STUDENT ASSISTANT FOR LEARNING FROM TEXT (SALT) - A HYPERMEDIA READING AID

Student Assistant for Learning from Text (SALT) is a software system f or developing hypermedia versions of textbooks designed to help studen ts with learning disabilities and other low-achieving students to comp ensate for their reading difficulties. In the present study, 10 studen ts with learning disabilities (3 young women and 7 young men ages 15 t o 17) in Grades 9 and 10 read passages from a science textbook using a basic computer version and an enhanced computer version. The basic ve rsion included the components found in the printed textbook (text, gra phics, outline, and questions) and a notebook. The enhanced version ad ded speech synthesis, an on-line glossary, links between questions and text, highlighting of main ideas, and supplementary explanations that summarized important ideas. Students received significantly higher co mprehension scores using the enhanced version. Furthermore, students p referred the enhanced version and thought it helped them learn the mat erial better.