7/3/2023 0 Comments Kurzweil 3000![]() In the state of Massachusetts, this fact alone would make it suitable as an assistive technology support suite. The award-winning Kurzweil program is still the only Electronic Text Reader allowed on the high-stakes MCAS tests in ELA Composition, Mathematics, and/or Science and Technology/Engineering. Suitability for Use in a School Environment Users can drag and drop text from an article into a text note. Users can adjust the reading speed to accommodate their reading skill, choosing a faster reading speed with increasing fluency, or a slower speed for increased comprehension. One highlighter shows the unit being read, while the second shows the current word being read. Two highlighting colors display as the program reads aloud. A Details option on the Reader lets users configure the reader’s voice to read words, phrases, sentences or highlights aloud. To support reading development, you can also choose to Look up a word and listen to it read aloud syllable by syllable. Definitions can be copied to a worksheet or study document for later reference. The toolbar sports Read, Read ahead, and Read back buttons, in addition to a Look Up button that provides definitions and synonyms for selected words. Context menus provide helpful program commands.Ī floating Reader toolbar displays while K3000 is running. For students who need visual cues for reinforcement, there are highlighters and text magnification feature as words are spoken. An Extract Notes and Highlighted Text feature allows students to capture all notes and highlights for review or use in another program at a later time. With features such as Speak as Typing and Customize Color, selected digital text can converted into an audio file for use on a mobile device or computer. Students will appreciate how program Preferences can be tailored to their personal reading and writing needs. If the document has captions sidebars and graphics, K3000 notes each block of text in its own numbered reading zone. For example, during scanning, teachers will appreciate the fact that K3000 is “smart” enough to understand the layout of a typical classroom handout. K3000 is a robust program with many tools for teachers and students. For the Firefox Read the Web feature to work, users must first install KESI Reader v2.x add-on for Firefox (supplied in the program’s Extras folder) and restart the browser (see below). Additionally, it displays a Starting Points floating toolbar with only four icons to create new K3000 documents, open existing documents, read aloud html text on a Firefox browser Web page, and Scan materials for conversion to K3000 compatible format. At start up, it presents a pop up tool of the day with helpful reminders of product features. That said, K3000 does its best to simplify program use and make its features easily accessible. For example, users cannot access K3000’s Read the Web function while browsing the Internet directly in Firefox. K3000 tools work only from within the program. Helpful guides are available from the program Help menu (or the Extras folder that comes with installation) and on the Web. Users must enter their username and password at startup, but they can do so from any Internet-ready computer with the K3000 Web License Client software installed or from the iPad firefly app (available free from iTunes). Internet access is necessary for the Web version to launch as licenses are stored and managed online by Cambium Learning and delivered to users over the Internet. Each student will have a unique login and password, with credentials that apply to both Kurzweil 3000 and firefly. Schools can install K3000-firefly Web version on multiple computers. As always, teachers can use program options to customize curriculum materials. Important new features include several new high-quality Acapela text-to-speech voices, the ability to provide text-to-speech in 18 languages and dialects, support for the EPUB file format, a picture dictionary with 12,000 Widgit images representing more than 40,000 words, templates for reading and writing, and provision for Tier 2 academic vocabulary. ![]() The latest release (v14.01) has a varied toolkit containing highlighters in eight colors, text-to-speech capabilities, three dictionaries, synonyms, translation options, a digital to audio text converter, word predictor, spelling checker, scanner integration with OCR functions, several types of note taking options and high-quality, natural-sounding Acapela voices. It also benefits English Language Learners. ![]() K3000 is designed to benefit users of all skills and abilities, particularly those with dyslexia or dysgraphia who struggle with reading and writing, or those who prefer audio access to digital text. ![]()
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