[Athen] Kurzweil vs Texthelp? Or both?

[Normajean.Brand]

Thank you, Michael. I’ll look into it.
NJ

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Michael Nakai
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 4:58 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Kurzweil vs Texthelp? Or both?

Hello,

Our university has already been on board the Kurzweil bus for a while, but one of our students has sent our office information on NaturalReader. First glance, it looks similar in capabilities to Kurzweil; the website says it's free to educational institutions. So I set up an account to see how it matches up. I haven't had much time to work with it because of short staffing and more of my time is spent taking on extra duties.

But it looks like it's free for the first year as indicated by a countdown. But site licensing looks like it's a per seat among other options. Here is the website to look it over:
https://www.naturalreaders.com/edu.html

I hope this helps,

On Fri, Feb 18, 2022 at 1:51 PM Susan Kelmer <Susan.Kelmer at colorado.edu<mailto:Susan.Kelmer at colorado.edu>> wrote:
Both Kurzweil and TextHelp are expensive, and you can no longer just buy a “handful” of licenses that you can install individually on a few student machines.  Kurzweil will sell you a big chunk of seat licenses; Texthelp insists that you purchase a seat for every person on your campus – aka the cost is based on the population of your campus.  The more enrollment, the higher the cost.
Both of these entities continue to work (and thrive) on a model that works for K-12 (access for all), but does not work as well for higher ed. Students who do not need TTS are not going to use a TTS tool.  They just are not.  There is not enough education/outreach that would make more students use it.  I have 100 students getting alternate format, maybe 70 of them actually use the license. Yet, I’m paying for 5000 seats for Kurzweil.
As to which is better, this is definitely a YMMV situation.  I like the tools in Texthelp and it does a good job with ePubs.  It has the math component (EquatIO) if you want to pay the extra for it.  It’s overlay-type toolbar makes it more functional across software and platforms.  I do like that.
Kurzweil still has a long way to go to catch up with STEM reading, and it is still a “closed” environment and won’t read everything.  But in the end, the cost difference is huge – Kurzweil is 5 times cheaper than Texthelp.  So we stick with Kurzweil.


Susan Kelmer
Alternate Format Production Program Manager
Disability Services
Division of Student Affairs
T 303 735 4836
www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices<http://www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices>


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From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Normajean.Brand
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 9:59 AM
To: ATHEN <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: [Athen] Kurzweil vs Texthelp? Or both?

Hello all, and Happy Friday!
I’m curious to find out how many of you offer both Kurzweil and TextHelp, or only one of the apps. We started out being a WYNN college but moved to Kurzweil 3000 when WYNN was no longer being updated. I did a pilot of TextHelp a long time ago (2001?), and although I liked it, I couldn’t get any traction on it from students or anyone else, so we stayed with Kurzweil. However, with the many advancements that TextHelp especially reading Math, I’m leaning towards TextHelp and we’re already looking at EquatIO.
Is there justification for both apps? We’ve never had more than 50 students using Kurzweil at any time, and usually it’s closer to maybe 7 actively using it during any semester, since we started offering Kurzweil in 2005. I know there are probably many more that could benefit from using either app when looking at how many students are registered with our Disability Services.
Thoughts?
Thank you for your time,
NJ

NJ Brand, BAAS-Psych, ATAC
(she/her/hers) <--- What Is This<https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/HRC_ACAF_Pronouns_101_(1).pdf?_ga=2.91660819.84602280.1571755713-1618351664.1571755713>
ADA Tech/Assistive Technology Technician, Center for Learning Innovation
● Spring Branch Campus ● Suite RC12/13 – Note: Working remotely, off-campus, due to COVID-19 until further notice
● T: 713.718.5604 ● F:713.718.5430 ● HCCS<http://hccs.edu/> <http://hccs.edu/>  ● Counseling & Ability Services<https://www.hccs.edu/support-services/counseling/>

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Michael Nakai
Adaptive Technology

Weber State University Disability Services
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