Comapping

I will be doing a workshop tomorrow for a group of educators and will be presenting on how teachers can use Kurzweil 3000 in the classroom to support students with reading disabilities. I thought that it would be great to be able to present my material using a mind map. For this presentation I decided to us Comapping, a web based mind mapping application. It is small mind map but one that more easily gets my points across. Here is a link to the mind map.

Kurzweil 3000™ USB for Windows

Kurzweil Educational Systems announced today the release of Kurzweil 3000™ USB for Windows. With this release students can access all of the features of Kurzweil 3000 on any Windows computer by virtue of plugging in the device into a USB port. Kurzweil 3000™ USB for Windows is available in both the Professional and LearnStation versions. The Professional version also for the scanning of text while the LearnStation version provides all the features less the scanning capabilities. Here is a list of the features as noted on the Kurzweil 3000 website:

Key Benefits of Kurzweil 3000 USB for Windows

For Struggling Students

• Easily use Kurzweil 3000 at home or on other non-school computers.
• Save files and user settings — saving files on the USB flash drive enables students to have ready access to their important files regardless of what computer they are using.

For Teachers

• Gain immediate access to Kurzweil tools for students and teachers alike — without depending on others to install software.
• No installation of software necessary.
• Use Kurzweil 3000 on virtually any Windows computer — even at home.
• Bring Kurzweil 3000 to demonstrate at IEP meetings with parents.

For IT directors

• No installation of software necessary — less effort (if any) in supporting software installations.
• Provides an easy way to move software from one classroom or lab to another so that a limited number of licenses can be used anywhere in the school without having to install it on a network.
• Enable students and teachers to use software at home.

System Requirements

• Processor: 700 MHz Intel Pentium III (or faster)
• Operating Systems: Windows 2000, XP, Vista;
• Memory: 128MB or if using VoiceText™, 256MB
• Disk Space: 200MB
• Screen Resolution: 16 bit high colors, 800 x 600 pixels
• USB 2.0 port
• Scanner: TWAIN compliant
• For audio file creation: MP3 encoder and/or Windows Media Player.
• For how-to videos: Windows Media Player.
• Sound card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 or other16-bit compatible sound card with speakers and microphone; keyboard and mouse.