Kurzweil 3000 v10: study skills tools 2010 If you would like this document in an alternative format please ask staff for help. On request we can provide documents with a different size and style of font on a variety of coloured paper. Electronic versions can also be supplied. Introduction Kurzweil 3000 is a piece of software designed to assist people with dyslexia. It has many functions - this guide covers the study skills functions. These include: looking up the definition, synonym or syllables of words highlighting important ideas or words in different colours creating an outline or summary of a file The Library guide Kurzweil 3000 v10 scanning and reading is also available. To open Kurzweil 3000 Toolbars Kurzweil 3000 is available on one PC in the Disability Resource Area. Check the posters next to the PCs to locate Kurzweil 3000. 1) Click on the Start menu 2) Move up to Programs 3) Move up to Disability Software 4) Move up to Kurzweil Educational Systems 5) Click on Kurzweil 3000 Kurzweil 3000 has four toolbars: Main toolbar the frequently used functions Reading Toolbar to control reading including voice and speed Study Skills Toolbar highlighting and notes Copyright 2010 The Library Leeds Metropolitan University Screenshots reproduced with the permission of the software provider
Writing Toolbar font style and size In this guide you will need to use the Main, Reading and Study Skills Toolbars. If you cannot see these toolbars (see Fig. 1): To open the Main toolbar click on the red area at the left of the screen To open the Reading toolbar click on the yellow area at the left of the screen To open the Study Skills toolbar click on green the area at the left of the screen Main toolbar Reading toolbar Click here to open the Main, Reading and Study Skills toolbars Study Skills toolbar Fig. 1. Kurzweil 3000 toolbars Reference tools Select the English dictionary 1) Click on the Reference menu 2) Choose Select Dictionary 3) Select Concise Oxford Dictionary Look up a word in your document 4) Select a word in your document that you want to look up 5) Click the button on the main toolbar for the function you want Definition A dictionary gives an explanation of the meaning of words. Unlike standard dictionaries the Read and Write dictionary also provides examples of how the word can be used in a sentence. Synonyms - A list of words with similar meanings, for example pretty, beautiful and attractive. 2 libraryonline.leedsmet.ac.uk
Syllables - A syllable is one single uninterrupted 'unit' of spoken language. For example, shop has one syllable, shopping has two (shop and ing) Spelling to hear the word's spelling read aloud A different window will appear depending which button you clicked on: 6) To hear Kurzweil 3000 read this information aloud click on the Read button on the toolbar Fig 2. The Definition window Fig 3. Synonyms window libraryonline.leedsmet.ac.uk 3
Fig 4. Word Syllables window Fig 5. Word Spelling window To look up a word which is not in your document If you would like to look up a word which is not in your document you can type the word into the Dictionary lookup box. 7) Open the Reference menu 8) Select Look Up Word I Type Fig 6. Look Up Word I Type 4 libraryonline.leedsmet.ac.uk
9) In the Word box, type the word you want to look up Fig 7. Dictionary Lookup box 10) Click the button for the function you want A different window will appear depending which button you clicked on: (see Fig. 2 to Fig. 4): 11) To hear Kurzweil 3000 read this information aloud click on the Read button on the toolbar Using the Study Skills toolbar Kurzweil 3000 features highlighters which let you add your own highlighting to the words in a typed or scanned document. Notes provide a convenient way to keep questions, ideas, and references with a document. Kurzweil 3000 provides four types of notes, these all work in a very similar way so only Sticky Notes have been covered in detail in this guide. More iformation on notes can be found via the Help button. Sticky Notes: available in image documents. Sticky notes let you attach rectangular yellow notes to a document Text Notes: available in image documents. Typed notes let you attach typed notes anywhere in a document. Text notes let you add notes on top of a scanned document Footnotes: available in image and text documents Voice Notes (notes that store and play a dictated annotation): available in image and text documents. Voice notes enable you to record spoken notes and attach them to a document Using text highlighting In Kurzweil 3000, the multiple highlighting colours let you associate different concepts with different colours. For instance, you could use green for main ideas, yellow for details, and cyan (blue) for material you want to reread. libraryonline.leedsmet.ac.uk 5
To highlight text in a document 12) With the document open, click any Highlighter button on the Study Skills toolbar. See Fig 11 13) Click at the beginning of the first word to highlight. Hold down the left mouse button and move over all the text you want to highlight 14) When you have finished selecting your text release the mouse button Fig 8. Example of highlighted text You can highlight as much text in a document as you want 15) To change highlighting colours, click on a different Highlighter button 16) To turn highlighting off, click the Highlighter button you are using Kurzweil 3000 keeps your highlighting only if you save your document in KESI (.KES) or RTF format. Please refer to the section on Saving files at the end of this document. Removing highlighting 17) With the document open, click the Erase button on the Study Skills toolbar. See Fig 11 18) Click at the beginning of the highlighted text. As you move the eraser cursor over the text, the highlight colour disappears Extracting highlighted text With the Extract Highlights feature, you can highlight vocabulary words, for example, and then extract the highlights to use as a vocabulary study list. Or you can highlight main ideas, and extract them to use, for example, as a revision aid. 19) Click on the File menu 20) Choose to Extract Annotations 21) Choose Highlights 6 libraryonline.leedsmet.ac.uk
Fig 9. Extract Annotations window 22) Clear the tick from any colours you do not want to extract 23) Put a tick next to Insert Black Lines when Extracting Highlight to increase the spacing between each paragraph in the document You can assign different indent values to different colour highlights. This lets you show how your ideas are organised. For example, if you use the yellow highlighter for main ideas and the green highlighter for supporting ideas, you may want the green text to be indented when you extract it. 24) Click OK Kurzweil 3000 creates a new text document that contains all the text you have highlighted in the document. This new document shows the text in its highlighted colour. To remove all highlighting in the new document: 25) Open the Edit menu 26) Choose Select All libraryonline.leedsmet.ac.uk 7
27) Click the Erase button on the Study Skills toolbar See Fig 1 Reading by highlight 28) Open the document 29) On the Reading toolbar 30) Click on the drop-down arrow next to the Reading Unit box 31) Choose Highlight 32) Click the Read button on the toolbar to start reading. Sticky Notes Fig 10. Main toolbar Read button To read the previous highlight, click the Back button and then click the Read button To read the next highlight, click the Forward button and then click the Read button A Sticky Note can have a coloured background and/or coloured text. It is opaque, covering the image. Sticky Notes serve as handy reminders. To use the Notes feature, Enable Editing on the Edit menu must be selected. Kurzweil 3000 will only save your notes if you save your document in KESI (.KES) format. Adding Sticky Notes Read button 33) Click the Sticky Note button in the Study Skills toolbar. See Fig 11 34) Click on the location where you want to place the note A yellow sticky note is added at the point you click. Type your text into this note To create new text lines, use the Enter key for line breaks 8 libraryonline.leedsmet.ac.uk
35) When you have finished typing, click outside the note Read this book by Washington Irving Fig 11. Example of a sticky note Removing Sticky Notes 36) Click on the Sticky Note you want to remove 37) Click the Delete button on the Study Skills toolbar. See Fig 19 A message appears asking if you want to permanently delete the note from the document 38) Click Yes Hearing Sticky Notes Saving files 39) Click inside a Sticky Note 40) Click the Read button to hear the note. See Fig 16 41) When you finished, click outside the Sticky Note Note; When reading a document with Sticky Notes, Kurzweil 3000 reads them after reading through the rest of the document. 42) Open the File menu 43) Select Save As 44) Click the Save in arrow to select the folder where you want to save the file. 45) Type the file name in the File name text box libraryonline.leedsmet.ac.uk 9
46) Click the Save as type arrow and select a file format from the list Kurzweil 3000 allows you to save your file into several different formats depending on how you want to use the file If you want to use the file in Kurzweil 3000 again at a later stage, select the KESI file format. If you want to be able to correct errors in the file (see section on Correcting errors above) you must save the file in the Kurzweil format (*.KESI). Once you have completed correcting all the errors you can save the files as Microsoft Word by selecting the MS Word(*.DOC) option. You will then be able to make changes to the file in Microsoft Word The best option is probably to save your file twice, once in the Kurzweil format and once as a Microsoft Word file 47) When you have finished making selections, click Save to save the file After you have saved a file for the first time, Kurzweil 3000 saves the file automatically when you click Save. It keeps the same name and file. Further help Feedback You can borrow headphones from the Help and Information Point You can also use the built in help menu. To access this click on the question mark? on the Kurzweil 3000 toolbar User manuals are available in the Disability Resource Area You can arrange an appointment with The Library s Learning Support Officer if you would like some more help using the software. Contact your Learning Support Officer on disability.lc@leedsmet.ac.uk IT staff at the Help and Information Point can also help you use the software Does this document tell you what you want to know? Please let us know by completing a Customer Comments card, available in The Library or on Library Online. Please include details of the document title. 10 libraryonline.leedsmet.ac.uk