Firefly is an app created by the Kurzweil Education System. It is meant to help readers access to their instructional materials and their Kurzweil library. Schools are using Kurzweil 3000 to help students with their learning needs.
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jkotler 4:24 am on October 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
After going through all of the different apps, I found that from an educational (and not necessarily personal) standpoint this was the app that impressed me the most. Among other things, I really liked that operationally it is easy to navigate, has a flexible user management system, offers audio, cloud storage and especially that it can be used by students with physical limitations. Similarly, in regards to pedagogy, I found that it is well designed and I was impressed with the focus on individual needs such that the student can choose from different voices, choose the pace, speed and the display size, look up definitions when needed etc. Thus, overall I think this app can be quite useful for students at many different levels.
kstackhouse 5:00 am on October 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for your feedback. I know that the Resource and Methods teachers at my High School use the Kurzweil desktop program for struggling readers. It is a great tool that I have personally seen students succeed with. That is why I was so excited to see that there was a mobile app for this great service.
tomwhyte1 8:10 am on October 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
App Title: Firefly
Publisher/Developer: Kurzweil
Version: 1.01
Operation Analysis:
The Firefly App, upon first glance, looks to be a decent text-to-speech program that assists students who either struggle with reading, or are unable to read, due to an ELL status or cognitive reasons. As well, Firefly, is an easy to navigate app, that contains help files built directly into the program to assist with its operation. As well, if one has the proper login information, reading programs exist for learners at different levels and abilities, meeting them where they are currently at in their education. However, I was not able to determine if the App tracked a student’s progress over time, but this might be a feature when logging into the actual website.
Pedagogical Analysis:
As I do not instruct any language class, I can only assume that this tool would be beneficial to accommodate students at different reading levels, however I am unsure if this app allows one to load in their own documents, which if possible would make this text-to-speech app very powerful. Unfortunately, the app itself does not promote higher order thinking, interaction, collaboration, creativity, problem solving, or feedback. However, this app if combined with an effective assessment or task based activity to easily allow students of all reading levels, to complete and excel.
adi 6:52 pm on October 5, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I wondered the same thing about login into the students’ documents, and even listening to them read; otherwise why bother reading out loud? This aside, it has a lot of awesome features like the ability to translate text; being able to customize readings; the choice of voices and more so, that it’s FREE!
rebecca42 11:53 am on October 3, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I was also incredibly excited to see this app! We use Kurzweil for a group of students in our school and I have found that it is very empowering for the majority of students who use it. I’m not well-versed on it, but I know how successful students feel after using it. We have an issue of drops in our classroom for installing a Kurzweil reader, perhaps this app can help to bridge the gap!
kstackhouse 7:14 am on October 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great to hear! Hopefully this will be a resource that you can take advantage of. I know that our school has been using the desktop version. We don’t have class set of iPads or iPods at this point. But this is a great suggestion that parents can load on their own devices to help their children if the school can’t provide it.
sophiabb 6:58 pm on October 5, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Apps OER for guiding/reminding us on what great educational resources apps can be. I also like the possible affordances of the FireFly App — really a Kurzweil app. Kurzweil seems to be a great tool for students with language processing/learning/output challenges and see this as a great resource for all teachers – not only teachers of language. While it is not totally free — you have to have a Kurzweil account — it great that you don’t have to pay for this app, if you already have an account. I would like to see an android version of this app so that it can be used on non Apple tablets. Is there a smartphone version in the making?
C. Ranson 9:13 am on October 6, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I too found the Firefly app very inspiring and would be very useful in specific learning situations. It was easy to navigate and well designed. The positive aspects of this app are the capability to address individual student needs, various reading programs, an assessment component, and feedback for the learner. The app has some great features that will assist the learner through look up definitions and translate text; cloud storage is another added feature. The app website refers to private and public documents being accessed through Firefly, wondering what private documents includes?
Catherine