Kurzweil Education (formerly Kurzweil Educational Systems) is an
American-based company that provides
educational technology
Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning and teaching. When referred to with its abbreviation, "EdTech" ...
.
Kurzweil Education provides literacy solutions, tools and training for those with learning differences and challenges, or people with
blindness
Visual or vision impairment (VI or VIP) is the partial or total inability of visual perception. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment, visual impairment may cause the individual difficul ...
or
partially sighted.
Founded in 1996, the company has pioneered the development of
computer
A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...
ized
assistive technology
Assistive technology (AT) is a term for assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for Disability, people with disabilities and the elderly. Disabled people often have difficulty performing activities of daily living (ADLs) independently, ...
. Its headquarters are in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
.
The company supplies two principal software products to its customers—Kurzweil 1000 and Kurzweil 3000. Kurzweil 1000 is a software which enables a visually impaired user to gain access to both web-based, digital or scanned print materials through its OCR and text to speech features; Kurzweil 1000 software provides easy access to most printed forms and presents them with the fields, labels, boxes, and text areas in the appropriate reading order to enable forms completion via the computer.
Kurzweil 3000 is an educational technology, or assistive technology, which provides a reading, writing and study platform aimed at people with learning disabilities or other disabilities that make reading or writing difficult. Kurzweil 3000 is used to support those with dyslexia, dysgraphia, English language learners in school, higher education, at home and in the workplace. Kurzweil 3000 can read aloud web-based, digital or scanned print material, convert web-based, digital or scanned print materials into mp3 to provide audible files to listen to on the go or through its firefly web app can be read on an iPad.
Though the company was formed in 1996, its text to speech software is actually something that dates back to the 1970s, when
Raymond Kurzweil developed his first Kurzweil Reading Machine, a device which could scan and speak text.
In 2005, Kurzweil Educational Systems was acquired by
Cambium Learning Technologies. Cambium owns a number of other education related companies.
See also
*
K-NFB Reader
*
Assistive technology
Assistive technology (AT) is a term for assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for Disability, people with disabilities and the elderly. Disabled people often have difficulty performing activities of daily living (ADLs) independently, ...
References
External links
Official website
Blindness equipment
Education companies established in 1996
Computer accessibility
Software companies based in Massachusetts
Software companies of the United States
Ray Kurzweil
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