Leveraging Generative AI to Design Accessible Interactive Visualizations for Undergraduate Mathematics: A Six-Phase Workflow

A new six-phase workflow using generative AI enables instructors without programming expertise to build WCAG 2.2 Level AA compliant interactive visualizations for undergraduate mathematics, according to a preprint on arXiv (2608.28601v1). The design-based research study, which deployed four tools across calculus, multivariable calculus, and differential equations, found that the structure yields complete first-pass tools but requires mandatory human verification at every phase for mathematical correctness, accessibility, and pedagogical fit.

arXiv:2608.28601v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Interactive visualizations support conceptual understanding in undergraduate mathematics, but building them has required programming expertise most instructors lack. Using a design-based research approach, we develop, deploy, and evaluate a six-phase workflow Foundation, Customization, Mathematical Depth, Application, Accessibility, Pedagogical Control that uses generative AI to build WCAG~2.2 Level~AA compliant visualizations without programming. The six phases structure every prompt, scaffold the AI's code generation, and define where human verification is applied. We ask whether the structure reliably yields correct and accessible tools, whether it runs both backward reverse-engineering prompts from a finished tool and forward generating a tool from a plain-language idea , and what verification each phase requires. Across four deployed tools spanning calculus, multivariable calculus, and differential equations, we evaluate mathematical correctness against closed forms, accessibility through automated and manual screen-reader testing, and the errors that recurred. The structure produces structurally complete first-pass tools, but human verification remains mandatory at every phase: each output must be checked for mathematical correctness, accessibility, and pedagogical fit before the next phase begins. The workflow is platform-independent and serves both instructors and students.