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'concentrate on getting the language and written expression as simple as can be' I had the impression that this was the condition to which all mathematical statements aspired. When I was a boy, it was called elegance. The suggestion that such material should be given to students in an electronic format and that they use some version of magnification software seemed perfectly sensible. Why won't that work? Otherwise, you might try treating the pages as image files and simply expand them with a suitable graphics package (of course, this is likely to mean that you need an A3 printer somewhere in the place and it has the disadvantage that the student won't be able to manipulate the text). That should be quicker, at any rate. Bernard Doherty Assessor East Anglia Regional ACCESS Centre Anglia Polytechnic University East Road Cambridge CB1 1PT 01223 363271 x2534 [log in to unmask] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Conroy, Gerard" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 1:19 PM > Universal Design for Learning and changing font features in LaTeX. > > I think the question about changing font size in a LaTeX document is a > technical one and to bring in Universal Design for Learning confuses the > issue. > > Firstly a LaTeX document can have its font size changed, but needs the > original document to have a new font size specified, then it will have to be > recompiled under LaTeX into a new document. Unfortunately the formatting may > have gone to pot with that and the whole document needs going through to > reformat it, very messy indeed. > > Using Word there is software available that will automatically resize a > font, then automatically reformat the material preserving the features such > as tables etc that can go awry. > > The question about Universal Design for Learning and font size is not > answered by saying that thought should have gone into the font choice > originally. There will be no one font and size that benefits everyone, what > one should do is make it easier to change the font and size whilst retaining > formatting, such as is the intention of using cascading style sheets in Web > Pages. UDL would imply that we only use technology that allows such changes > to be made easily. > > What is probably of more importance is the thought gone into the expression > of the content of the handouts in question. UDL can play a part here in > requiring Plain English to be used for the expression of ideas. It is still > the case that some academics think that by using convoluted and esoteric > language they will impress people (see last weeks THES for an article about > this), writing for others to understand is secondary. If we decide that > traditional approaches are inadequate and instead concentrate on getting the > language and written expression as simple as can be, we will benefit more > students than the students with disabilities that we originally sought to > assist. > > Gerard V Conroy > Consultant on Academic Practice and Disability Issues > e-mail [log in to unmask] > telephone: work 0161 200 3336 > mobile 07919 930 295 > Home address: > Hillcroft > Little Longstone > Bakewell > Derbyshire > DE45 1NN >