Kurzweil and Bookshare

Bookshare

            The Bookshare webinar presented by Cherie Miller was extremely informative and easy to follow. Before this webinar I was completely unaware that Bookshare even existed and I am now very excited to add this accessible form technology to my list of classroom resources. A few of the features that I loved about Bookshare are that free memberships are offered through OSEP awards, its library is constantly being updated with over 2,000 new books added every month, and there is a library specifically for post-secondary content. Additionally, Cherie stated that if a student wants a book that is not on Bookshare, they should contact the company and they will add that book to their library. Even though this may take up to 14 weeks it gives teachers and students the opportunity to plan in advance and does not restrict any student from reading any book he or she may desire.

            What struck me by surprise is that there are strict eligibility criteria to access Bookshare. As stated in the eligibility qualifications, students with autism, emotional disorders, ADHD, ESL and ELL’s are not qualified unless they have an accompanying disability that affects their ability to read standard print. I was also curious if schools or teachers that had access to this software were restricted to only provide it do the student in the class with the eligible disability, or if it was accessible to the class as a whole. 

          

Kurzweil

         Kurzweil is another program that I did not know existed before taking this class. After watching the videos and reading about the main features of Kurzweil I was immediately drawn to the fact that it supports reading, writing, and study skills that incorporate the core principles of universal design for learning. I also liked the emphasis on promoting instructional differentiation without curriculum differentiation. I think it is extremely important to ensure that our struggling learners are not falling behind with the necessary skills and knowledge they need to progress through their educational careers. 

Student Learning Profiles

            Kurzweil would be a great educational tool for a student like Michael who has difficulty completing assignment with multiple steps and who needs support for abstract concepts, directions, and any use of figurative language.  I believe the multi-sensory approach would be extremely beneficial for students like Michael and would address many of his unique needs.  Some of the features of Kurzweil 3000 that would be helpful for Michael are the ability to slow down and speed up when necessary, have segments read aloud, and the use of the American heritage dictionary for immediate definitions.

            Another student that would benefit from the use of Kurzweil and Bookshare is Rebecca. Rebecca has a hearing impairment as well as a language based learning disability that has negatively affected her background knowledge of certain topics. She also struggles with the structure of language, which is why Kurzweil and Bookshare would be great educational tools for Rebecca. Bookshare allows for 4 different ways to read, including, multi-modal, large font, auditory, and Braille. Students like Rebecca would most likely benefit from the multi-modal reading format or the auditory option. This tool combined with Kurweil’s options of an immediate dictionary and word prediction would help with Rebecca’s receptive and expressive language issues as well.