Free Resources from the Net for EVERY Learner

I’m a big fan of Kurzweil 3000, and one feature of the program that I especially appreciate is the way text can be highlighted and then extracted into a new file. This can be an extremely valuable study aid. Another helpful study aid in Kurzweil 3000 is the option of easily adding sticky notes to pages of text. Altogether Kurzweil 3000 contains the best set of tools I know of for helping learners deal with a wide range of challenges that can create barriers to learning.

The dilemma is that Kurzweil is expensive; so lack of money is a barrier that prevents access to Kurzweil itself for many learners. The same problem exists with other fine commercial alternatives, such as Wynn and textHELP. Even when schools provide these programs, the tools are only available as long as the learner is enrolled in school. So, what happens when the learner leaves school and no longer has access to these tools?

I’m really excited about the resource I’m writing about today because it offers a free and effective alternative to some of the best study aids that are available in expensive commercial software. Yet again, I owe this discovery to Larry Ferlazzo.

Awesome Highlighter is an application that allows you to highlight web pages in a choice of four colours, or any combination of the four. You can also annotate web pages with sticky notes. The highlighted and/or annotated version of a page can then be shared with a new URL. Convenient options are also available for sharing highlights directly to Twitter, delicious, and facebook.

As a valuable bonus, the highlights and notes that you make about any given web page are extracted and saved to Awesome Highlighter’s website. If you register with Awesome Highlighter, you have a convenient place where annotated web pages are filed for use as needed. This has great potential for individuals who wish to “take notes” for any reason. The extracted notes can be copied and pasted anywhere.

I’ve embedded Molly McDonald’s screencast about The Awesome Highighter below. It should be noted that the application has been refined since ‘Demogirl’s’ screencast was made in March. Everything appears to be working flawlessly now.