These programs all have common features which we refer to as Next Generation. In addition to its use as a talking word processor, the program is also an authoring tool for teachers who wish to design writing activities, quizzes and learning activities for students. Graphics can be integrated into documents providing support for beginning readers. The palette feature enable teachers to easily create on-screen picture and word banks to assist students in their writing. The locked text feature enables teachers to create worksheets that cannot be edited and erased.
Students can move, rotate, size, and color manipulatives to solve mathematical and logic problems.
IntelliMathics is fully compatible with IntelliTalk II and teachers can use palettes created in one program, with activities created in the other. For example, students studying and writing about dinosaurs in IntelliTalk II, can sort and count the same dinosaur graphics in IntelliMathics. Both programs enable teachers to import graphics into documents from the web, digital photos, or other sources. While IntelliTalk II and IntelliMathics have greatly enhanced the ability of teachers to create and adapt activities, authoring functions of these programs are not accessible to students. In designing IntelliPics II our goal was to create a powerful multimedia authoring tool that students as well as teachers could use.