[Athen] Problems Using Kurzweil Read the Web with Canvas

[Larry Kiser]

Brian:

Yes our K3000 does have Image Reader.  As you point out it would be a significant issue in a timed test situation.  Thanks for the thought however.

Larry Kiser
Counseling Specialist
Disabilities Resource Center, S-233
Santa Fe College
Gainesville, FL 32606
Phone: 352-395-4429
Fax: 352-395-4100

From: Brian Richwine [mailto:blrichwine at gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 10:01 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] Problems Using Kurzweil Read the Web with Canvas

Doesn't the latest Kurzweil 3000 for Windows (version 13) have a screen snapshot reader? If the text is clear enough on the screen, then it should be able to capture the image of the canvas content, perform OCR on it, and then allow the student to read it. They'd have to dismiss the window before they can go back to interacting with the page, would be the biggest annoyance there.

-Brian
On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 11:10 AM, Larry Kiser <larry.kiser at sfcollege.edu<mailto:larry.kiser at sfcollege.edu>> wrote:
Dear Colleagues:

Last week a student attempted to use the Kurzweil Read the Web feature during an exam delivered through Canvas.  In this instance and during a follow-up diagnostic session with the student opening a practice quiz, Kurzweil Read the Web read information on the screen randomly and announced other information not readily viewable.  During the exam the student was able to use a Kurzweil taskbar feature, but this was slow because it required the student to highlight questions with the pointer and drag it to the taskbar.  I reviewed the VPAT for Canvas, which indicated it was compatible with screen readers.  I emailed Kurzweil and received the following response.

Kurzweil Response
Kurzweil 3000 and the Read the Web functionality provides limited recognition outside of the program itself. The current read the web add on, kesireader.xpi, can only recognized plain text/basic html websites. It is not uncommon that websites that are generated in use or that contain windows within windows to have issues recognizing text.  I would recommend that you update your current version of the Kurzweil 3000 software, update the kesireader.xpi and test the reader on plain text/basic html websites, should the problem continue within these websites, we may be able to determine what the cause is. For more complicated websites, such as script bases information or test taking websites, I'd recommend that you print them to Kurzweil 3000 using the KESI Virtual Printer. In the case of a Macintosh, print the site to PDF and then open that in Kurzweil 3000. This alternative can provide the student access to the materials for reading, however, they may need to go back to the website to introduce their answers.


We are already using the most recent version of K3000.  It is not feasible to print the exam using the Kesi Virtual Printer as suggested.  Any thoughts would be helpful.

Larry Kiser
Counseling Specialist
Disabilities Resource Center, S-233
Santa Fe College
Gainesville, FL 32606
Phone: 352-395-4429<tel:352-395-4429>
Fax: 352-395-4100<tel:352-395-4100>

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