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Practical Unicode Logic for Online Tech Courses

Practical Unicode Logic for Online Tech Courses. Elizabeth J. Pyatt, Ph.D. Information Technology Services Penn State University ejp10@psu.edu. Outline. The Courses & The Characters With a little Flash and Video Putting it on the Web (fonts & equations) Help for the Students

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Practical Unicode Logic for Online Tech Courses

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  1. Practical Unicode Logic for Online Tech Courses Elizabeth J. Pyatt, Ph.D. Information Technology Services Penn State University ejp10@psu.edu

  2. Outline • The Courses & The Characters • With a little Flash and Video • Putting it on the Web (fonts & equations) • Help for the Students • Glyph Challenges • Math Support vs. Foreign Language Support • Lessons Learned 2

  3. The Campus • Penn State • Blended Learning Initiative • Online or Hybrid (online + face 2 face) • Lots of online study guides, multimedia, quizzes • Two Courses • Phil 12 (Logic) & ME 300 (Thermodynamics) 3

  4. Symbolic Logic • Phil 12 – Symbolic Logic • Required for Criminal Justice Major • Completely Online • Glyph Repertoire: ∨ ∧ ⊃ ∀ ∃ ↔ ⊦ ℙ ℚ • Proof Tables, Truth Trees • Videos Demos of Logic Problems 4

  5. A Typical Proof Notice the quantity of “exotic” glyphs embedded in text with English glyphs 5

  6. Video Title Titles in LiveType. Video on PC Tablet 6

  7. Thermodynamics • ME 300 • Taught at multiple campuses • Lecture notes online • Glyph Repertoire: ∂,∫,∮,≡,Ẇ,℘,ṁ,q̇,η,γ • MIA: q̇ and𝒱 (too new) • Equations, sketches, flash animation 7

  8. Some Equations ∑ṁH,in + ∑ṁC,in = ∑ṁH,out + ∑ṁC,out Wnet = ∮ δWrev +∮ δWsys 8

  9. Some Multimedia 9

  10. Word Then HTML • Word for draft of contents • Two Platforms • Developers on Mac – OS X 10.5 with Office 2008 & Arial Unicode MS • Instructors on PC – Arial Unicode MS 10

  11. Beware Insert Symbol • Word includes logic symbols on Symbol palette, but pulls glyphs from Private Use Area 11

  12. Viable Alternatives • Character Map (Win)/Palette (Mac) • Click & Insert one at a time • Numeric Alt Codes (Win Office) • E.g. ∩ = ALT+8745 • Numeric Option Codes (Mac) • E.g. ∩ = Option+2229 • Custom Logic Keyboard • Minimal disruption once enabled 12

  13. Custom Logic Keyboard • Built by Mac developer (me) • Ukelele from SIL • Manual adjustment of Keyboard XML • Keystrokes easy to memorize • ∩ = Shift+Option+7 (Shift+7 = &) • Available in most Mac applications • Transitioned from Phil 12 to ME 300 • May be possible on Windows 13

  14. Beware Font Switches • MS Office for Mac switches fonts • If current font does not have the correct glyph • Common: Times New Roman > Math 2 • Mac Times New Roman ≠ Win TNR • ṁ, ẇ on Mac TNR, but not Win • Keep to Arial Unicode MS 14

  15. Adobe: Know Thy Fonts • Good Unicode support, but must manually switch font. 15

  16. Fonts On to the Web • CSS should specify alternate fonts • Unicode Symbols, Lucida Grande, Arial Unicode MS • Need font list for IE 6 and earlier • Provide link to freeware fonts • Use larger sizes for new or confusing glyphs, especially if • subscripts/superscripts involved or italicized • I prefer serif whenever possible 16

  17. Equations on the Web • How about Math ML? • Firefox/Internet Explorer code incompatible • No MathML support on Safari • Resorted to • Unicode text if one 1ine • Images (with ALT tag) if multiline or • Tables (need invisible images with ALT tag) 17

  18. Single vs.Multiline ∑ṁH,in + ∑ṁC,in = ∑ṁH,out + ∑ṁC,out Wnet = ∮ δWrev +∮ δWsys 18

  19. Glyph Challenges • Doublestruck P/Q (or ℙ/ℚ) • Hard to read at 12 point (ℙ/ℚ) • Preferred Unicode Symbols font over standard over sans serifℙ/ℚ vs ℙ/ℚ • Therfore: Doublestruck had its own CSS class 19

  20. Helping the Students • Option 1: Training • Students can learn to input Unicode • But…requires instructor confidence • Necessary for general education course? • Option 2: Cut/Paste from Templates • Ideal for more complicated diagrams

  21. Pick A Proof

  22. Dots over Q and V • Precomposed Q-Dot and V-Dot not in Unicode standard • ṁ in because of Old Irish ?? (seriously) • What about combining diacritic? • OK for q̇ and v̇ but not Q̇ and V̇ • Cursor placement VERY tricky in editing • Resorted to Q ̇ and V ̇ • Still text and not an image

  23. Q ̇ scans Use of dotted Q in 2 textbooks

  24. V ̇ scans Use of dotted V in textbook & Web 24

  25. V = ?? • V can be velocity or volume • NOT strictly a Unicode problem • Thermo Textbook uses • V for velocity • 𝒱for volume and 𝒱for specific volume • We used • V for volume, v for specific volume • V for velocity 25

  26. Script V (𝒱)in 2 Sources Textbook 1: V = volume 𝒱= velocity Textbook 2: V = velocity 𝒱= volume 26

  27. Math vs Language Support • Awareness • Most foreign language professionals have heard of Unicode • Math/Science? • “Math” has Large Character Set • Latin A-D, Greek, Arrows, Numeric Symbols, Alphabetic Symbols Math Blocks, Miscellaneous Symbols… 27

  28. Different Workflows • Language • Setup input keyboard • Plain text • Many script-specific fonts available • Math • Equation Editor or Insert tools preferred • MathML/LaTex assumed • Complete fonts? 28

  29. Lessons Learned? • Technology doable, but tricky to navigate • Upgrades can be slow • Custom keyboards saved my sanity • Every course/glyph has its own story • IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT 29

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