[Athen] Kurzweil vs Texthelp? Or both?

[Normajean.Brand]

Thank you, Wink! I’m kinda hoping, after having a meeting with some key people Friday afternoon, that this is the direction we go – engaging other departments across the system to buy into it, especially those teaching STEM courses. We’ll see. It’s an act of congress to get anything included in student fees around here.

I am saddened that Kurzweil isn’t making more progress in this direction with regards to Math and other STEM subjects as well.
NJ

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of foreigntype at gmail.com
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 5:12 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Kurzweil vs Texthelp? Or both?

TextHelp has come up with Orbit Note (works on Chrome) which does a very similar kind of PDF scan to word OCR conversion. When you combine that with the ability of EquatIO to convert Math into alternative text, it’s almost too hard to resist, really. Kurzweil is making no headway whatsoever in OCR in Math and other STEM subjects.

When we ran into how expensive it was for a site license for Read & Write, DSS engaged other departments on campus to buy into it as part of their department budget. Eventually what happened was the cost was built into the student fees. It really makes a lot of sense campuswide when you do that if every student can benefit, even in some small way, from the software and everyone contributes to it.

Wink
On Fri, Feb 18, 2022 at 2:55 PM Normajean.Brand <normajean.brand at hccs.edu<mailto:normajean.brand at hccs.edu>> wrote:
Hi Susan,
Thank you for your valuable thoughts. We’re paying for 1500 seats and reading your 5000 seats! Yikes! I’m not privy to the contract so I have no idea what we’re paying for it. But one of the higher ups wants EquatIO, and now wants Texthelp, and asked me to look into it. I asked for quotes but haven’t heard back yet. I’m thinking if the cost difference is 5x more than Kurzweil it might be that Texthelp is withdrawn from the want. I get frustrated when things needed (like a new scanner to scan books) are denied but this may happen. I use Kurzweil not only for my students but being dyslexic myself, I use it.
NJ

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Susan Kelmer
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 2:48 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Kurzweil vs Texthelp? Or both?

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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Wink Harner Assistive Technology Consulting and Training Alternative Text Production Portland OR. foreigntype at gmail.com<mailto:foreigntype at gmail.com> 480-984-0034
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