Written by the Kurzweil Blog Team

We are dedicated to helping teachers support, challenge, and guide students to succeed as learners. Take a look at four new updates to Kurzweil 3000 in May that were designed to do just that.

1. Cross-out Text Online

While the new cross-out text feature was added to Kurzweil 3000 last month, you can now cross-out text online. The ability to cross-out text is a very simple, yet powerful tool. Learners can use cross-out text to arrive at the correct answers to tests and assignments through the process of elimination. It can also be a useful editing tool for marking up writing assignments and other text. You may even find that the cross-out text tool can give you a glimpse into your students thought process. Watch and share this video with your students to see how to use this new feature.

2. Opening and Saving Files is Now Even Easier

New expandable menus for opening and saving files simplify administrative tasks. Try it out. On your Kurzweil 3000 start screen, click on the Open Existing File button to expand the menu. You'll be presented with three options for opening a file from:
1. Your computer (either your desktop or a file saved on your network)
2. The Kurzweil 3000 Universal Library
3. GoogleDrive

Saving files is just as easy. In its new ever-present location on the top left, click on the Save button to open the expandable menu. You can simply choose to Save files in your My Documents folder. If you have a specific place you'd like to place the file select Save As and then navigate to your folder. The option we'd recommend is Save to Library to store content online in the Kurzweil 3000 Universal Library—so that you and your students can access the file from the Kurzweil 3000 web app known as firefly.

3. Edit Underlying Text

Text-to-speech is made possible by both Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology and text-to-speech voices. The quality in both OCR and voice technology is remarkable, especially when you're using high-quality OCR engines such as the Abby Fine Reader.

However, it's still technology. Issues with how the book was scanned or instances where the name of a character is pronounced differently from how it's read may cause the text to be read aloud incorrectly. For situations like this, k3000 offers the ability to edit underlying text. Using the Edit Underlying Text button is also important when reading content that uses foot or inch marks (i.e. 5' 1") or a forward slash to represent a fraction (i.e. 1/2).

Editing Underlying Text is now at your fingertips with a new button added to the top navigation in the scan tab (which we refer to as the Scan Tab Ribbon). You're invited to watch the video below to familiarize yourself with the new open and save menus, in addition to the Edit Underlying Text button in k3000.

4. Alakazam! You Can Save Toolbars to a Document

You know what never gets old—convenience. Not only does convenience save you time, it helps students to develop a positive attitude toward their work by simplifying mundane tasks (one of the steps to motivating with UDL). Saving toolbars to a document is a wonderfully convenient way to provide the specific tools a student needs to complete a task; including vocabulary development, test-taking—or whatever you can dream up. Your students will think you’re a magician!

We’ll show you a very easy way for saving toolbars to a document so that students have exactly what they need simply by opening a file. Watch this video to learn how to add a little magic to your classroom:

Are you ready to take Kurzweil 3000 for a spin?

Take Kurzweil 3000 for a spin today. Sign-up for a 30-day free trial or contact us for a guided tour.