[Athen] Highlighting Tools

[Steven Sullam]

Dear Susan,

I have been demonstrating the highlighting tools for years when introducing students to the essential features of Kurzweil 300 The problem is that is that the highlighting is almost impossible to control. I finally got so frustrated, I sent the following email to Kurzweil tech support<mailto:tech at kurzweiledu.com>.

Hello,

One of the most useful features of Kurzweil 3000 is the highlighting and extraction of notes. The problem I have found is that it is almost impossible to control the highlighting. The reason for that is that the underlying zones that are all setup are overlapping when they are setup automatically. When I go into the zone editing option which I find very hard to use (there is no cut out tool like other OCR programs) by manually creating zones, it just makes matters worse. It starts reading as if there are highlighted areas randomly.
I’m am an able bodied person, but I am showing this to a person with cerebral palsy with a learning disability who by some miracle was a 4.0 student last semester.  It makes me feel like I am trying to sell her snake oil, when I can’t make this work myself. This has been an ongoing problem for years when I introduce new students to Kurzweil and I really need a better answer for them.

Any assistance or advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,


  [Title: Signature Image - Description: image of Steve Sullam's signature]
Steven A. Sullam M.S.
Assistant Director of Assistive Technology
Ph. 718.982.3343
Bldg. 1N 115
College of Staten Island
City University of New York
2800 Victory Boulevard
Staten Island, NY 10314
[cid:image002.png at 01D56D4C.C564D740]<https://www.instagram.com/csi_student_accessibility/>



From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Susan Kelmer
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2019 11:16 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Pearson Not Providing PDFs

What technology is your student using?  You need to see how VS works with that technology.  My students can make Kurzweil work with it, but they hate it.  They want to be able to pull in the PDF and use their highlighting tools the way they do with other PDFs they receive.  I don’t know what vitalsource offers fully, I just know my students dislike it.

Susan Kelmer
Alternate Format Production Program Manager
Disability Services
University of Colorado Boulder
303-735-4836



From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Robert Spangler
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2019 9:12 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Pearson Not Providing PDFs

Does the Vitalsource reader provide its own TTS features?  Is it designed for universal access, or is it primarily designed for blind people in mind?  I've never used it before.  Is there a reason why I would scan their book, given the work involved in that process, rather than just providing them the info to access Vitalsource?  I certainly understand the argument against it - it's just more for our students to learn, but shouldn't I still offer the option?

Thanks for your insight,
Robert


On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 9:58 AM Susan Kelmer <Susan.Kelmer at colorado.edu<mailto:Susan.Kelmer at colorado.edu>> wrote:
They need to understand this is not about screen reader use.  I tell them “the student’s technology doesn’t work with Vital Shelf.”  They’ve never asked me the question you got, but I’m not surprised.  They do want to offer what people will use, in the end, so sometimes they are going to ask.

You can tell them anything you like.  I often say, “my student prefers Braille, and I need PDFs to convert to Word to make Braille.”  They aren’t ready to make Braille, and that will usually shut them up.

And yes, why the HECK are they making it so difficult?  Just keep pushing back on them, even if you decide to scan the student’s book in the end.

Susan Kelmer
Alternate Format Production Program Manager
Disability Services
University of Colorado Boulder
303-735-4836



From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Robert Spangler
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2019 7:45 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Pearson Not Providing PDFs

Susan, I have received a response from them simply asking what screen reader the student is using.  I responded and just repeated my desire for a PDF version.  Have you met this resistance before?  Do you ultimately offer to scan the book for the student, or do you just hold out for the PDF?  It is ridiculous that we have to go through these hoops to obtain something in a universal format such as PDF.

Robert


On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 12:02 PM Susan Kelmer <Susan.Kelmer at colorado.edu<mailto:Susan.Kelmer at colorado.edu>> wrote:
My apologies.  Disability.support at pearson.com<mailto:Disability.support at pearson.com>

Susan Kelmer
Alternate Format Production Program Manager
Disability Services
University of Colorado Boulder
303-735-4836



From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Robert Spangler
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2019 9:49 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Pearson Not Providing PDFs

Hi Susan, thanks for your reply.  Are you sure that's the correct email?  When I wrote to them I got a mail delivery subsystem error.

Robert


On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 10:41 AM Susan Kelmer <Susan.Kelmer at colorado.edu<mailto:Susan.Kelmer at colorado.edu>> wrote:
Every time Pearson tells me I have to go to VitalSource, I send an email request for the PDF to disability.resources at pearson.com<mailto:disability.resources at pearson.com>.  It works, but takes a couple weeks.

I will not ever force a student over to VitalSource.

Susan Kelmer
Alternate Format Production Program Manager
Disability Services
University of Colorado Boulder
303-735-4836



From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Robert Spangler
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2019 8:08 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: [Athen] Pearson Not Providing PDFs

Hello, in the past I feel like I was able to get Pearson to provide me PDF files instead of going through VitalSource, but now they seem to be insisting on using VitalSource and not providing us PDF files.  Does anyone have a contact at Pearson from whom they get PDFs, or do we just need to suck it up and accept VitalSource as the solution?

Thanks,
Robert


--
Robert Spangler
Disability Services Technical Support Specialist
rspangler1 at udayton.edu<mailto:rspangler1 at udayton.edu>
Office of Learning Resources (OLR) - RL 023
Ryan C. Harris Learning & Teaching Center (LTC)
University of Dayton  | 300 College Park  |  Dayton, Ohio 45469-1302
Phone: 937-229-2066
Fax: 937-229-3270
Ohio Relay: 711 (available for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing)
Web Site: http://go.udayton.edu/learning
_______________________________________________
athen-list mailing list
athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu>
http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list


--
Robert Spangler
Disability Services Technical Support Specialist
rspangler1 at udayton.edu<mailto:rspangler1 at udayton.edu>
Office of Learning Resources (OLR) - RL 023
Ryan C. Harris Learning & Teaching Center (LTC)
University of Dayton  | 300 College Park  |  Dayton, Ohio 45469-1302
Phone: 937-229-2066
Fax: 937-229-3270
Ohio Relay: 711 (available for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing)
Web Site: http://go.udayton.edu/learning
_______________________________________________
athen-list mailing list
athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu>
http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list


--
Robert Spangler
Disability Services Technical Support Specialist
rspangler1 at udayton.edu<mailto:rspangler1 at udayton.edu>
Office of Learning Resources (OLR) - RL 023
Ryan C. Harris Learning & Teaching Center (LTC)
University of Dayton  | 300 College Park  |  Dayton, Ohio 45469-1302
Phone: 937-229-2066
Fax: 937-229-3270
Ohio Relay: 711 (available for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing)
Web Site: http://go.udayton.edu/learning
_______________________________________________
athen-list mailing list
athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu>
http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list


--
Robert Spangler
Disability Services Technical Support Specialist
rspangler1 at udayton.edu<mailto:rspangler1 at udayton.edu>
Office of Learning Resources (OLR) - RL 023
Ryan C. Harris Learning & Teaching Center (LTC)
University of Dayton  | 300 College Park  |  Dayton, Ohio 45469-1302
Phone: 937-229-2066
Fax: 937-229-3270
Ohio Relay: 711 (available for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing)
Web Site: http://go.udayton.edu/learning
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/pipermail/athen-list/attachments/20190917/f80bc4ba/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2098 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/pipermail/athen-list/attachments/20190917/f80bc4ba/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 11810 bytes
Desc: image002.png
URL: <http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/pipermail/athen-list/attachments/20190917/f80bc4ba/attachment.png>