SOLO v.1.x Overview

SOLO

SOLO: An Overview of the Program

SOLO is a suite of four integrated programs: Read:OutLoud, Draft:Builder, Write:OutLoud, and Co:Writer. These programs can be used together or separately to guide students through the reading and writing process.  By creating structured assignments, students can develop reading comprehension strategies in Read:OutLoud, outlining and note-taking skills in Draft:Builder and editing and proofreading skills in Write:OutLoud.  Co:Writer can provide word prediction throughout the process for added support.

In Read:OutLoud, students can use the text reading features to have e-text read aloud or they can read live or captured web pages.  Read:OutLoud has eHighlighter tools which students can use to identify and extract important information.  A structured Reading Guide can be created for the student to guide them through the reading process.

In Draft:Builder, students can take the information collected in Read:OutLoud, view it as an outline or map.  They can add their own notes to the outline and then take this and create a first draft by dragging and adding information to the drafting area.

These drafts can be proofread and edited in Write:OutLoud where students can use the auditory support and reference tools to create the final, published form.  Co:Writer can be used at any stage in this integrated reading and writing process to provide rigorous word prediction support.

SOLO is managed through Teacher Central – an organizational interface which provides teachers with a way of managing assignments, content, student documents and student preferences.  There is also a tool available for analyzing student progress in their written assignments.

SOLO has been designed to accommodate and support the recursive nature of reading and writing and is most appropriate for students who are struggling to develop their literacy skills.  It would be most effective for students working at the late primary, intermediate, and middle school levels.  Depending on which programs or combinations of programs being used, there can be several windows open on the screen at one time.  The most successful students will be those that can work with some degree of visual complexity.  The most effective approach would be to begin using one aspect of SOLO to start (perhaps using only Read:OutLoud to read e-text files) and then add other programs and features as the student experiences success.

This program will not run on Macintosh computers with OS 8.6 or 9.x

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