All About Touch TypingTyping PracticeTyping Tips and Tricks

Is My Child Too Young to Learn to Type?

Although typewriters were first used in business offices, it wasn’t long before teachers started introducing them into the classroom. As a new method of communication, typing was seen as a useful skill for future career development, although at first most of that was also in a business setting, for people who would become secretaries and office workers. However, even though many schools offered (or required) typing classes, and even though studies showed that students who used typewriters for their writing often showed better English skills, improved spelling, and more fluent writing, in general classwork was still done by hand. Today, more and more schools are using computers in the classroom, and even inviting children to bring their own handheld devices to school. There are software games and lessons designed for children as young as 3 years old, and even babies as young as 6 months old have their own computer games using the keyboard! Obviously, the answer to the question “Is my child too young to learn to type?” is “No!” – with a few explanations, that is. Very young children won’t enjoy being forced to repeat key-letter matching over and over. They’ll learn best if they’re learning unconsciously while playing a game. Babies don’t generally have the hand-eye coordination to accurately hit small keys on a keyboard one at a time, much less in letter combinations that form words. Let them learn where things are on the keyboard at their own pace until they’re able to deliberately locate and…

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Typing PracticeTyping Science

Why You Should Learn Cursive To Improve Typing

Cursive, longhand, fair-hand, joined-up writing – are any of these terms familiar? For most of us these days, the bulk of written communication is done via a computer keyboard or smartphone screen, and the art of penmanship is becoming as old-fashioned as tatting lace or wearing a watch fob. Children are still taught how to write in school, but most aren’t required to learn anything more than how to form letters correctly so that they’re legible. How long ago did you learn how to write by hand? Is your handwriting better today than it was when you were in school? Chances are you’ve done so much keyboarding, and so little writing, that your once-readable sentences are messy scrawls that even you have a hard time deciphering. We’re not recommending that you stop typing, of course! But if you spend time practicing your handwriting, you’ll stimulate your brain in useful and unique ways, and that will result in positive feedback that will also improve your skills at the keyboard. A study done at Indiana University looked at brain scans of young children who were learning handwriting skills, and found that more areas of the brain were active and interconnected when they were shaping cursive (longhand) letters than when they were printing letters. All writing involves hand-eye coordination, but there is more required by cursive writing, since the letters must flow into each other, and the shapes of the letters involve more thought and focused direction. That focus, combined with the visual…

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All About Touch TypingTyping PracticeTyping Tips and Tricks

Practicing With Pangrams

In order to be a fast and accurate typist, you’ve got a lot of numbers to learn: 1 brain, 2 hands, 10 fingers, 26 letters of the alphabet. The key is to find the way to make those numbers all add up to perfect your touch typing technique! Look for things that challenge you and entertain you, and give you a way of practicing in a way that uses all of those components of typing at the same time. One good way to practice keystroke dexterity is to type out some pangrams, or sentences that use all of the letters of the alphabet. If you’ve been using the Typesy program, then you’ll be familiar with the tracking charts that show your progress and utilization for each finger of each hand. The system will provide you with exercises that target each of your fingers, so that you can work on strengthening them individually. If you’re practicing on your own, these exercises take a little preparation. Since not all letters of the alphabet show up with the same frequency in standard English texts, you might need to go looking for some slightly nonstandard phrases to help you practice all of the letters of the alphabet. In this post, we’ve provided you with some pangrams to practice with. The uncommon words and use of less-frequent letters will help ensure that you have an opportunity to work on keystrokes with all of your fingers, and help you make steady progress towards your touch typing…

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All About Touch TypingTyping Practice

Results From The Cincy Typing Challenge

Back in July we talked about typing competitions and focused on the Cincy Typing Challenge. The final rounds for this competition took place on July 25th at the Cincinnati Museum Center. Although all of the previous rounds had been done on a standard QWERTY keyboard, for the finals the contenders needed to learn how to use a new type of keyboard, called the TREWGrip. The inventor of this new layout, Mark Parker, sponsored the competition and hopes that this wider exposure to the device will help move his startup project forward. Unlike some other new keyboard layouts, the TREWGrip is a redesign of the QWERTY keyboard that maintains the same finger/key matching. Another feature of this new keyboard design is that you can “dock” your smartphone in the middle of the board, allowing you full keyboard access on your mobile device. The keyboard can also be used with any standard computer setup. According to the product website, typists can transfer over to this layout with about 8 hours of training, and still get back up to nearly 100% of their normal QWERTY typing speed. The contestants at the Cincy Typing Challenge didn’t have 8 hours to practice using the new keyboard, but still managed to submit respectable times and keystroke counts. Cincy typing champion Robert Price clocked in at 115wpm during his final round, a speed that’s definitely well above average! There’s no word yet as to whether this typing contest will become a regular event, but here at Typesy…

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Typing PracticeTyping Tips and Tricks

Leo Fuchigami's New Approach To Studying At HackMyStudy.com

There’s nothing more frustrating than spending hours on end reading and reviewing study materials, only to come away feeling as if you know less than you did when you started. This isn’t limited just to your college years – it’s a problem for students of all ages, at all levels of education, and with a variety of educational goals. The solution, says Leo Fuchigami, is to know how to study. At his website HackMyStudy.com he provides the keys you need to make your study time efficient and effective. 7S: Tell us a bit about yourself. Were you inspired to set up this website because of your experiences as a student? LF: My name is Leo Fuchigami, and I would describe myself as an aspiring “Jack of All Trades.” I am particularly fond of this description because of its historical context. In the early renaissance era, this phrase was used synonymously with the term “Renaissance Man,” which was a title bestowed on only the most eclectically well accomplished (e.g. Shakespeare, De Vinci, etc.). However, some time later, this phrase was appended with “Master of None,” giving it a negative connotation. Even today, people like to categorize themselves as generalists and specialists, which, depending on your perspective can have either a positive or negative nuance. I recall the exact moment that the idea of sharing my study hacks came to me. It was right before the final exams season of the first semester of my last year of university. A friend expressed…

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Typing Practice

Can Improving Typing Skills Be Fun? www.WordGames.com Says "Yes!"

If you had 15 minutes of free time, what would you rather do – go over a one-minute exercise 15 times, or play a game? Most people would choose to relax with a game rather than work on a repetitive lesson, even if that lesson teaches valuable skills. Fortunately, when it comes to typing, skill building lessons can easily be incorporated into games. At the www.WordGames.com site, there are dozens of games to choose from. Site director Alex Fleming gave us examples of some of those games. Typesy: Where do you find the typing games that you feature on your site? AF: You can find all of our premiere typing games at http://www.wordgames.com/typing/ Typesy: Our Typesy software has a section on numeric keypad training, for people who work with numbers doing data entry or spreadsheets. Do you have games that help people improve this skill? AF: Some of our games will fluctuate between typing words and letters. But there are particular games where you can focus on typing numbers on the number pad. This game is an example of that: http://www.wordgames.com/moon-type-2.html Typesy: What’s the most popular typing game on your site right now? AF: Our typing games are constantly shifting in popularity, but the most popular games are typically the ones with some kind of competition or survival aspect. Here are a few: http://www.wordgames.com/zombie-typocalypse.html http://www.wordgames.com/word-machine.html http://www.wordgames.com/clockwords.html http://www.wordgames.com/typing-tidepool.html http://www.wordgames.com/the-typing-of-the-ghosts.html (For Halloween) Typesy: Are there typing games that are designed mostly for children, or mostly for adults? Or can anyone easily learn…

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Vintage Typewriters and the Art of “Slow Writing”

You’ve probably owned several computers so far, and it’s likely that they all looked pretty much the same. When the computer screen starts having display problems or the applications stop working or the keys on the keyboard finally get stuck in all of the coffee and crumbs you’ve spilled on them, you’ll make a backup of your files, find another computer in your price range, and make the switch. You probably won’t want to hold on to your old computer for sentimental purposes, or because it’s a work of art. For people who use old-fashioned typewriters, it’s different. Authors who use manual typewriters say that they develop a relationship with the machine, and that the typewriter often takes on a personality of its own. The sound and feel of the keys contribute to a more physical experience, and the fact that early typewriters had no [Delete] key means that a writer either has to carefully think about and select their words, or just bash away in a free-flow mode without worrying about vocabulary and typos. Either way, writing is a more “hands-on” process with a manual typewriter. In Los Angeles, Ermanno Marzorati repairs and restores antique typewriters for modern authors who like to do things the old-fashioned way. According to Marzorati, most of the repairs he does aren’t for collectors – people who buy old typewriters for their “vintage” value – but for writers who use their machines to create the scripts and stories that make them famous. Marzorati has…

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All About Touch TypingTyping PracticeTyping Tips and Tricks

Praktizieren, Practicar, Praksis – Using Languages To Improve Typing

When you’re touch typing, your fingers are moving to the letters that make up the words your eyes are seeing or your brain is thinking. Good touch typists have “muscle memory” that allows their fingers to automatically type common letter patterns, which increases both speed and accuracy. That’s why practicing with text written in regular phrases and sentences is a good way to improve typing skills – you’ll be forming the connections between the words as a whole and the order of the letters in those words, and essentially teaching your fingers to spell a word at a time. You can look at typing from the perspective of letter strings as well, and not words. This is a more difficult way to practice, but it really helps you focus on the keys each finger hits on the keyboard. Even though it’s a challenging method, it’s a good one for even beginner typists, because it makes the letter-key-finger link directly and requires a lot of concentration. In order to eliminate any automatic word formation and focus only on the letters, you need to use a text that is written in a language that you don’t know. You won’t be able to guess which letters will come next in a word, and at first this will slow you down. However, you’ll find that you’re training your eyes to move more quickly and your fingers to be more accurate in hitting the keys corresponding to the letters that you’re seeing. We’ve provided three…

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As Technology Enters The Classroom, Typing Skills Gain Importance

It seems like most children have a cell phone or smartphone these days, and many have tablets and internet-connected readers that they carry with them even to school. Schools often have rules about using these devices in class, and teachers sometimes even take cell phones away if the students are texting each other instead of paying attention in class. In some classrooms, however, the teachers are integrating these devices into their instruction, and the “Bring Your Own Device” rule is gaining popularity in several regions. This trend towards incorporating technology into classroom instruction means that instead of watching someone else, students will be taking an active role in writing, researching, and playing games related to a topic. Since most of the devices used have keyboard interfaces, this means that in order to keep up with the rest of the class, students are going to have to know how to type. Good typing skills will be necessary for everyday class activities, and not just for typing up papers and assignments at home. The Common Core Standards now being implemented in most school districts across the United States recognize the importance of modern technology and the skills needed to use it effectively. These standards require students to learn how to type, and to be able to type well by the 5th grade (age 10-12). Learning these skills early will make it easier for students to stay productive and efficient throughout the rest of their time in school, and especially if they decide…

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Typing PracticeTyping Science

Can You Keep A Secret?

Most of us have gotten so used to the video surveillance cameras in shops and on street corners in most cities that we don’t even notice them any more. Recent news about “government spy programs” is a reminder that not much of our lives are actually private these days. If you buy anything on line, or get a credit card, or even open a bank account, your personal information is being stored in a database somewhere – and every computer system ever set up is vulnerable to hacking. Still, you don’t usually worry about people deliberately listening in on the conversations you have with friends at a table in a restaurant, or that anyone has tapped your cell phone to get all the exciting details of the last chat you had with your grandmother. We can go about our daily lives without feeling like someone’s looking over our shoulder. In the office, it’s a little different. You generally do have someone looking over your shoulder, whether it’s your supervisor or manager, or a nosy neighbor at the next desk. Most people think that moving into a cubicle will give a bit of that privacy back, and we’re used to lowering our voices on the telephone if we really want to keep people from hearing our conversations. However, with the aid of modern technology, apparently even our e-mail chats can be overheard, at least according to researcher J. Doug Tygar at the University of California, Berkeley. When he and fellow researchers…

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