Thursday, October 25, 2007
Alternate Format Activity
I have experienced great difficulties in my attempt to utilize the Kurzweil 3000 software. After watching the tutorial, the tools are easy to locate and use. However, the "edit text" option does not appear to be compatible with my computer. Upon selecting the "edit text" option, my computer froze (over and over again). Aside from this problem, I can see where the Kurzweil program would be very useful in a classroom setting. Although expressionless, the animated voice is clear. I would be hesitant to use this device for literature. The underlying meaning would not be conveyed. The options to highlight text and add bubble notes are very useful. Many students become overwhelmed by too much text, and these options would redirect the focus. I would definitely use this program in a class. Although, much preparation time would be needed to work out all of the possible problems.
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Stephanie: Although people occasionally have technical problems with Kurzweil 3K, as with any software, I never heard of it just crashing like that. Sorry you had that problem.
After using the program for awhile, people get used to the expressionless voice. After all, text on a page is expressionless, too, so this kind of voice is a more accurate representation of the text than fully-inflected speech. This could be a relevant ADVANTAGE in a testing situation where it could be seen as unfair to give the student using Kurzweil the advantage of hearing the text read in a natural voice, as that would assist with comprehension.
Do you think so?
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