[Athen] back to the question of features of K-3000 compared to R&W

[Linda Petty]

Regarding the original question:

\ Subject: [Athen] Kurzweil 3000 vs. Read&Write



Hello everyone,



Our program is considering a transition from Kurzweil 3000 to Read&Write.

While I understand there are many advantages and disadvantages, I was

wondering if you can give me a comparison if you have experience with both

programs.



Thank you,



[CSUF logo]



Marc T. Trinh, M.S., Coordinator


I'd say that the major advantages of K-3000 are:
1/ independent use by students, as K-3000 can open any article from electronic libraries, HTML, Word, etc, without needing staff support, compared to R&W which is designed to work in Word and also has some reading functions in PDFs
2/ K-3000 has extensive study features, esp in the Windows platform, to extract text to study notes, insert dictionary definitions, add your own definitions and examples, etc., to analyze the text with less typing, and a solid structure to support writing, with brainstorming, drafts, outlines, etc., where again, you can extract text for quotes, etc.
3/ the Acapella speech in K-3000, while not as good as the previous Voiceware products, allows students to read volumes of text. At Cdn universities, students are reading 50 pages of dense text/course/week, and need highly intelligible speech. Many of our Universities are going with a Web license of K-3000, whereas the colleges, which grant certificates and diplomas and have a much smaller volume of reading, are going with R&W, because it is cheaper and the speech quality doesn't matter.
4/ outcome measures indicate that students with ADD, LDs and mental health issues find the reading with highlighting, and reading for meaning, looking for important sections to extract for study notes, improves student's abilities to both get through their readings in a timely manner, comprehend the readings, and learn the material.

So our University has chosen to do a web license of Kurzweil 3000, and it has greatly accelerated the use of the product- no more waiting for funding, just register the student, train them, and they are using it immediately for articles, and as soon as we provide the textbook in PDF, for textbooks.

(We use Kurzweil 1000 for students who use screen readers.)

Linda Petty, O.T. Reg. (Ont.)
Assistive Technology Consultant
AccessAbility Services
a division of Student Affairs

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH
Science Wing, Room SW302G
1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4
Direct Line: 416-208-5144
Tel/TTY (appointments): 416-287-7560
Fax: 416-287-7334
www.utsc.utoronto.ca/ability<http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/ability>

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