When you’re first learning to touch type, it can all seem overwhelming: it’s a whole new world of muscle memory and patterns and rhythms to teach your fingers. After a while, though, a junction will become clear to you: You can focus on attaining perfection in accuracy or you can focus on typing as fast as is humanly possible—but you likely won’t be able to do both. Which, then, is more important? Let’s talk about accuracy. After all, consider this: If you’re typing some one hundred and fifty words a minute, that’s great — but if your copy is riddled with errors and every third word is horribly misspelled, then that’s going to get you nowhere. More practically, it’ll take you just as long (or longer) to go back and fix all of your mistakes than it would have taken you to just have typed a bit slower and made sure it was right the first time! Speed will come with familiarity, but it’s likely a good idea to start slow and make sure that your words are written the way you want them to be. Here are a few ways to work on improving accuracy in your typing: Learn Proper Technique: There are many ways to type, but there is one way to type that is considerably faster than the rest! For example, don’t type exclusively with your two index fingers when there’s a much easier way to learn using all ten of your digits. It’ll take some time…
Test Your Knowledge About Keyboarding Shortcuts Now
Take this quiz and find out just how well you know your keyboard shortcuts. You’ll take on 12 questions that will either prove you know your shortcut well or tell you that maybe it’s time to get to know your keyboard better and learn more about typing. It’s quick and fun, and a great way to test your typing knowledge.
Touch Typing Basics
What is Touch Typing? Touch typing is a method of typing that involves centering your hands on the keyboard using a specific position. A touch typist does not look at the keyboard while typing and uses all ten fingers to type. What Makes it Different? If you aren’t using the touch-typing method, you are likely hunting and pecking. Hunt and peck typists generally use only a few fingers to type and frequently look down at the keyboard to find key locations. A practiced touch typist can type with much more accuracy, focus, and speed than a hunt and peck typist. When you don’t have to look at the keyboard to type, you can concentrate more on the material you are copying, or listen more closely to the presentation being given. You can also look at the screen while typing and identify errors as they appear. Editing on the go can improve accuracy and prevent future mistakes. Why is it Important? You can’t deny that technology grows more important each day. Most jobs in business, academia, healthcare, and media require a high level of skill with computers and typing. Many jobs even require a specific typing speed (which is usually higher than what hunt and peck produces). If you are interested in finding a new career or advancing in your current job, it is definitely worthwhile to improve your typing ability. How do I Start? Home Position The first thing to learn about touch typing is the home position for your…
Beginners’ Guide in Touch Typing
Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash Why is Typing Important? It has never been more important to practice good typing. The academic and professional words are becoming increasingly dependent on technology and are looking for individuals who possess strong typing skills. If you have a method that works well for you, you can certainly stick with it. But if you have been thinking about improving your typing, you should learn the touch-typing method. What is Touch Typing? Touch typing is a method by which you type without looking at the keyboard. You center your hands in a specific position and distribute the typing work among all ten fingers. If you are currently typing using only a few fingers, you may be comfortable, but you are not reaching your full typing potential. How do You Learn Touch Typing? To learn touch typing, you need to learn the specific keys assigned to specific fingers. After that, you practice, practice, practice. It may be slow at first, but muscle memory will eventually take over and turn typing into a process as automatic as driving a car. Home Position Using a standard QWERTY keyboard, touch typing involves a specific home (or starting) position for your hands. When you begin typing, and after each word is complete, your hands should be positioned as follows: Left Hand Right hand Pinky finger Letter ‘a’ Pinky finger Key ‘;’ Ring finger Letter ‘s’ Ring finger Letter ‘l’ Middle finger Letter ‘d’ Middle finger Letter ‘k’ Pointer finger Letter…
Advantage of Being a Touch Typist
Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash Today, much of the world lives online. More and more jobs focus on computer and technology skills, such as programming, coding, and developing. If you have been thinking about improving your typing ability, you should learn the touch-typing technique. Touch typing is a style of typing that centers the hands on the keyboard and engages all ten fingers, not a few. A good touch typist does not look down at the keyboard when typing. This can help you reach typing speeds of over 60 wpm! Below are a few of the top benefits to touch typing. Top Benefits of Touch Typing Speed The most significant advantage to touch typing is that it is much faster than hunting and pecking. A touch typist uses muscle memory to learn where the keys are and don’t need to look down at the keyboard when typing. If you are trying to type notes from a book or presentation slides, it will take much more time to look down at the keyboard every few words. A good touch typist can usually type up around 80 wpm, which is much faster than the average hunt and peck typist. Focus & Accuracy Along with speed, touch typing significantly improves your ability to focus on the material that you are typing and end up with more accurate results. When you can watch the screen as you type, you can identify errors as they happen and correct them as you go. When you…
How Touch Typing Can Help You Land a Good Career
Photo by Tyler Franta on Unsplash Are you looking for a career change? Entering the job market for the first time? If so, it might be worthwhile to reassess your typing skills. Good typing is practically a required skill for most professions these days. Employers are looking to hire people with strong computer skills and the ability to carry out tasks quickly. If you aren’t interested in a computer-based job, knowledge of good typing will never hurt your career prospects. Learning to touch type is simple, often free, and can be the best way to secure employment in today’s market. For the six positions listed below, advanced typing skills will help set you apart from other candidates. Medical Transcriptionist Work in the healthcare industry is always a good idea. Medical transcriptionists transcribe recordings for doctors and other medical professionals. There is some special training involved, and you will need to possess some medical knowledge to understand terms and correct usage. However, most of the work can be done from home, and the faster you type, the more you can earn! Typing speed: 80-100 wpm Data Entry Clerk Data entry jobs are fairly self-explanatory and involve entering data into an electronic database. This job is extremely typing-heavy and requires high speeds and accuracy. If you are looking for an entry-level position, this is a great option. There is always a need for data entry, and you can likely secure either full or part-time positions in a number of fields. Typing speed:…
Touch Typing as Brain Activity
Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash Today, typing is just a normal part of our daily life. But did you know it can actually be making you smarter? When you type, your brain is using a number of cognitive processes that you are likely unaware of. If you’ve been typing from a young age, it may be as automatic to you as breathing or driving a car. But in reality, touch typing involves interaction between language, visual, and motor skills simultaneously. By activating many different parts of your brain at the same time, touch typing is a great brain-building exercise that increases neural pathways and improves function and memory consistently over time. It is starting to be considered a fundamental piece of cognitive learning for children as well, along with reading and writing. Here are some of the ways touch typing is helping improve your brain function: Improving Memory When you type using the touch-typing method, you are activating quite a lot of memory skills. Muscle memory in your fingers and hands tells you the position of the keys and the spacing between them. You also have to remember how to spell words and the functions of all of the different keys. When you are utilizing these two different types of memory simultaneously, you are strengthening that section of your brain. If you want even more benefit, try turning off auto-correct. When you make a mistake, correct it immediately by deleting the word and retyping it. This helps you build…
Touch Typing Hacks You Should Know
There is practically no way to avoid typing in today’s society. In fact, you almost certainly had to type something in order to read this! While smartphones and tablets often utilize a different keyboard style, most of us still have to work with a standard computer keyboard occasionally. Being comfortable with typing is the best way to turn a potentially frustrating task into a valuable skill. Strong typing skills make you more efficient in your work and give you access to a wider range of jobs and opportunities. Some positions actually require a certain typing proficiency and speed as part of their qualifications. If you are looking to improve your typing skills, or are just learning the touch-typing method, here are five typing tricks and hacks you should know. Unlearn Your Bad Habits! If you have been hunting and pecking for keys for years now, you probably have to start your touch-typing journey by unlearning what you already know. For some, this is as easy as covering the keyboard when typing so you cannot look at the keys with your eyes. Still others go so far as to use an entirely different keyboard layout. Find a Tutor There are many typing tools and programs available these days. You can find excellent ones online to use at home or at work, and you can also look offline for in-person classes or personal tutors. As with most skills, practice is the best way to improve your typing performance. And with the high-quality…
Tips to Be More Productive In Your Workplace
When faced with the sprawling hours between nine and five, it’s easy to think that we have limitless time to get things done — only to be faced with a daunting to-do list at three in the afternoon. Don’t find yourself in this situation! Prioritizing efficiency early on will make your workdays flow much better. Here are seven tips to help aid you in finding your flow: #1 Keep Your Goals Small Working through your to do list is a positive feedback cycle — meaning that the more you get done, the more you’ll want to get done. It’ll be helpful, then, to keep at least the first couple of items small, so the activation energy required to begin is relatively low. #2 Take Breaks Your brain needs them to function — and if you don’t set aside time for rest, your brain will take it anyway, reducing your productivity over the long-term. Get up and go for a walk — you might have a great idea en route anyway! #3 Constantly Review Your Routine Don’t take for granted that the way you’re doing things is always the best way to do things. Thinking creatively about ways to optimize your actions is what separates the successful from those who could really be doing better. #4 Post Your Vision Keep reminders of your long-term goals in plain view. That way others can keep you accountable, and you’ll constantly have reminders of why you’re doing what you’re doing. #5 Add “When” to…
Why Classroom Teaching Is Still Popular?
Photo by Patrick Perkins on Unsplash You’ve probably been hearing reports of a number of parents opting to home school their children. While there may be some benefits to all of that, there are some negatives that come with it (in particular the social aspect of the child). Traditional education has proven itself to be effective time and time again. And it is showing no signs of slowing down or even dying anytime soon. In fact, classroom teaching is a tried and true tradition that has been around for centuries. And it still remains popular to this day in both public and private educational settings. But there are few more reasons why public education still reigns supreme today. Here’s what they are: Classrooms = Community Being part of a community is important for not just the students, but also teachers as well. They get to know each other and will build long-lasting and trusting relationships. Not to mention, the chemistry between the teacher and the students will affect overall morale. If the students are happy, so is the teacher and vice versa. And they can hold each other accountable for what the student is learning and what the teacher is teaching. The Best Teachers Prioritize Public Schools Teachers are more likely to put their skills to good use in a public school setting as opposed to a private school. Not to mention, public schools are often staffed with some of the best teachers in terms of their discipline. And they…