Nov 14, 2008 Kamp
Add comment November 18th, 2008
'Kamp Participants'
Introducing the Students
Kourtney – Has used a PC and is now learning Kurzweil for the Mac. She likes it so far!
Harmony – Looking forward to learning how to use the formatting features.
Cindy – Has used Kurzweil since beginning of school year for her writing.
Cale – Only used Kurzweil once before so he is looking forward to learning how to use it.
Alex – First time! He likes the reading feature.
James – Has used Kurzweil for one year. James likes the program’s sophistication.
Anthony – Used Kurzweil for just a few weeks now. He likes the PC version better than the Mac.
Samantha – She has used Kurzweil since the Fall and finds the scanning feature really helpful.
Jacqueline – She has used the program a little and likes the reading features. She has done a little scanning so far as well.
Simone – First timer! She thinks the highlighters and dictionary are cool.
Alexis – Just started with Kurzweil. Likes having text read back.
Phillip – Has used it for about 6 month now and thinks its good. He’s looking forward to learning more.
Ben – Power user (3 years experience). He uses Kurzweilfor writing, but really uses the word prediction a lot.
Chance – Recently got the program. So far likes everything about it and wants to learn as much as he can!
Add comment June 11th, 2008
Introducing May Participants
Kamp started early and everyone paired up with a partner to introduce themselves to each other. Later they had to present the other partner to the class. I spoke to most of the students ands here are some of things they told me…
Amarinder, a grade 8 student, is quick to point out that he’s an experienced Kurzweil user; in fact he has been using the software everyday for the past 3 years. He uses Kurzweil to read E-text usually. The tools he finds most useful in Kurzweil are the Text Reader and the Definition Tool.
Walter, a grade 10 student, uses Kurzweil frequently to scan and read books. He thinks that Kurzweil overall is great software. He has using Kurzweil for about 2 years now.
Mitchell is in Grade 10. He’s experienced in using Kurzweil and uses it for scanning textbooks for reading.
Adriana, a Grade 11 student, is new to Kurzweil. She’s seen a friend use the software in her class, and thinks that maybe Kurzweil will help her with English and Socials. Both are subjects she enjoys and in which she excels.
Travis is in Grade 9. He’s not familiar with Kurzweil . His favorite subjects in school are Science and Math.
Ian, a grade 5 student, has been using Kurzweil on his Mac for the past year. Today he will attempt to learn the software on a PC. Travis is a good reader, but needs Kurzweil to help with his written output. He says that the Spell Check and Word prediction in Kurzweil helps him write more accurately and quickly.
Zakaria is in grade 7 and frequently uses Kurzweil. He uses Kurzweil to scan and read books. He often uses Kurzweil to make notes when he reads and listens. Summarizing what he hears and reads helps with his reading comprehension. P.E. is his favourite subject in school.
Conner is a chatty fellow! From his experience, he prefers Kurzweil on the PC than on a Mac. He uses Kurzweil for all his subjects, except for French. He has recently even used Kurzweil for his PE class, where he had to write an essay on the personal benefits of fitness. He uses all aspects of Kurzweil like scanning, writing and reading. The spell check function helps with his writing. He also likes to use the circling tool in Kurzweil to help him with math word problems. For example, he circles the important numbers in the question so he can see what he needs to do.
Dino is in Grade 5 and he’s had very little experience with Kurzweil. He is looking forward to learn more about the software.
Danica, a Grade 8 student, is new to Kurzweil. She hopes that Kurzweil will help with her spelling and her writing output. She has recently transfered from French Immersion school, so Kurzweil is a great tool for her to help her to re-orient herself to writing English again. In her spare time she likes to write fiction.
Laura, a Grade 7 student, has worked on Kurzweil since October of this year. She uses it for reading and for typing responses to class discussions.
Add comment May 5th, 2008
Kurzweil Kamp Participants
Group shots taken after lunch – April 28th/08
Add comment April 28th, 2008
9:15 Introductions
By 9:15 the majority of the Kamp Kids arrived, despite the traffic jams. Each participant gave a small intro about themselves:
Chazz is 14 years old and has been using Kurzweil since September 2007. He uses Kurzweil for writing tests and for enlarging print. He is here to learn about how to scan books properly and would love to know how to scan legal size documents for Kurzweil.
Devon is 11 years old and has never used Kurzweil before. A student in her class uses the software and she is really keen on learning the software. She would like to learn how to scan text and how to type notes on Kurzweil.
Jonathan is 13 years old and has a good knowledge about using Kurzweil. He can scan documents and type on Kurzweil. SET-BC consultants have been to his school several times to give tutorials and demonstrations, and he has gained a lot from this. As well as Kurzweil, he enjoys using Powerpoint and Microsoft Word.
Owen is 12 and he is a new to Kurzweil, although he’s been introduced to it at Literacy Camp. He’s enjoys using the computer, especially downloading video’s to his iPod. He uses both MAC and PC, but prefers MAC.
Sarita is in grade 7 and has never used Kurzweil before.
Thai is 13 years old and has been using Kurzweil for the past year. He is looking to gain more knowledge on Kurzweil.
Travis is in Grade 7 and has been using Kurzweil since he got his computer in December. He likes surfing the web to find stuff on the latest tech gadgets.
Tyler is 14 years old and uses Kurzweil for almost all his classes. He’s hoping to find out some more neat features.
Zurinneh is in grade 8 and carries her laptop everywhere with her. She is experienced with Kurzweil.
Nathan is 12 years old and has used Kurzweil about 10 times. He considers himself an intermediate user. Kurzweil has been very helpful for spelling. His favourite thing to do on the computer is playing internet games.
Kurstyn is 10 years old and enjoys using Kurzweil for reading, especially the internet. She uses version 3 of Kurzweil and is very excited to learn the new features of version 4.
Hayden was a little late today, but is catching up fast.
Alaina is 13 years old and is new to Kurzweil. She uses her computer frequently for studying and for homework.
Add comment April 28th, 2008
