Text Compactor
Access: Online Website at http://textcompactor.com/
Summary: The TextCompactor reduces the length of a document into a summary, so that it contains only the basics about the original text. TextCompactor will give readers the main idea and supporting details from a piece of literature. Often, students with writing difficulties will struggle to compose a story summary independently. TC supports these students by providing a text summary. It is simple to use. Copy a piece of text, and paste it into the text box at the top of the webpage, titled Step 1. Then select the degree to which you want the text summarized. There is a slide bar and percentage guide to manipulate in Step 2. A summary will appear in a few seconds in text box 3 at the bottom of the page. Once a summary is created students could use it in a number of ways. They could simply read the summary. The student could use the summary as part of a writing project, or he or she could paste the summary into a text to speech program where the simplified text would be read back to the student supporting better comprehension.
Connection to UDL Guidelines: The TextCompactor (TC) strategy is in keeping with the UDL principles of providing multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement. Students have options for perception, vocabulary, comprehension, persistence and self regulation.
Reasoning: TC was added to our tool kit for a number of reasons. A student that has difficulty with reading may give up hope of completing a lengthy reading task. Similarly, they may be self conscious about the extra time it takes them to complete a reading passage in comparison with their classmates. TC reduces the volume of reading for a student with weak reading skills. Persistent demands are reduce to support a student that is a non reader. By simplifying the text students are often better able to comprehend. The summarized information provided by TC can also reduce writing demands. For example, the summary information can be edited by a student to create a writing project. By reducing the reading, listening, and writing demands, students with learning disabilities are less likely to become frustrated or overwhelmed. Yet they are participating in the inclusive classroom, and working with the same information as the rest of the class. The features offered by TC should help students to engage and persist with reading and writing tasks.
Critique of the Tool:
Affordances and Constraints
TC could be a very good support for students that need scaffolding with writing. It would be helpful as their summary offers students the opportunity to personalize and edit informational text creating a personalized written response. TC worked better when summarizing informational text. However, there are several constraints associated with the TC. TC summaries did not edit out complex language. For example, Latin word origins were still evident in passages summarized from Wikipedia. TC tended to edit out examples and explanations from student work. When TC was used to summarize a fable the program dropped the end of the passage leaving out an important feature of the story, the moral. While the TC could be a valuable UDL tool it has some limitations that teachers need to understand. but was not as good at summarizing stories or fables.
Supports: TC offers free website access that would work for most school users. An online tutorial is available through here or by clicking below.
Summary: The TextCompactor reduces the length of a document into a summary, so that it contains only the basics about the original text. TextCompactor will give readers the main idea and supporting details from a piece of literature. Often, students with writing difficulties will struggle to compose a story summary independently. TC supports these students by providing a text summary. It is simple to use. Copy a piece of text, and paste it into the text box at the top of the webpage, titled Step 1. Then select the degree to which you want the text summarized. There is a slide bar and percentage guide to manipulate in Step 2. A summary will appear in a few seconds in text box 3 at the bottom of the page. Once a summary is created students could use it in a number of ways. They could simply read the summary. The student could use the summary as part of a writing project, or he or she could paste the summary into a text to speech program where the simplified text would be read back to the student supporting better comprehension.
Connection to UDL Guidelines: The TextCompactor (TC) strategy is in keeping with the UDL principles of providing multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement. Students have options for perception, vocabulary, comprehension, persistence and self regulation.
Reasoning: TC was added to our tool kit for a number of reasons. A student that has difficulty with reading may give up hope of completing a lengthy reading task. Similarly, they may be self conscious about the extra time it takes them to complete a reading passage in comparison with their classmates. TC reduces the volume of reading for a student with weak reading skills. Persistent demands are reduce to support a student that is a non reader. By simplifying the text students are often better able to comprehend. The summarized information provided by TC can also reduce writing demands. For example, the summary information can be edited by a student to create a writing project. By reducing the reading, listening, and writing demands, students with learning disabilities are less likely to become frustrated or overwhelmed. Yet they are participating in the inclusive classroom, and working with the same information as the rest of the class. The features offered by TC should help students to engage and persist with reading and writing tasks.
Critique of the Tool:
Affordances and Constraints
TC could be a very good support for students that need scaffolding with writing. It would be helpful as their summary offers students the opportunity to personalize and edit informational text creating a personalized written response. TC worked better when summarizing informational text. However, there are several constraints associated with the TC. TC summaries did not edit out complex language. For example, Latin word origins were still evident in passages summarized from Wikipedia. TC tended to edit out examples and explanations from student work. When TC was used to summarize a fable the program dropped the end of the passage leaving out an important feature of the story, the moral. While the TC could be a valuable UDL tool it has some limitations that teachers need to understand. but was not as good at summarizing stories or fables.
Supports: TC offers free website access that would work for most school users. An online tutorial is available through here or by clicking below.