Setting goals for yourself when you are learning how to touch type can be the most important part of the whole process. Goals are going to keep you motivated to continue your training, and they can serve as ways to measure your successes and how far you still need to go. Without goals, you cannot know how far you have come or how far you still have to go to mastering the touch typing skillset. Goal Setting Option Everyone needs goals in life from top-notch athletes to elementary school students. Because goal setting is so important, we have a goal-setting option on Typesy for individual, Home School, and school accounts. This can help you set goals and track progress for all of your touch typing needs. How should you set your Goals? After you check out the options for goal setting on Typesy’s webpage, also consider that you should set both short and long-term goals. Short term goals can be winning a touch typing game in the classroom, and long-term goals can be to improve your typing words per minute by the end of the year. When setting your goals, consider how far you have to go and how long you have to get there, and set goals accordingly. When thinking of how to track your progress, you should also consider your skill level. Are you a beginner who should set small goals, or are you near the end of your studies and want to excel? What metrics can you…
The Difficulties of Teaching Typing
Every year, more and more students across the world are being exposed to a world where using the internet effectively is an essential skill. To get kids ready for the future, it is the job of teachers to get their students ready for the online world. But where does this all start? Students are eager to learn how to get their hands on the exciting world online but helping them learn how to type and use their navigation effectively is a serious challenge. With traditional typing software, children are often easily bored and get confused with software that is difficult for even an adult to understand. When choosing how to teach typing to students, you want a software that is easy to use for the teacher and helps give every student activities that are centered around their unique learning styles. With the Typesy software, students all over the world can now get the typing instruction they need with ease. Typesy provides students with all of the resources they need to succeed in the classroom by offering transdisciplinary content unlike the competition. Students learning with Typesy will be prepared to take on any typing challenge and will feel proud of what they have learned.
Why Typing Should Be Taught in School
Typing is an essential life skill that creates well-rounded children who are ready for the world for which we are preparing them. After all, from sending emails to filling out job applications, the real world requires a great deal of typing proficiency for adult survival. Aside from real-world applications, typing is also a skill that is essential for a child’s success in school. Not only will children who go to college use a computer for most of their assignments in college, they will also likely use a computer for state testing assignments which makes the school look more successful. Typing is one of the standards required for teaching in schools that have adopted the Common Core State Standards. Even states who have not adopted the Common Core State Standards have a standard that involves typing proficiency. If this is the case in your state, then it is imperative that your students achieve proficiency in typing. If we want our children to become well-rounded individuals who are prepared for the world ahead of them, then they need to have a firm grasp on typing skills. Typing will improve job skills and career opportunities for students.
Touch Typing Ergonomics
As computers and typing have taken over the world, so has a rise in computer overuse injuries like carpal tunnel. If you are going to be doing a lot of typing in your life, in school, at home, or at work, it is important to learn what the best touch typing ergonomics are so you can prevent injuries from typing. Wrists and Fingers Your wrists and fingers will take the brunt of your efforts while you are touch typing. If you are typing for hours, you could find yourself cramping. Make sure you are typing on the right keyboard and with the right mouse. If you work in a corporate setting, your company might have special ergonomic keyboards and mice available for you to use that will put less strain on your hands and fingers than normal equipment. At a minimum, make sure you are taking frequent breaks and mixing in some tasks that do not require typing, like a phone call or a meeting. Eyes should be looking at the top of your screen You want your monitor and chair to be set up so the top of your screen lines up with your eyes. This puts the least amount of strain on your eyes, neck, and shoulders. If it is not at the right height, you will find yourself hunched over, which is going to injure your neck and shoulders. You also want to minimize glare. You want your wrists, elbows, and keyboard to be on the same…
Defining Good Accuracy for Touch Typing
There are a few things to consider with regards to accuracy when you are typing. What’s more important, accuracy or speed? What is considered a good accuracy, and what should your goals be? No matter your preference, set some goals to achieve and go after them! While it is different depending on your age, your studies, or your profession, here are some general goals for you to consider: Typing Goals What is the best touch typing goal for yourself? If you are working in a corporate office setting you are going to want to strive for both as much speed and as much accuracy as possible. Some jobs require both to be as perfect as possible. If you are freelancing and working for yourself, as long as you can meet your deadlines, speed might not be as much of a factor, but and accuracy might not be very important either. Freelancers and writers can usually spend a lot of time editing their own work, so you will have time to review any mistakes you make. Speed versus Accuracy When you are thinking of typing, this argument is as old as time itself, or at least as old as the first typewriter. What is the best way to know which is more important, speed or accuracy? You really need to decide what it is you are trying to accomplish with touch typing. Are you furiously racing to meet a deadline and need to type as fast as humanly possible? Or, would…
An important part of running a successful business is to have productive employees. This requires you as a business owner to make sure that your employees are well trained for the tasks they need to complete and are healthy and happy. The following are the top 3 activities that encourage productivity: Promote Training and Learning Encourage Breaks Team Building Activities Training and Learning Promotion The top way to ensure that you have a productive workforce is to make sure that they are properly trained for the job at hand. This, however, is not only to ensure that the individuals who work for you are capable of a job well done but also to encourage their personal growth as overall individuals. Different training and skills development activities can show your employees that you are interested in their personal development as well as they are on the job training. Many of these types of activities will teach several life skills as well as job training. A knowledgeable employee is generally happier and healthier as they tend to feel more accomplished and helpful to their peers. The reason this is the top activity is because of all of the positive byproducts that are received from well trained and skillful employees. This is a sure-fire way to grow and improve your business. Encourage Breaks The number two activity to ensure a more productive workforce is to encourage your employees to take breaks. This does not simply mean that they should just stop working for…
Are Games a Great Way to Learn Typing?
If you need to learn how to type, or how to type faster, there are some games that will help to practice typing much more interesting than repeatedly typing “The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog”. Whether you are teaching a young child how to type for the first time, or you are an adult who has yet to master the skill, here are a few reasons playing some games online could be a great way to master how to type: Games Let You Have Fun! Fun means you are more likely to stick with something and not give up on it after a short period of time! It takes a long time and a lot of practice to master any skill, and playing games along the way will help keep your brain engaged and keep your interest while you are typing. Everyone would rather be typing to beat a clock or an opponent instead of just typing the same phrase over and over and over again. That would get boring after a while! Your Coordination Will Improve Once you understand the concepts behind typing, where the keys are laid out, how to use the Function keys, the numeric keypad, etc., it is all about mastering your hand-eye coordination. Playing typing games will help with that. To be clear, we are not talking about playing another round of Call of Duty. There are specific games designed to help improve typing and they will also improve hand-eye coordination. Games…
7 Ways to Keep Students Focused with Each Typing Lesson
If you are teaching students how to type and find that they get distracted easily, we have some ideas on how you can help your students stay focused during each typing lesson. Physical activity is important. While you are teaching a sedentary skill that has students at their desks for long periods of time, you still want to find ways to get kids active and get the blood pumping. This is known to increase focus and brain activity. You can do short spurts and just do easy tasks like jumping jacks or jogging in place. Add some music to the lesson. Like physical activity, music is known to increase focus and improve thinking. Try some subtle background music while your students are typing. Keep it low-key like jazz or classical so nobody gets carried away with dancing and gets distracted! (Typesy will be adding this feature soon) Adjust your expectations of attention. If you have ever tried to train a puppy and find that you get about 10 sections of attention for every 10 minutes of chasing a leaf or a paper bag, you know the feeling of distraction. Kids are growing and maturing and cannot devote 12-hour blocks of time to reading War and Peace. Try short 5 minute blocks of typing, and then mix in some games or other activities. Take away what distractions you can. While you should anticipate a short attention span, that doesn’t mean you should not remove as many distractions as you can. If your…
Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash Typing with all fingers is going to help you be a faster and more accurate typist than if you typed by hunt and peck using only one or two fingers. You will be able to type without looking at the keyboard and focusing on your task at hand, which is going to make you more efficient. Here are the ways in which typing effectively with all fingers is better than using just one or two fingers: Efficiency If you have to constantly look at your hands while you are typing, you cannot also be looking at a document, a book, or talking to someone that is dictating their needs to you. If you are able to use all your fingers to type, then you can act as a scribe for someone that is talking, or look at a book or different computer monitor to merge and bring different documents together. If you are not looking at your hands while you are typing, you will be more efficient. Speed It is usually just a simple matter of mathematics. Typing with 10 fingers is going to be quicker than typing with 1 finger. When using the traditional Words Per Minute metric, people typing with all 10 fingers versus just one or two are exponentially faster than if you just hunt and peck and use one or two fingers. You will be able to type more Words Per Minute using 10 fingers than by hunting and pecking….
Checking this post out will give you a wealth of crafts and uses for your keyboard that you never knew you could easily do! Everything from secret hiding places to rings and magnets, no longer is your keyboard just a device for touch typing. 1) Frame it up! Oh the beauty of upcycling… 2) Express your love to someone with this lovely keyboard chains 3) Level up your ring accessories with these cuties 4) How about necklaces and keyboard? 5) Earrings, ladies? 6) Create a new toy for your kid from your old keyboard 7) Put into good use the old keys as refrigerator magnets 8) Pencil Cup – the keyboard edition! 9) Unique Tabletop from Apple Laptop Keys by VicolopPagliaCorta 10) Wall hanger made, once again, from Apple Laptop Keys The last two upcycle designs were made by artist VicoloPagliaCorta. The Typesy Team were really impressed with how they created something new with old apple laptop keys. Created a beautiful masterpiece out of your old computer or accessories? Share it with us by commenting through our social media post!