by appropriate attributes to the tag, and HTML/JS additions to enable things like in-browser audio/video recording. The pretext schema additions would probably be relatively minor and fairly localized.
>
>Charilaos Skiadas
>Department of Mathematics
>Hanover College
>
>
>> On Jan 3, 2026, at 2:11 PM, Bradley Miller <br...@runestone.academy> wrote:
>>
>> What Andrew said….
>>
>> I would add that although in theory one could attach any kind of file, I think the viewing side might require an hour or so of work to handle other files types beyond images and pdfs.
>>
>> Brad
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> On Jan 3, 2026, at 11:39, Andrew Scholer <asch...@chemeketa.edu> wrote:
>>
>>
>> I believe the warning was focused on homework "systems" - full blown platforms for creating/assigning/grading exercises. A new exercise type for an established system might be a lower bar.
>>
>> That said, shortanswer exercises (implemented in Ruenstone) provide a way to allow readers to add an attachment to their response. See:
>> https://runestone.academy/ns/books/published/PTXSB/rune-25.html#second-reading-question?mode=browsing
>>
>> Those files are uploaded to an S3 compatible storage bucket. If you are hosting your own server, you would need to configure that. If you are using Runestone's servers, I think you get to store the files on Brad's dime. (But I could see him turning that into a "paid feature".)
>>
>> Andrew
>>
>>> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/B2A6C568-F9CA-4E58-B2A1-B920781C7A58%40gmail.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/B2A6C568-F9CA-4E58-B2A1-B920781C7A58%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
>> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/CACm44N8CRhZyScKYP1LP76MQCuYQq_37Jptf-s2WxH9rzkZyHg%40mail.gmail.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/CACm44N8CRhZyScKYP1LP76MQCuYQq_37Jptf-s2WxH9rzkZyHg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
>> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/DC80CD8B-78DE-4DAC-8757-37840483DD1A%40runestone.academy <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/DC80CD8B-78DE-4DAC-8757-37840483DD1A%40runestone.academy?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
>
On January 3, 2026 4:27:05 PM EST, Charilaos Skiadas <cski...@gmail.com> wrote:
>That is good to hear, I’ll need to look into what’s involved in enabling the S3 bucket. Followup questions then, because this is certainly in the right direction but not quite there yet from my point of view:
>
>1. Is there a way to disable the textarea, so that an upload is the only available option?
>2. It would be great if there was the option for the students to record themselves right there on the page, and maybe play back and verify the recording before uploading. But now we are talking about a lot more than just the ability to attach a file and not caring particularly about the file format, we are talking about the understanding of at least the basic different kinds of submission formats, a specification of what is allowed by appropriate attributes to the tag, and HTML/JS additions to enable things like in-browser audio/video recording. The pretext schema additions would probably be relatively minor and fairly localized.
>
>Charilaos Skiadas
>Department of Mathematics
>Hanover College
>
>
>> On Jan 3, 2026, at 2:11 PM, Bradley Miller <br...@runestone.academy> wrote:
>>
>> What Andrew said….
>>
>> I would add that although in theory one could attach any kind of file, I think the viewing side might require an hour or so of work to handle other files types beyond images and pdfs.
>>
>> Brad
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> On Jan 3, 2026, at 11:39, Andrew Scholer <asch...@chemeketa.edu> wrote:
>>
>>
>> I believe the warning was focused on homework "systems" - full blown platforms for creating/assigning/grading exercises. A new exercise type for an established system might be a lower bar.
>>
>> That said, shortanswer exercises (implemented in Ruenstone) provide a way to allow readers to add an attachment to their response. See:
>> https://runestone.academy/ns/books/published/PTXSB/rune-25.html#second-reading-question?mode=browsing
>>
>> Those files are uploaded to an S3 compatible storage bucket. If you are hosting your own server, you would need to configure that. If you are using Runestone's servers, I think you get to store the files on Brad's dime. (But I could see him turning that into a "paid feature".)
>>
>> Andrew
>>
>> On Sat, Jan 3, 2026 at 9:14 AM Charilaos Skiadas <cski...@gmail.com <mailto:cski...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>> I know Rob asked for a stop on new question types so I'm fully prepared for a straight up no, but I'd like to at least describe my use-case and have the conversation while it's on my mind. The bottom line is that I would like to explore the possibility of a question type where the user is expected to submit an audio (ideally also video option) as their submission (with no real expectation of those being auto-graded in any sense).
>>>
>>> One of the patterns I've come to use in my classes is to have students do some reading ahead of time and submit a brief (less than 2min) recording where they tell me about 3 things they learned and 2 questions they have. I initially had these submitted as text, but I found students tended to do a lot of copy-pasting. I found having them talk about it allowed me to get a better sense of how much they have learned.
>>>
>>> Now so far this has little to do with PreTeXt. I've implemented this by simply having a media assignment in Canvas or before that in Moodle, and it worked reasonably well. I've also worked on pipelines where all the student submissions get transcribed and AI-summarized, to give me a quick start on things I need to cover on the next day.
>>>
>>> This term I've decided to "guide" their reading a little bit. So I have a PreTeXt "book/project" that basically acts a bit as a study guide for the actual class textbook. So the idea is that each section/subsection of my guide references some particular section of the target book, possibly other things like some source code, and intersperses in there quick comprehension questions, mostly multiple choice but later potentially mini-programming tasks. So my guide book contents are something like a paragraph saying "read section 4.1 of the textbook" followed by one or two checkpoint exercises, followed by "read section 4.2 of the textbook" and so on. Here's an example of one day:
>>> https://skiadas.github.io/OperatingSystemsCourse/sec-processes.html
>>>
>>> So that's great, I can easily turn that into a Runestone assignment and use LTI to integrate into Canvas. And this is now the problem: For each reading task I have to create and track two separate assignments: One via Runestone for the checkpoints and one directly in Canvas for the audio submission. If I could add one more checkpoint exercise at the end of the pretext section, asking them for their audio submission, this would certainly simplify things. For now I'll probably rely on placing a link from the guided reading to the Canvas media submission assignment, but of course all those links will break the next time I offer the course.
>>>
>>> So that's my use case, perhaps others can think of different use-cases.
>>>
>>> In terms of implementation, I think the key question might end up being how and where to store these submitted files, as their size could easily grow. I imagine it would quickly put a strain on Brad's end in Runestone. Perhaps it is something that can be offloaded to an LMS via LTI, and only be a feature in terms of the permanence of the submission when a user is logged in via LTI integration?
>>>
>>> And of course I can't think of any meaningful way to transfer that to non-HTML targets.
>>>
>>> Anyway those are my musings on a Saturday morning when I try to productively procrastinate from preparing for the new term that starts on Monday.
>>>
>>>
>>> Charilaos Skiadas
>>> Department of Mathematics
>>> Hanover College
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PreTeXt development" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pretext-dev...@googlegroups.com <mailto:pretext-dev...@googlegroups.com>.
>>> I know Rob asked for a stop on new question types so I'm fully prepared for a straight up no, but I'd like to at least describe my use-case and have the conversation while it's on my mind. The bottom line is that I would like to explore the possibility of a question type where the user is expected to submit an audio (ideally also video option) as their submission (with no real expectation of those being auto-graded in any sense).
>>>
>>> One of the patterns I've come to use in my classes is to have students do some reading ahead of time and submit a brief (less than 2min) recording where they tell me about 3 things they learned and 2 questions they have. I initially had these submitted as text, but I found students tended to do a lot of copy-pasting. I found having them talk about it allowed me to get a better sense of how much they have learned.
>>>
>>> Now so far this has little to do with PreTeXt. I've implemented this by simply having a media assignment in Canvas or before that in Moodle, and it worked reasonably well. I've also worked on pipelines where all the student submissions get transcribed and AI-summarized, to give me a quick start on things I need to cover on the next day.
>>>
>>> This term I've decided to "guide" their reading a little bit. So I have a PreTeXt "book/project" that basically acts a bit as a study guide for the actual class textbook. So the idea is that each section/subsection of my guide references some particular section of the target book, possibly other things like some source code, and intersperses in there quick comprehension questions, mostly multiple choice but later potentially mini-programming tasks. So my guide book contents are something like a paragraph saying "read section 4.1 of the textbook" followed by one or two checkpoint exercises, followed by "read section 4.2 of the textbook" and so on. Here's an example of one day:
>>> https://skiadas.github.io/OperatingSystemsCourse/sec-processes.html
>>>
>>> So that's great, I can easily turn that into a Runestone assignment and use LTI to integrate into Canvas. And this is now the problem: For each reading task I have to create and track two separate assignments: One via Runestone for the checkpoints and one directly in Canvas for the audio submission. If I could add one more checkpoint exercise at the end of the pretext section, asking them for their audio submission, this would certainly simplify things. For now I'll probably rely on placing a link from the guided reading to the Canvas media submission assignment, but of course all those links will break the next time I offer the course.
>>>
>>> So that's my use case, perhaps others can think of different use-cases.
>>>
>>> In terms of implementation, I think the key question might end up being how and where to store these submitted files, as their size could easily grow. I imagine it would quickly put a strain on Brad's end in Runestone. Perhaps it is something that can be offloaded to an LMS via LTI, and only be a feature in terms of the permanence of the submission when a user is logged in via LTI integration?
>>>
>>> And of course I can't think of any meaningful way to transfer that to non-HTML targets.
>>>
>>> Anyway those are my musings on a Saturday morning when I try to productively procrastinate from preparing for the new term that starts on Monday.
>>>
>>>
>>> Charilaos Skiadas
>>> Department of Mathematics
>>> Hanover College
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PreTeXt development" group.
>>> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/B2A6C568-F9CA-4E58-B2A1-B920781C7A58%40gmail.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/B2A6C568-F9CA-4E58-B2A1-B920781C7A58%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
>>
>>
>> --
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>>
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>>
>> --
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>
Charilaos Skiadas
Jan 3, 2026, 4:51:24 PMJan 3
to prete...@googlegroups.com
Hm that is interesting, none of my devices did anything of the kind.
Charilaos Skiadas
Department of Mathematics
Hanover College
Department of Mathematics
Hanover College
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Bradley Miller
Jan 3, 2026, 4:59:27 PMJan 3
to PreTeXt development
No, there is not a way to disable the textarea. These are still called “short answer” questions. But this is a new use case that nobody has ever asked for before.
The uploading is handled in rslogging.py and there are a couple of environment variables SPACES_KEY and SPACES_SECRET (Spaces is digital oceans implementation of S3)
Brad
Brad Miller
Professor Emeritus, Luther College
Founder, Runestone Academy LTD
Blog: http://reputablejournal.com
Set up a time to meet with me.
Professor Emeritus, Luther College
Founder, Runestone Academy LTD
Blog: http://reputablejournal.com
Set up a time to meet with me.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/14B540BF-9044-444E-BDD1-C0325959FB40%40gmail.com.
Alex Jordan
Jan 3, 2026, 5:08:03 PMJan 3
to prete...@googlegroups.com
As this is discussed, please keep accessibility in mind. Any tool that exclusively allows audio and/or video submissions, but nothing else, would run into ADA issues. As long as other accessible submission avenues are available too, things are good on that point.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/FAFCE75C-70DB-485B-A6CE-FEC0B5EC9CC5%40runestone.academy.
Andrew Scholer
Jan 3, 2026, 5:08:08 PMJan 3
to prete...@googlegroups.com
1. Is there a way to disable the textarea, so that an upload is the only available option?
No.
Pretty sure Rob's notification was a red herring. I don't see anything in the code that supports recording new files.
JS does have a MediaRecorder API that could be used to do audio/video recording. As you say, most of that work could happen in Runestone JS. PTX would only need switches to control what to allow/display in a given question.
Pretty sure Rob's notification was a red herring. I don't see anything in the code that supports recording new files.
JS does have a MediaRecorder API that could be used to do audio/video recording. As you say, most of that work could happen in Runestone JS. PTX would only need switches to control what to allow/display in a given question.
The markup for shortanswer currently doesn't actually say "shortanswer". It is <exercise> with both <statement> and <response>. The @attachment is on the exercise, but I am wondering if it should considered part of the response element.
Would there be reason to allow both a file upload and a recording?
Something like <response formats="text,file-upload,recorded-audio"/> (with default of just text) might make sense.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/D6C00B83-9F47-418A-958E-71FB91E6B3C9%40gmail.com.
Rob Beezer
Jan 3, 2026, 5:56:19 PMJan 3
to prete...@googlegroups.com
I'm sure my phone asking about audio was some nonsense, but I found it amusing. I will try again when I am 30,000 feet elevation lower.
Yes, perhaps attachment should be on response and maybe we can be more expansive about options. Using JS, say for audio, might let us balance quality vs. file size.
And perhaps always having a text box addresses Alex's post. It could have a prompt, like "Provide a photo of the sketch of the curve using the button, or describe it with text here if you can't provide a sketch."
Rob
On January 3, 2026 5:07:52 PM EST, Alex Jordan <jordanc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>As this is discussed, please keep accessibility in mind. Any tool that
>exclusively allows audio and/or video submissions, but nothing else, would
>run into ADA issues. As long as other accessible submission avenues are
>available too, things are good on that point.
>
>On Sat, Jan 3, 2026, 1:59 PM Bradley Miller <br...@runestone.academy> wrote:
>
>> No, there is not a way to disable the textarea. These are still called
>> “short answer” questions. But this is a new use case that nobody has ever
>> asked for before.
>>
>> The uploading is handled in rslogging.py and there are a couple of
>> environment variables SPACES_KEY and SPACES_SECRET (Spaces is digital
>> oceans implementation of S3)
>>
>> Brad
>>
>> Brad Miller
>> Professor Emeritus, Luther College
>> Founder, Runestone Academy LTD
>> Blog: http://reputablejournal.com
>>
>> Set up a time to meet
>> <https://fantastical.app/bonelake-Gj2i/meet-with-brad> with me.
>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/B2A6C568-F9CA-4E58-B2A1-B920781C7A58%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>>> .
>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/CACm44N8CRhZyScKYP1LP76MQCuYQq_37Jptf-s2WxH9rzkZyHg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>> .
>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/DC80CD8B-78DE-4DAC-8757-37840483DD1A%40runestone.academy?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>> .
>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/14B540BF-9044-444E-BDD1-C0325959FB40%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>> .
>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/FAFCE75C-70DB-485B-A6CE-FEC0B5EC9CC5%40runestone.academy?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>> .
>>
>
Yes, perhaps attachment should be on response and maybe we can be more expansive about options. Using JS, say for audio, might let us balance quality vs. file size.
And perhaps always having a text box addresses Alex's post. It could have a prompt, like "Provide a photo of the sketch of the curve using the button, or describe it with text here if you can't provide a sketch."
Rob
On January 3, 2026 5:07:52 PM EST, Alex Jordan <jordanc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>As this is discussed, please keep accessibility in mind. Any tool that
>exclusively allows audio and/or video submissions, but nothing else, would
>run into ADA issues. As long as other accessible submission avenues are
>available too, things are good on that point.
>
>On Sat, Jan 3, 2026, 1:59 PM Bradley Miller <br...@runestone.academy> wrote:
>
>> No, there is not a way to disable the textarea. These are still called
>> “short answer” questions. But this is a new use case that nobody has ever
>> asked for before.
>>
>> The uploading is handled in rslogging.py and there are a couple of
>> environment variables SPACES_KEY and SPACES_SECRET (Spaces is digital
>> oceans implementation of S3)
>>
>> Brad
>>
>> Brad Miller
>> Professor Emeritus, Luther College
>> Founder, Runestone Academy LTD
>> Blog: http://reputablejournal.com
>>
>> Set up a time to meet
>>> .
>>>
>>
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
>> "PreTeXt development" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
>> email to pretext-dev...@googlegroups.com.
>> To view this discussion visit
>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/CACm44N8CRhZyScKYP1LP76MQCuYQq_37Jptf-s2WxH9rzkZyHg%40mail.gmail.com
>>
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
>> "PreTeXt development" group.
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>> email to pretext-dev...@googlegroups.com.
>> To view this discussion visit
>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/CACm44N8CRhZyScKYP1LP76MQCuYQq_37Jptf-s2WxH9rzkZyHg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>> .
>>
>> --
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Charilaos Skiadas
Jan 3, 2026, 6:40:41 PMJan 3
to prete...@googlegroups.com
I’m someone pretty ignorant when it comes to accessibility issues so I would hope to be educated on this matter and being pointed to the appropriate documentation that focuses on expectations on student-submitted work (rather than the general accessibility guidelines I usually see those documents focus on published content rather than received content). I have been happily using this type of assignment for a number of years now and haven’t run into any problems, but also never had students with any speech-related disabilities (sure some foreigners had a harder time expressing themselves, but they need the practice and I grade it purely on completion).
So apologies if any of the following questions appear stupid or ignorant (and happy to take it offline if it’s not a topic appropriate for the list):
1. How is a question of the opposite type, that only allows a typed answer and not an alternative audio recording, not a problem? We have any number of such question types already. If the answer is that there are tools that allow someone to turn an audio prompt into a typed answer, are there not similarly tools that would allow a student to turn a typed answer into an audio recording?
2. I understand that if I had any students who had problems completing such an assignment, that I would be expected/required/happy-to to provide them with alternative means of completing this requirement. I am not quite certain why this means that PreTeXt would be required (and also requiring me) to provide this alternative submission form baked into the same assignment and made available to all my students.
My concern is simple: If there is an alternative text submission option right there and then, it will be easy for all students to gravitate to it. And this defeats a considerable part of the point of this assignment, which is to have the students express and articulate in their own words what they have understood from the assignment (rather than copy-paste phrases from the text). As much as I want to make my material accessible to everyone, I would hate for it to come at the expense of what I consider to be an important part of their learning process.
I’m happy to have the text-field be an option the author can add/remove, and equally happy with documentation guidance on why they should seriously consider having it present. I am admittedly less comfortable with requiring the author to have it, without any alternative options.
Charilaos Skiadas
Department of Mathematics
Hanover College
Department of Mathematics
Hanover College
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/MTAwMDA0NS5iZWV6ZXI.1767480975%40pnsh.
Alex Jordan
Jan 3, 2026, 11:23:38 PMJan 3
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I wanted to caution to PreTeXt developers (who probably don't need me reminding them) to factor in thinking about accessibility before investing time into a potential new tech complication. Principle 11 guides PreTeXt development about this.
It sounds like the current situation has a textarea but also allows uploading text files. If the textarea were not there, allowing the upload of text files is still an avenue for blind, deaf, or mute students who might have trouble producing audio or video. But I think it would be a mistake to remove all text-based avenues. Of course they can always learn a particular instructor's workaround for submitting things through email, through the LMS, etc. But the point is, in part, for things to just work for everyone without any special workarounds.
A thought I had, which is not about accessibility. And it's just my thought, not wanting to impose on others. If I were to combat students who submit AI-generated text, I suspect that by Fall 2026, I will be combatting students who submit convincing AI-generated audio. Or who just read aloud AI-generated text. And then by Spring 2027, use convincing AI-generated video. I don't want to be in the business of agonizing over whose submissions are genuine and whose are AI-generated. I'm a pessimist, but it feels like a temporary win is all that I could hope for in that arms race. But again, I'm a pessimist. I'm glad that optimists also exist :)
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-dev/8BF07859-5E92-47B9-A821-F13A1DCD6668%40gmail.com.
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