Here's a question I would like to throw out to the group for your opinion. In the past, when I have taught a computer class to basic level ESL students, I have asked them to complete a basic keyboarding course, such as the one available at Goodtyping (http://www.goodtyping.com). I haven't taught this course for a while, and given changes in the way students access computers, especially on mobile devices, I'm wondering if keyboarding is a skill that is worth spending time on. What do you think?
Dorothy Taylor
Educational Opportunity Center, SUNY/University at Buffalo
Comments
Hello Dorothy,
For many reasons, keyboarding is still needed. Among them are: 1) skills of (in my opinion) 40WPM at the bare minimum are needed for high school equivalency assessments available on computer that involve writing. Since the tests are timed, the student's focus needs to be on the (extended response) writing itself, not on keyboarding skills. Post-secondary education usually requires a lot of writing. Keyboarding skills are necessary foundation skills, again so the student can focus on the writing. Some students do write using a tablet, and save versions in Google Docs or in various cloud storage devices, but tablets generally do have keyboards. Few college students write and revise long, academic pieces of writing from their smartphones. None of the HSE tests, as far as I know, are designed to be taken on smartphones.
David J. Rosen
djrosen123@gmail.com
David, I am conflicted. I agree with much of what you posted about typing today, right now. It is especially important for learners trying to survive in our academic situations with test frenzies all over the place. Typing can be a huge asset. Outside of our academic institution may be a different story. Almost every device and even most laptops today come equipped with free and effective voice to text features. Additionally, the predictive text features on many devices make it so you simply type in two letters of the word you want (three letters at most) and the word you intended is there to select. I would counter that our text happy millennials could out type your 40wpm with the combination of digital tools already available on today's devices. The problem, of course is that "Education" does not allow that form of communication because it is "informal, rude, crude ....". How ironic for a student to sit there listening to a teacher berate them about the importance of being an effective communicator while the student is using his thumb under the table to share with his friends how much school is useless. Oh, and the students message consisted of only 15 characters.
For those of us that have not had the chance yet, we really could benefit from picking up some of these devices and playing with the speech to text features. My father, (70 yrs old) who has HATED every computer we have tried to help him learn, has become a digital native on his smart phone simply because he can talk his way through navigating the web and he can dictate his stories into digital print with ease at a rate that is well over 30 times his typing speed.
I still contend that keyboarding skills is the primary, if not the only, discrete skill I learned in High School that I can honestly say I have used most every day in my adult life. All those other facts and academic trivial have been great at intellectual parties, but has been otherwise just pretty bling sitting in the recesses of my mind. If I were preparing someone for a career today, typing would be a valuable skill. If I were looking 4 years out, my gut tells me our conventional writing means will likely be archaic, slow and cumbersome in just that short a period.
David and Edward make many good points. My son-in-law is totally blind and relies on text-to-speech capabilities on electronic devices every. And my teenage daughter is blazing fast on her iPhone keyboard. But just as CDs, DVDs, and e-books have not wiped out the need or desire for books in print, I expect keyboards to be around for a long time, even as alternative data entry options become more available and widespread.
I try to convince every student I work with whether they are beginners or advanced to try to learn keyboarding. In particular, I try to convince them to consistently keep their hands on the home row and have their fingers memorize the reaches to the different letters. The idea is to have the student's brain concentrate on the work at hand rather than the keyboard. While 40 wpm was once the standard, I do not think that it is so necessary today. Accuracy is far more important. If a person can type accurately at 30 wpm without looking or thinking about the placement of hands or the reaches needed on the keyboard, they can stay focused on whatever they need to do. For example, while typing this message, I did not think about every reach or how I would have to place my fingers to stroke the correct key. And when typing the word "key", I didn't have to break my train of thought in order to search for that "y".
Another analogy is playing chords on a guitar. When I go from a C chord to a G chord to an F chord to an Em chord, the fingers on my left hand just know what to do (at least on my good days). The point is if you are trying to do more than one task simultaneously, you have a better chance of a quality result if you can do one of those tasks automatically.
I think keyboarding skills are great, but this program could be so much better for low level learners. Even by adding sound to the key they press would reinforce learning of the alphabet while students learn to keyboard. There is a lot of text to read that would be beyond the real low level beginners. With predictive text, swipe writing on some tablets and phones, I would not sacrifice class time for this program.
For beginners aiming for academic studies, I would recommend they practise in their own time.
(I tried and failed lesson one BTW> Too out of context for my poor skills...)
Anyone know of any better programs for low level begnners?
Hello Jakki,
For some time I have been keeping a list of good, nearly all free, websites for adult basic skills teachers, The Literacy List; most of these websites have been recommended by other adult basic skills and ESOL/ESL teachers. Later this week I will be moving the Literacy List to a new web address. I am updating it now. Since you are interested in keyboarding sites for beginners you may find some in this list. Be sure to check out the last website on the keyboarding skills page; it is a list of many more keyboarding websites. If you do look through these websites, please let us know what appears promising for low level adult learners. If others here have keyboarding skills websites to add, please email them to me or post them here. Thanks.
The Literacy List Keyboarding Skills web page
David J. Rosen
Moderator, Technology and Learning CoP
djrosen123@gmail.com
Hi David, I'd love to see your list but the google doc doesn't want to open. Suggestions? Tks, Heather p.s. Thanks for compiling this list and also for sharing it!
Thanks to all for your responses to my keyboarding question. I think I will continue to offer keyboarding in my computer classes, especially for my basic level ESL students, but not so rigidly prescribed as in the past. Thanks, especially, to you, David, for the list of keyboarding programs available online. I've used some of them, but some were new to me. It will be great to offer the students more than one program - "different strokes for different folks" - right?
Best,
Dorothy