Tag: typing

Benefits of touch typing for a child with dyslexia

Benefits of touch typing for a child with dyslexia

Touch typing is a technique that creates a structure where you have to place different fingers on specific areas on your keyboard. You are using all your 10 fingers, and each one is in charge of a section or a column on the keyboard and it all starts with the home row.

Keyboard with speedskin covers

What is dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that mainly causes problems with reading, writing and spelling. It’s a specific learning difficulty, which means it causes problems with certain abilities used for learning, such as reading and writing and has nothing to do with intelligence. Dyslexia affects up to 10% of the population and may impact an individual’s ability to split words into their component sounds, or phonemes.

 

Significantly, individuals with dyslexia are perfectly capable of comprehending complicated ideas and should not be limited in their potential because of a misunderstanding of their abilities. Sometimes all a person needs is a little more time to process information, or a new approach to processing information, such as having to listen to an ebook rather than reading.

For many children and adults, developing good literacy skills involves overcoming the obstacles offered by specific learning impairments such as dyslexia. Dyslexia affects reading, writing, and spelling ability, but it can also lead to low self-esteem and a lack of confidence in the classroom.

 

Mnemonic devices help in the learning of challenging words’ spelling. Reading requires reduced cognitive work when high-frequency language is memorised. 

 

Also, dyslexics who have received touch typing education can reinforce phonics knowledge, employ muscle memory to remember word spellings, and facilitate the translation of concepts into written language.

This makes the process of writing less difficult and makes writing more seamless and effective.

-Typing vs writing contrast, MRI images Higashiyama et al, 2015, Japan, Cognitive NeuroScience PLOS

 

Why learning how to touch type is suitable for a child with dyslexia:

 

Ideas flow smoothly from the fingertips and onto the screen while touch typing. There isn’t any distraction generated by letter formation. Spelling errors may be easily made and corrected without the discomfort of erasure marks or hasty crossing out. Many children who have severe learning disabilities struggle with English spelling at first because of its extremely irregular nature and the number of sound mappings that may be applied to the same letter and letter combinations. 

 

Typing classes also expose students to numerous samples of written language, allowing them to become more comfortable with these words. It becomes simpler to spell and sight-read words after repeated exposure.

 

Children who learn to touch type via the type wiz programme have their phonics skills enhanced while simultaneously learning how to navigate a keyboard. This is due to the fact that letters and words are read aloud, presented on the screen, and typed by the pupil.

 

Producing work on a computer also frees the writer from attempting to process thoughts in a linear fashion. Dyslexic individuals in particular benefit from being able to capture thoughts and then structure them later on. It can even improve physical dexterity and actually help to handwrite.

 

    

 

Benefits of touch typing for someone who is dyslexic

  • Touch typing provides phonics training helpful to dyslexic children

Typing assists dyslexic children in breaking down words into smaller sounds. This can be really beneficial for reading and spelling. Touch typing allows a dyslexic child to develop sound-letter correlation. This teaches a child which letters create which sounds. Touch typing also eliminates the child’s need to make letters. This allows a child to concentrate more effectively on the sounds and the characters that correspond to them.

 

  • Improved productivity

Concentration improves and output increases. They will be able to ‘write’ faster, sometimes up to five times their normal writing speed. This will save them time and make learning so much easier and enjoyable

 

  • Less stressful in exams

It means that in class or in exams, children with dyslexia can get their thoughts down on paper more easily because they don’t have to worry about how to form a word on paper. They don’t have to hold a pen in the right way to make a mark and they don’t have to make the letters and words look neat or spaced out.

  • Touch typing employs multi-sensory learning and develops muscle memory.

Touch typing is multi-sensory as it links sight and hearing to touch. The tactile element of pressing the keys helps with remembering the sounds that make up tricky words. Touch typing also develops muscle memory which is very useful when learning letter patterns and spelling.

 

  • Typing at the speed of thought

Touch typing helps a child to think freely and type at the speed of thought as here is no distraction in having to look down at the keyboard to hunt and peck for the correct key. Making familiar patterns with the fingers starts to become automatic so that they begin to spell sight words and common words just by remembering the movement of their fingers on the keyboard.

  • Messy handwriting will be eliminated

Using a computer, individuals with dyslexia can type freely, without worrying about messy handwriting or errors. If they have learnt to touch-type properly, they will be typing accurately, barely having to hit the backspace key to correct their work. Another huge bonus, is when they are trying to stay focused on their thoughts.

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  • Increased confidence

There are so many reasons why touch typing is the right choice for children with dyslexia. It helps them to transform their thoughts and ideas freely into words, giving them the confidence and ability to communicate effectively.

 

 

Why not get your child to try out our free trial assessment touch typing course where you’ll gain valuable insights into your child’s current typing accuracy and word per min speed. 

There is no obligation to continue on and you will receive a report which will outline what your child’s typing speed will be in their first six months of attending a Searsol typing centre.

Click here https://searsol.com/find-centers/?search

 

Why should you learn how to touch type?

Why should you learn how to touch type?

Touch typing is a technique that creates a structure where you have to place different fingers on specific areas on your keyboard. You are using all your 10 fingers, and each one is in charge of a section or a column on the keyboard and it all starts with the home row.

Touch typing
Touch typing

Typing is something that is becoming more and more prominent nowadays and remains a foundational life skill so getting your child to learn this skill is extremely necessary and will be of benefit to them for the entirety of their life. It can not only help them with their school work but can also set them up with an advantage in later life when it comes to exploring job opportunities. Many jobs in the modern world of work now require quick typing skills, but with advances in technology that’s set to become even more important.

 

Future job benefits from learning how to type

Being able to type quickly and precisely will give you a significant advantage when applying for jobs. Employers like to know that their employees can type properly because it will increase their productivity and enhance the accuracy of their work. 

 

Every day, a large percentage of us use a computer. It’s not just secretarial and administrative workers who need keyboarding skills in the workplace anymore. Typing is as fundamental to the majority of job seekers as the use of Word or being able to navigate the internet has become a necessity for education and work purposes. This is because mostly everyone sends emails, which would include artists, journalists, teachers, and sales representatives, or completes team projects. If the record-keeping and communication aspects of your job take you several hours, you may not be as competitive as the next candidate applying for the position.

 

With advances in technology, the rise of robotics, and an ever-changing job market, the ability to touch type is going to become even more important for future careers. Especially currently, given the prevalence of computers in the business world, a typing speed of 50 words per minute is often regarded as the basic minimum for employees to accomplish in order to be considered efficient.

Touch typing
Touch typing

 

Why is learning how to touch type beneficial for children?

 

Touch typing aids your child to type faster as well as accurately, without having to look at the keyboard every now and then. Touch typing becomes unconscious after a while, allowing your child to be more creative. Undoubtedly a  child can learn faster than an adult. As a result, the earlier they learn, the better. Attempting to learn from a young age will be extremely beneficial as you progress through school, college, and beyond.

 

Children who touch type can work a lot more quickly as they don’t need to look down at their fingers to look for the correct keys. They will spend less time in front of the computer screen in their free time, doing homework.

They can focus on getting their ideas down rather than spending too much time looking for the right keys to press. This makes drafting and editing easier as ideas can be deleted and changed without messy crossing out. It also assists to reduce the risk of repetitive strain injury as pressure is spread out over all their fingers and good posture is encouraged. A touch typist can type faster and produce work more quickly.

 

John Sutherland, professor of English literature at University College, said, ‘You want to put wings on the heels of your children? Teach them to touch-type. They’ll bless you for it.’ Learning to type from a young age can help with spelling because it uses muscle memory to learn word patterns rather than trying to remember spellings by sheer repetition. The majority of assignments, projects, and essays in a secondary school as a whole are expected to be typed. Students who begin to touch type can save a significant amount of time when preparing assignments. Furthermore, knowing how to touch-type doesn’t just affect the speed that children work at, but the quality of their work too. It allows thoughts to be captured quicker, so they’re less likely to forget a great idea as it’s an unconscious practice.


Learning to type can also benefit children with specific learning disabilities such as ADHD, dysgraphia, and dyslexia, who frequently struggle to write by hand. A learning disability, which is not a reflection of a child’s intelligence, will frequently hold a child back in the classroom if they feel nervous, embarrassed, as well as frustrated. Learning to type and then use the keyboard efficiently could be useful in situations like this.

 

For example, typing can help children with ADHD who might otherwise produce messy written work due to a lack of focused attention when writing by hand. Those children with dysgraphia can find it painful to hold a pencil which makes it a struggle to compose hand-written work. They will almost always produce better-written work when typing on a computer keyboard.

With dyslexia, typing can help children to break words up into component sounds. The tactile element required with pressing buttons on a keyboard can help them to manage trickier words and they will find it easier than writing by hand

Touch typing
Touch typing

Typing can help to handwrite as fingers are strengthened and have more dexterity. Typing is a life skill and may seem challenging to master but children learn at different paces.

WPM speed requirement for exams 

The great thing about typing is that not only can it help you speed up your work output, but it is also so much easier to do than writing. Writing requires the pen to be held with one hand and the other hand to guide the working copy or paper, but typing involves simply placing your finger on the keyboard and pressing letters as needed.

Trying to write properly also forces your attention onto the very act of writing, with the result that all you are thinking about is the very act of forming words. Typing instead frees you up from having to worry about shaping letters and moving your hand along a page, so that you can think creatively about the content of what you are writing.

Typing has countless other advantages – it is convenient, it makes it easy to share documents, you can print up your work and it also looks so much better than written work.

As previously stated, starting to learn to type absolutely depends on muscle memory (which is used in sports) rather than memory. Typing quickly is also advantageous for examinations where children may use a laptop. Since errors can be deleted when learning to type, there is less emphasis on neatness, pencil grip, and mistakes.

In terms of typing speeds for children, at the primary school level, a typing speed of 10 wpm is generally regarded as sufficient in order for students to be able to present their work without errors. As children grow older and move to higher grades, faster speeds are recommended in order to keep up with the pace and volume of their educational work. Therefore touch typing is vital. Generally, a typing speed of around 20-25wpm is recommended after Junior Cert, rising to 30 wpm and above at Leaving Cert level. The Department. of Education recommends that your child has a typing speed of 25 words per minute if they are going to use a laptop for typing out their exams.

Word per minute
WPM

Students who do not learn proper touch typing and become self-taught two-finger typists will also find they fall behind as time goes on because these so-called Hunt and Peck typists are expected to achieve a maximum speed of just 30wpm under this method. When you consider that a typing speed of 45wpm and higher is required as a basic skill in many jobs and that an average professional typist types at up to 80wpm, you can see just how useful proper touch typing proves in the real world.

Given that a speaking pace of between 150-160wpm is the rate at which a person can be comfortably heard and understood by an audience and that conversational English is spoken at around 110-150wpm, typing at 80 wpm or more should enable you to catch every second word of what your teacher or lecturer says in school or college. Think how useful this would prove for your study notes!

The reality is that once your touch-type training really kicks in, the whole system clicks into place until, suddenly, you find yourself typing faster and faster, so fast you can hardly keep up! Naturally, the more time you practice touch-typing, the quicker your typing speed becomes. Eventually, you will achieve a maximum typing speed to suit you and your work so that whenever you have to type anything, you will be able to do so at a high speed.

Conclusion

Improving your typing skills is certain to make a person more confident working with computers and more likely to take full advantage of what the device can offer. Are you in search of a course or a productive app to achieve your goal of typing fast like a pro without looking, consider using https://searsol.com/

What can you do to overcome your child’s poor handwriting?

Poor handwriting

Poor handwriting

What can you do to overcome your child’s poor handwriting?

 

Does your child have poor handwriting and is struggling to complete their homework? Does your child take a long time for them to do their homework? Is the quality of the handwriting produced by your child legible? What can you do to improve this situation for your child? Do you want a life that is free from the stress and anxiety of trying to get them to complete their homework? 

 

Definition of poor handwriting:

First off let’s define what poor handwriting is. According to Chivers (1999) – poor handwriting is a deficiency in the ability to write, primarily handwriting, but also coherence. Poor handwriting is a transcription disability, meaning that it is a writing disorder associated with impaired handwriting, orthographic coding (orthography, the storing process of written words and processing the letters in those words), and finger sequencing (the movement of muscles required to write).

 

Causes of poor handwriting

 

The main two causes of poor handwriting are deficiencies in balance sense or body awareness.   

Balance sense

Balance sense
Balance sense

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The balance sense is located in our inner ear.  Children who have experienced any of the following are more likely to have difficulties with their balance sense:

  • chronic ear infections
  • premature birth
  • neglect and trauma in infancy
  • other neurological conditions such as autism

Child jumping

When this sense is not developed properly, children are likely to have difficulty with balance, jumping, hopping, skipping, sitting still, concentration, managing fear or anxiety and learning to read or poor handwriting skills.

 

Body Awareness

body awareness

This sense is located in the muscles and joints all over our body and is often called the body awareness sense as it tells our brain where our body is in relation to itself and other things.

 

Children with poor body awareness often present with the following conditions:

  • appear clumsy
  • are rough
  • break things
  • bump into things
  • unable to sit still for long periods of time
  • poor concentration.
  • difficulty with reading 
  • Poor handwriting skills

 

These two senses (balance and body)  are the building blocks for all other skills. It doesn’t matter how much we practice with our child on handwriting skills, it won’t improve because of deficiency in their balance and body senses.

 

Your child may have a good pencil grasp and lovely letter formation but if they don’t have a functioning balance sense then their writing is likely to be much slower, messy, difficult to read than other children.

How do you improve your child’s poor handwriting skills?

You can improve your child with poor handwriting skills by trying the following:

 

Strengthen Fine Motor Skills

scissors cutting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Increasing hand strength and finger dexterity can help your child get more control over the pen and improve their handwriting.  Encourage your child on tasks like cutting with scissors, using a screwdriver, sewing or knitting.

 

Pencil Grip

Pencil grip
Pencil grip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A good grip could help reduce fatigue and prevent muscle cramps, which may help to improve handwriting.

 

Upper Body strength

 

 

 

 

 

Encourage your child to build upper body strength through sports,  swimming and gym weights. These will help strengthen and stabilise the shoulder muscles to free up the hand muscles for handwriting.

 

Frequent Breaks

Take a break
Take a break

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If your child tires easily or becomes distracted, then let them have a quick break as opposed to continuing on and their handwriting deteriorates. 

 

Pick your battles

Pick your battles

Pick your battles

 

Decide which subjects require good handwriting and which subjects you can get away with poor handwriting. 

 

Typing skills

Typewiz.com – be a wiz at typing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instead of writing out all their homework. Why not get them to type it out using a laptop or tablet? By typing out their homework, it helps not only to be able to read the text they produce but also allows you to review the document and make changes if required. By learning how to type correctly, your child overcomes poor handwriting and uses assistive technology to their advantage. 

If you want your child to learn how to type at one of our centres, you can book a free trial assessment at https://searsol.com/find-centers/

How long does it take to learn to type?

How long does it take to learn to type?

Touch typing is a valuable skill that allows individuals to type without looking at the keyboard, relying on muscle memory to locate keys. This technique, often involving placing fingers on the home row keys, can significantly improve typing speed and accuracy.

Definition of Touch Typing:

Touch typing is the ability to type without looking at the keyboard. This skill relies on muscle memory to locate keys and involves placing the eight fingers on the middle row of the keyboard, known as the home keys. The correct technique involves positioning the left hand with the little finger on the “A” key and the index finger on the “F” key, while the right hand’s index finger rests on the “J” key and the little finger on the semicolon key.

 

Factors Influencing Learning Time

The time it takes to learn touch typing varies widely based on several factors:

  1. Concentration: Students with higher concentration levels will learn faster, as touch typing requires focus and persistence.
  2. Motivation: A motivated student is more likely to practice regularly and see the benefits of touch typing, leading to quicker mastery.
  3. Age: Younger students may take longer due to smaller hand sizes and shorter attention spans. Typically, starting at age eight is recommended.
  4. Learning Differences: Students with learning difficulties such as dyslexia or dyspraxia may require more time and a tailored learning approach.

Estimated Learning Time

For an average student without learning differences, the time to learn touch typing can be broken down into stages based on words per minute (WPM) achieved:

  • Bronze Standard (15 WPM): Approximately 10 hours of practice.
  • Silver Standard (25 WPM): Around 30 hours of practice.

  • Gold Standard (40 WPM): About 70 hours of practice, allowing the student to type faster than handwriting.

Benefits of Touch Typing

Touch typing offers numerous benefits, including:

  • Improved Productivity: Faster and more accurate typing increases work efficiency.
  • Reduced Risk of Injury: Proper technique minimizes repetitive strain injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome.
  • Versatility: Easily adapt to typing on various devices without looking at the keyboard.
  • Increased Accuracy: Less reliance on visual cues reduces typing errors.
  • Enhanced Cognitive Skills: Memorizing key locations boosts memory and cognitive abilities.
  • Support for Learning Differences: Helps students with dyslexia and other challenges type more accurately and efficiently.

Tips and Strategies for Learning Touch Typing

To master touch typing, consider the following tips:

  1. Start with the Home Row: Practice the letters on the home row until you can type them without looking.
  2. Use Typing Games and Exercises: These can make practice fun and help improve speed and accuracy.
  3. Position Your Hands Correctly: Ensure your fingers are on the home keys, thumbs on the space bar, and index fingers on “F” and “J”.
  4. Take Breaks: Regular breaks prevent strain and fatigue.
  5. Use a Typing Tutor: Software programs like Typewiz provide structured lessons and exercises.
  6. Practice Regularly: Consistent practice, even a few minutes daily, will improve your typing skills over time.

Typewiz: An Innovative Way to Learn Touch Typing

Typewiz is an engaging online typing tutor designed for kids, offering a fun and interactive learning experience. Features include:

  • Avatars and Games: Students earn coins to play games as they progress.
  • Performance Badges: Bronze, Silver, and Gold badges motivate students by marking their progress.
  • Visual Guides: Realistic hands and green fingers show the correct keys to press.
  • Progress Tracking: Students can view their scores and WPM statistics.

Typewiz is self-paced and can be used at home or in a classroom, with professional tutors available in Searsol centers in Ireland or online. A free seven-day trial is available for those interested.

For more information, visit www.typewiz.com.

Typewiz.com – a new innovative way to learn how to touch type!

 

Touch typing compared to voice recognition software

Kids typing tutor
Typewiz.com – be a wiz at typing!

v’svoice

Touch typing (also called keyboarding) is typing without using the sense of sight to find the keys. Specifically, a touch typist will know their location on the keyboard through muscle memory. In today’s competitive job market, it is important for anyone applying for any job that involves the use of computers to learn to touch type. And it is not stretching it to suggest being able to type fast without looking at the keyboard is a 21st-century basic skill in computers.

Voice-recognition software allows you to convert voice to text. This has been available on computers and software such as Dragon Software, Text Aloud or Express scribe has allowed computer users to convert voice to text. But put it on a smartphone, and it comes to life. All of the frustrations of trying to control your PC by voice, fiddling for a microphone, repeating yourself, again and again, resisting the urge to relent and turn to your trusty keyboard.

These are eliminated when you use the same technology on your mobile phone. Mobile apps such as Google voice, Vlingo and Siri have allowed people to convert voice to text on the go with ease. So is the new way of doing things and should we not bother to learn how to type as these apps are doing the same job as typing?

The main disadvantage of voice recognition software are as follows:

Lack of Accuracy and Misinterpretation

Voice recognition software won’t always put your words on the screen completely accurately. Programs cannot understand the context of language the way that humans can, leading to errors that are often due to misinterpretation. When you talk to people, they decode what you say and give it a meaning. Voice recognition software can do this but may not be capable of choosing the correct meaning. For example, it cannot always differentiate between homonyms, such as “their” and “there.” It may also have problems with slang, technical words and acronyms.

Time Costs and Productivity

You might think that computerising a process speeds it up, but this isn’t necessarily true of voice recognition systems, and you may have to invest more time than you expected into the process. You’ll have to factor in time to review and edit to correct errors. Some programs adapt to your voice and speech patterns over time; this may slow down your workflow until the program is up to speed. You’ll also have to learn how to use the system. For example, you must find the right pace and tone — if you talk too fast or indistinctly, you’ll increase spelling and grammar errors. Getting used to using a system’s commands and speaking punctuation out loud is not always easy. This can affect the flow and speed of your speech.

Accents and speech recognition

Voice recognition systems can have problems with accents. Even though some may learn to your speech patterns over time, you have to learn to talk consistently and clearly at all times to minimize errors. If you mumble, talk too fast or run words into each other, the software will not always be able to cope. Programs may also have problems recognizing speech as normal if your voice changes, say when you have a cold, cough, sinus or throat problem.

Background Noise Interference

To get the best out of voice recognition software, you need a quiet environment. Systems don’t work so well if there is a lot of background noise. They may not be able to differentiate between your speech, other people talking and other ambient noise, leading to transcription mix-ups and errors. This can cause problems if you work in a busy office or a noisy environment. Wearing microphones or noise-cancelling headsets can help voice recognising software reduce the effects of noise.

Physical Side Effects

If you use voice recognition technology frequently, you may experience some physical discomfort and vocal problems. Talking for extended periods can cause hoarseness, dry mouth, muscle fatigue, temporary loss of voice and vocal strain. The fact that you aren’t talking naturally may make this worse and you may need to learn how to protect your voice if you’ll use a program regularly.

To summarise voice recognition can have its benefits, such as being able to input voice to text on the go using smartphones. But the main disadvantages outline above makes voice technology a handy add on to the basic input of touch typing. So there will always be a need to touch type. Why not learn how to touch typing using our online typing tutor Typewiz designed specifically for children? More details are available on Typewiz.com Searsol provides touch typing courses in check out the nearest typing centre near you by clicking on the following link.

 

 

Should you teach your child how to touch type?

 

As every parent knows it is difficult to be a teacher and parent with your child. While a parents role is to nourish, encourage and motivate your child achievements. A teachers job is to instil a routine of learning that helps a student learn their subject in the easiest way based on the student’s abilities. Where the problem arises is when you become both the teacher and the parent.

The problem is that sometimes you be in your best attention try too hard to encourage your child to learn a subject, that you become the pushy parent and your child rebels and won’t listen to you. The end result is that your child doesn’t learn and it is up not learning the subject matter that you wanted them to learn. It really depends on your relationship with your child, your teaching abilities and the child focus on success and motivation to learn a subject.

To learn touch typing requires effort and dedication. A student would need to put in the least 20 hours of solid learning before they will be able to master the keyboard. Even then their speed would be quite slow but they would be aware of the keyboard buttons and be able to select them without looking at them.

As a parent, if you want your child to learn to touch type, the options are as follows:

  1. Hope that your school teaches touch typing as part of the computer curriculum. Most schools don’t so best check with your school on this.
  2. Learn how to touch type at home. This is a great idea but it really depends on your child and set about a dedicated time to achieve this. A child needs to be actively monitored and ensure that correct fingers are on the home keys.
  3. Send your child to a trained professional who has taught children how to touch type. This is really the ideal way to learn how to touch type. Your child is an environment with similar children of the age profile learning how to touch type.

Learning how to touch type does require patience, motivation and concentration but it can be learnt by anyone. We recommend the ideal start age is for a child to be the primary age group from eight onwards. If a child picks learns how to touch type before they enter secondary school then they have managed to master a major skill that will benefit them in the long run.

As Searsol, we offer the possibility to learn how to touch type online with our online typing tutor (www.typewiz.com).  More details are available on www.typewiz.com. We also offer dedicated typing centres in Ireland. To check out the location, click on https://searsol.com/find-centers/. We also run intense computer camps that teach touch typing over Easter and Summer, to check out our camps, click on the following link http://searsolcomputercamps.com

 

20 simple and easy tips to get you touch typing!

Learn how to Touch Type fast – 20 simple and easy tips to get you to touch-typing!

Typewiz.com – be a wiz at touch typing!

 

 

 

 

 

Touch typing is the ability to type without looking at the keyboard. It is a memory skill that requires practice and patience. Correct habit formation can help you learn how to touch type successfully.

Ensure that you are sitting correctly with two feet on the ground and the keyboard in alignment with your body. Sit up straight, feet to the floor, elbows at my side, eyes only on the text and never on the keyboard.

sitting on computer

Introduce your hands to the home keys – left hand will use asdf, the right hand will use jkl;. Curve your fingers on the home keys and only ever move the finger that needs pressing on the key. The F and J keys will have a little bump on them to help you find them without looking down at the keyboard

Typewiz.com – be a wiz at typing!

Always return your fingers to home keys before selecting another key on the keyboard.

Try and maintain a rhythm when you are typing.

Use the thumb to press the spacebar.

Always correct errors by raising your little finger up to the backspace button

Take regular breaks when learning how to type.

Don’t use the cap locks button when trying to capitalise a letter, use the shift keys instead. There is two shift keys on a keyboard, the shift key to left operates the buttons to right and shift key to right operates the key to the left.

Take your time when learning how to type, speed will come naturally once you have memorised the keys on the keyboard.

Use a keyboard cover, to cover the keys on the keyboards. We recommend the use of speekskin cover, this is the one we use in our tying centres.

Practice at least one hour per week. Practice! Practice! Practice!

When learning how to touch type, expect typing to decrease initially compared to how you normally would touch type.

Know your keyboard. Familiarise yourself where the keys on the keyboard are by clicking on keys suggested on the typing tutor you are using. By making mistakes initially you are learning to touch type successfully in the long term.

Stretching – when you fingers get stiff. Take a rest and give them a good shake for a minute. This will help increase the blood flow into your fingers.

Accuracy – it is more important to be accurate when starting off at typing. Accuracy helps you learn the keys on the keyboard more quickly.

A key has to pressed by the same finger all the time on the keyboard.

Keep a record of your problem keys and practice correcting them.

Take breaks from typing by playing typing games.

Practice using real words and sentences, this can be used in real-life projects.

Stay motivated and enjoy as the reward from learning how to type will be the biggest skill that you ever learn.

Typewiz

Typewiz is a fun and interactive way to learn how to touch type.

Typewiz offers the following benefits:

  • It is a new fun and interactive way to learn to touch type.
  • Your child gets to select different avatars as they progress up the lessons.
  • Kids can earn coins based on their performance on the course.
  • Coins can then be used in our games arcade where each coin spent allows the student to access one game.
  • Your child can earn different word per minute badges (Bronze, Silver or Gold) as they become faster at typing.
  • Kids can earn lesson badges as they progress up the lessons.
  • 3D hands with a green finger which shows the user what keyboard button to press.
  • Graphs of all previous percentage scores with Words Per Minute(WPM) are available to access for the student at all times.
  • Typewiz is a self-paced course which allows students to work at their own pace.

For more information about Typewiz, check out typing tutor at www.typewiz.com

Why the QWERTY keyboard has survived compared to more easier input keyboard layouts?

Do you know why QWERTY keyboard has survived so long? We outline the history of keyboard layout to you.

Qwerty

Mechanical Typewriters: 1870’s

In 1872, Remington Company produced the first mechanical typewriter, patented by Latham Sholes. Typists soon mastered the skill to typing that they were going so fast that were jamming the typewriter keys which flew up to hit the typewriter ribbon. In the late 1870’s, instead of solving the problem of why the typewriter was jamming, Remington redesigns the keyboard layout so as to slow down the typist by introducing the QWERTY keyboard. The “improved” QWERTY layout was designed to slow down typing and prevent typewriter keys from jamming anymore by slowing down the typist.

Electric Typewriters: 1930’s – Dvorak

Electric typewriters solve the problem of the keys jamming and new keyboards layouts were introduced. In 1936, August Dvorak patented a new layout to reduce finger reach and strain by putting common letters on the home row and to avoid awkward use of key pairs  to improve speed. Here’s the Dvorak keyboard:

Dvorak
Design criteria sound good, so what’s wrong with this keyboard? Almost all letters move from their familiar QWERTY locations. The change was too big and relearning of this new keyboard layout would have taken people a month to get familiar with the Dvorak keyboard. Hence the uptake on this new design was poor with typist preferring to stick with QWERTY keyboard for typing.

Personal Computers: 1970’s

With the introduction of the personal computer in 1970’s, there was another opportunity to change from the standard QWERTY keyboard layout. But the QWERTY keyboard remained as Computers manufactures wanted the typist to engage with the computers. To make the change over to computers less of a hassle and to reduce the learning curve, the keyboard design was not changed.

Colemak

In 2006, a programmer named Shai Coleman released an alternative keyboard layout called Colemak. Just as Dvorak was a response to QWERTY’s shortcomings, Colemak addresses the failures of Dvorak but does so in a way that doesn’t alienate current QWERTY users. The intended result is a layout that aims for speed, efficiency, minimal repetitive stress injuries, and an easy learning curve for QWERTY  typists.

colemak

The beauty of Colemak is that there are only 17 differences in key placement between it and QWERTY, yet those 17 differences are more than enough to create a radically improved typing environment. All other keys remain the same. As such, QWERTY users should not be afraid to learn Colemak.

 

Colemak eliminates virtually all cases of frequent letters in “stretched finger” locations. For example, Dvorak places ‘L’ in the QWERTY ‘P’ spot, which requires frequent stretching of the pinky. The positions of other keys have also been optimized with Colemak, such as moving the high-frequency ‘R’ and ‘I’ keys to the home row.

So should you change from QWERTY to learn a new keyboard layout?

If you spend most of your day typing on a computer, it’s worth looking into. The speed gains and injury reductions are real and they do add up over time. However, there are some things that you’ll want to keep in mind.

You’ll experience a big drop in typing speed while learning a new layout. A typical person trying to learning would need to set aside a whole month to learn a new keyboard layout. However, with the help of typing tutors such as our own Typewiz which helps you learn how to touch type in a fun and interactive way.  For more details about Typewiz check out our website www.typewiz.com

Typewiz – be a wiz a typing

 

 

 

 

 

Keyboard shortcuts can be an inconvenience. Due to Dvorak’s drastically different layout, shortcuts like CTRL+C (COPY), CTRL+ V (Paste) and CTRL + X (Cut) can be a pain. Colemak is less of a pain due to its similarities to QWERTY, but the differences still exist and you may find yourself frustrated from time to time when you accidentally hit the wrong shortcut keys.

Lastly, other computers will still be QWERTY. This isn’t a big deal but if you are using multiple devices  it can be problematic if you switch computers a lot, or if other people use your computer it can cause problems and time delays in typing.

For me, the QWERTY keyboard is here to stay and it has been part of keyboard history and will not be changed. So it importing to learn typing on a QWERTY keyboard using a typing tutor is important. Why not book a free first session trial at our course centres where your child can learn how to touch type assisted by our trained professional tutors..

Will you stick with QWERTY or switch to an alternative? Or maybe you have already switched? Tell us what you think in the comments below!