Kurzweil Education Systems
From LIS 460 Summer 2007
Kurzweil Education Systems
In 1996 Ray Kurzweil, the founder of Kurzweil Computer Products, together with a team of computer scientists from the aforementioned company and its offshoots, founded Kurzweil Education Systems. The new company was created with the aim of making adaptive print-to-speech technology for blind and visually-impaired computer users as well as for users with learning disabilities that make reading difficult. The Kurzweil 1000 and the Kurzweil 3000 are the company's current software packages for those purposes([1]).
What Are Adaptive and Assistive Technologies?
According to US law Assistive Technology is "Any item, piece of equipment, or system, whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is commonly used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities." -TECHNOLOGY-RELATED ASSISTANCE FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1988 AS AMENDED IN 1994, US Public Laws 100-407 and 103-218.
Adaptive technologies make access to various media possible for people with sensory impairments and/or physical disabilities. These can be hardware such as braille keyboards, software such as the Kurzweil packages, or a combination of the two such as eye-driven keyboarding and speech recognition software which require the use of special cameras and microphones[2].
Also included in the definition of Assistive Technology is software that allows users with learning disabilities access. Both the Kurzweil 1000 and Kurzweil 3000 fall under these categories.
What Do They Do?
The basic functions of both the Kurzweil 1000 and Kurzweil 3000 software packages are to scan digital text and turn it into audio for those who cannot otherwise read it. Where they differ is the intended audience and additional tools. Where the Kurzweil 1000 is marketed for people with visual impairments and mainly runs as a text-to-speech program with excellent speech functions (including several different choices of natural-sounding voices which can be altered to the preferences of the user) without any additional instructional components.
The Kurzweil 3000 software package does the text-to-speech functions that the Kurzweil 1000 does but also includes study skills components and other software which could be used by teachers to adapt lesson plans and the curriculum for a given class or grade for use by a student who otherwise would not be able to do what his or her classmates were doing[3] [4].
Kuzweil software can be used on both Windows and Macintosh computers. The Macintosh version is capable of saving audio files in a wide variety of formats which can then be edited or transferred for listening elsewhere[5].
Sources and Links
Closing The Gap - An online newsletter about assistive technology. Archive is searchable but full access requires a paid membership.
