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Grymes 3rd Grade Class (2014-15)
Thoughts on Keyboarding
When I started teaching computers to grade school students (Kindergarten through Fifth grade) in 2010, I had a lot of questions about keyboarding. I remember scouring the Internet for information about keyboarding and not finding the answers I was looking for. Now that I've been teaching students in Grades 3-5 how to keyboard for four years, I thought I would share some of my thoughts and experiences. Please note, this is more anecdotal than scientific. I am merely putting down my own thoughts based on my experiences and intuition.
Is teaching keyboarding still important?
As long as older kids (Grades 7 and up) are using keyboards on computers to type things such as reports, essays, tests, etc., then I think it's important for kids to learn how to keyboard properly.
Here is an article from MIT called "Out of Touch with Typing" which addresses the question "Is it important to learn to keyboard when kids are proficient with hunting and pecking?"
Here is an article that summarizes the research behind the "power of keyboarding as a literacy skill."
At what age should kids start learning to keyboard?
In the "old days," people didn't take keyboarding until high school, but times have changed. Kids are getting on the computer at a very young age. When I talk to adults that hunt-and-peck, I realize that even though they realize keyboarding properly will help them in the long run, they are not willing to take a few steps backwards and type slower in the short term. That leads me to believe that kids should learn to type before they get too proficient at hunting-and-pecking. It is harder to persuade someone to switch if it makes them go slower initially.
Another perspective to consider is at what age are kids developmentally ready to keyboard. The answer to this is probably similar to the appropriate age to start playing the piano. I've heard a few complaints from 3rd graders that their hands aren't big enough to reach the keys easily. In general, Fourth Grade seems like a good time to introduce keyboarding, but you really need to look at the maturity of the child. I had a very mature 3rd grade class last year and the majority of the students passed the typing test. I am currently working one-on-one with a 3rd grader who is having trouble with his handwriting, but not having any trouble learning to keyboard.
This year I was able to collect some data which you can use as food-for-thought. I had a fourth grade class that did NOT do keyboarding in 3rd grade. After one marking period, a third of the class passed the keyboarding test, typing over 10WPM with 85% or better accuracy, another third is almost ready to take the test, and everyone in the class knows at least half the alphabetic keys. I then had a very enthusiastic and relatively mature third grade class that had never done keyboarding before At the end of one marking period, no one had passed the keyboarding test. We decided to do another marking period of keyboarding. At the end of the second marking period, almost 60% of the students had passed the keyboarding test, typing over 8WPM with 85% or better accuracy, another 14% were ready to take the test, and 26% had learned around two thirds of the alphabetic keys.
What are the most important things to focus on when students are learning to keyboard?
Proper hand placement and fingering is the most important thing to focus on. Students use a keyboard cover to ensure they don't look down at the keys when they type. I don't worry too much about speed and accuracy because if they are typing with the proper fingering, then speed and accuracy will come naturally. In 3rd grade the kids are trying to type 8 WPM with 85% accuracy; 4th grade 10 WPM with 85% accuracy; and 5th grade 12 WPM with 85% accuracy. The test is only on alphabetic keys and common punctuation. Students continue to practice the number keys and specialty keys after they pass the typing test.
How often should they practice?
For younger students, it is better to practice for a shorter period of time (e.g. attempt two lessons each session), but more frequently, than it is to practice for a longer period of time and less frequently. I find that kids get bored if they have to practice for too long.
That said, I noticed that a local middle school has a semester long keyboarding class that meets 72 minutes every other day. The first 9 weeks being keyboarding and the second 9 weeks CIS (Microsoft Office and opportunity to take Microsoft Office Specialist Industry certification).
Unfortunately I don't have much control over our schedule. We do keyboarding in fourth and fifth grade and sometimes 3rd. We do keyboarding for one 9 week marking period per year. The kids practice twice a week for about 20 minutes each time. Some of the kids practice at home (but not a lot of kids do this, and when they do, they don't do it often). Kids with Internet access at home, practice using the same typing tutor they use at school. Others use a NEO Keyboarding device. This year 75% of the kids passed in each grade and the other 25% were close.
What Typing Tutor?
When I started teaching, the lab computers had Type2Learn. It was a fine typing tutor, but the kids could not access it from home and we had a lot of administrative issues using it. When we evaluated web based typing tutors, we did look at a version of Type2Learn that would allow students to practice from home. It was not a web based solution, but rather you had to load Type2Learn on the home computer. We felt like this could be cumbersome for families who were not tech savvy and a burden on the school to be a help desk. We evaluated two web based typing tutors, Typing Pal and Typing Agent. We selected Typing Agent because the students enjoyed it and were successful at learning to type. The lessons had a logical progression. For example, students learn the home row keys, then the upper row, and finally the bottom row keys. They added a couple of new keys to learn with every lesson. It was reasonably priced and the customer service was outstanding. They were courteous and their responses always made sense. You could tell they take their customers needs seriously. We've been very happy with our decision. Here is a link to their webinar which describes many of the administrative features of the product.
NOTE: Because of our limited time for keyboarding, the students primarily use the "Agent Lesson Training". The students enjoy changing their avatar and look and feel of their "phone cover", but they do not play any of the typing games or use the "social" aspect of the site.
Where to Begin?
I always start the first class with an Introduction to keyboarding. We talk about why it's important to learn keyboarding, proper body and hand positioning, the home row key and proper fingering, and some odd facts like the name of the QWERTY keyboard and why the keys are laid out the way they are. I show them a video on How to Keyboard properly. Then I teach them how to login to Typing Agent, give them a keyboard cover, and let them get started.
How to Keep the Kids Motivated?
The kids are usually pretty motivated for the first couple of weeks. When I see their interest waning, I do offer a small piece of candy after every new lesson they pass. I also offer up a large Hershey's Candy Bar or prize from the prize bag if they pass the typing test.
I'm not a big proponent of giving out prizes and would love kids to be self-motivated, but keyboarding is "task oriented" and a bit monotonous which lends itself well to being "rewards" driven (based on studies). I noticed it really helps most kids stay interested. If kids are getting too many pieces of candy in a session, I start to change the rules. One year the kids had to skip getting candy for the first lesson they passed, and could get candy for every new lesson they passed after that.
Students that practiced from home did not get candy because I could not monitor them for proper fingering and for not looking at the keys. Sometimes I'd surprise kids with a reward for practicing at home, just so they would know I was watching and to encourage others to practice at home too.
Random Thoughts
I usually walk around and watch the kids as they keyboard. I try to give them words of encouragement and make suggestions on their posture, fingering, and sometimes speed. Some kids try and type faster than they need to which causes them to make more mistakes and fail to pass the lesson.
If students do NOT get through all the lessons, even if they are very close to finishing, then it's like starting over again the following year. They don't seem to retain that partial knowledge.
Students who pass keyboarding should continue to type using the proper fingering if they want to pass again quickly the following year.
I had one student with dyslexia who found it difficult to keyboard with the cover on. He did great when we let him type without a keyboard cover, but with proper fingering.
Resources
I have curated some excellent resources for keyboarding and you can find them on the Grymes Lab website - the URL is: www.grymeslab.weebly.com. You can float over the menu item "Tech Resources" and either click on "Keyboarding" or float over to access pages: on the mouse, keyboard basics, typing tutors, typing tests, keyboarding games, keyboarding fun, and keyboarding other.
Is teaching keyboarding still important?
As long as older kids (Grades 7 and up) are using keyboards on computers to type things such as reports, essays, tests, etc., then I think it's important for kids to learn how to keyboard properly.
Here is an article from MIT called "Out of Touch with Typing" which addresses the question "Is it important to learn to keyboard when kids are proficient with hunting and pecking?"
Here is an article that summarizes the research behind the "power of keyboarding as a literacy skill."
At what age should kids start learning to keyboard?
In the "old days," people didn't take keyboarding until high school, but times have changed. Kids are getting on the computer at a very young age. When I talk to adults that hunt-and-peck, I realize that even though they realize keyboarding properly will help them in the long run, they are not willing to take a few steps backwards and type slower in the short term. That leads me to believe that kids should learn to type before they get too proficient at hunting-and-pecking. It is harder to persuade someone to switch if it makes them go slower initially.
Another perspective to consider is at what age are kids developmentally ready to keyboard. The answer to this is probably similar to the appropriate age to start playing the piano. I've heard a few complaints from 3rd graders that their hands aren't big enough to reach the keys easily. In general, Fourth Grade seems like a good time to introduce keyboarding, but you really need to look at the maturity of the child. I had a very mature 3rd grade class last year and the majority of the students passed the typing test. I am currently working one-on-one with a 3rd grader who is having trouble with his handwriting, but not having any trouble learning to keyboard.
This year I was able to collect some data which you can use as food-for-thought. I had a fourth grade class that did NOT do keyboarding in 3rd grade. After one marking period, a third of the class passed the keyboarding test, typing over 10WPM with 85% or better accuracy, another third is almost ready to take the test, and everyone in the class knows at least half the alphabetic keys. I then had a very enthusiastic and relatively mature third grade class that had never done keyboarding before At the end of one marking period, no one had passed the keyboarding test. We decided to do another marking period of keyboarding. At the end of the second marking period, almost 60% of the students had passed the keyboarding test, typing over 8WPM with 85% or better accuracy, another 14% were ready to take the test, and 26% had learned around two thirds of the alphabetic keys.
What are the most important things to focus on when students are learning to keyboard?
Proper hand placement and fingering is the most important thing to focus on. Students use a keyboard cover to ensure they don't look down at the keys when they type. I don't worry too much about speed and accuracy because if they are typing with the proper fingering, then speed and accuracy will come naturally. In 3rd grade the kids are trying to type 8 WPM with 85% accuracy; 4th grade 10 WPM with 85% accuracy; and 5th grade 12 WPM with 85% accuracy. The test is only on alphabetic keys and common punctuation. Students continue to practice the number keys and specialty keys after they pass the typing test.
How often should they practice?
For younger students, it is better to practice for a shorter period of time (e.g. attempt two lessons each session), but more frequently, than it is to practice for a longer period of time and less frequently. I find that kids get bored if they have to practice for too long.
That said, I noticed that a local middle school has a semester long keyboarding class that meets 72 minutes every other day. The first 9 weeks being keyboarding and the second 9 weeks CIS (Microsoft Office and opportunity to take Microsoft Office Specialist Industry certification).
Unfortunately I don't have much control over our schedule. We do keyboarding in fourth and fifth grade and sometimes 3rd. We do keyboarding for one 9 week marking period per year. The kids practice twice a week for about 20 minutes each time. Some of the kids practice at home (but not a lot of kids do this, and when they do, they don't do it often). Kids with Internet access at home, practice using the same typing tutor they use at school. Others use a NEO Keyboarding device. This year 75% of the kids passed in each grade and the other 25% were close.
What Typing Tutor?
When I started teaching, the lab computers had Type2Learn. It was a fine typing tutor, but the kids could not access it from home and we had a lot of administrative issues using it. When we evaluated web based typing tutors, we did look at a version of Type2Learn that would allow students to practice from home. It was not a web based solution, but rather you had to load Type2Learn on the home computer. We felt like this could be cumbersome for families who were not tech savvy and a burden on the school to be a help desk. We evaluated two web based typing tutors, Typing Pal and Typing Agent. We selected Typing Agent because the students enjoyed it and were successful at learning to type. The lessons had a logical progression. For example, students learn the home row keys, then the upper row, and finally the bottom row keys. They added a couple of new keys to learn with every lesson. It was reasonably priced and the customer service was outstanding. They were courteous and their responses always made sense. You could tell they take their customers needs seriously. We've been very happy with our decision. Here is a link to their webinar which describes many of the administrative features of the product.
NOTE: Because of our limited time for keyboarding, the students primarily use the "Agent Lesson Training". The students enjoy changing their avatar and look and feel of their "phone cover", but they do not play any of the typing games or use the "social" aspect of the site.
Where to Begin?
I always start the first class with an Introduction to keyboarding. We talk about why it's important to learn keyboarding, proper body and hand positioning, the home row key and proper fingering, and some odd facts like the name of the QWERTY keyboard and why the keys are laid out the way they are. I show them a video on How to Keyboard properly. Then I teach them how to login to Typing Agent, give them a keyboard cover, and let them get started.
How to Keep the Kids Motivated?
The kids are usually pretty motivated for the first couple of weeks. When I see their interest waning, I do offer a small piece of candy after every new lesson they pass. I also offer up a large Hershey's Candy Bar or prize from the prize bag if they pass the typing test.
I'm not a big proponent of giving out prizes and would love kids to be self-motivated, but keyboarding is "task oriented" and a bit monotonous which lends itself well to being "rewards" driven (based on studies). I noticed it really helps most kids stay interested. If kids are getting too many pieces of candy in a session, I start to change the rules. One year the kids had to skip getting candy for the first lesson they passed, and could get candy for every new lesson they passed after that.
Students that practiced from home did not get candy because I could not monitor them for proper fingering and for not looking at the keys. Sometimes I'd surprise kids with a reward for practicing at home, just so they would know I was watching and to encourage others to practice at home too.
Random Thoughts
I usually walk around and watch the kids as they keyboard. I try to give them words of encouragement and make suggestions on their posture, fingering, and sometimes speed. Some kids try and type faster than they need to which causes them to make more mistakes and fail to pass the lesson.
If students do NOT get through all the lessons, even if they are very close to finishing, then it's like starting over again the following year. They don't seem to retain that partial knowledge.
Students who pass keyboarding should continue to type using the proper fingering if they want to pass again quickly the following year.
I had one student with dyslexia who found it difficult to keyboard with the cover on. He did great when we let him type without a keyboard cover, but with proper fingering.
Resources
I have curated some excellent resources for keyboarding and you can find them on the Grymes Lab website - the URL is: www.grymeslab.weebly.com. You can float over the menu item "Tech Resources" and either click on "Keyboarding" or float over to access pages: on the mouse, keyboard basics, typing tutors, typing tests, keyboarding games, keyboarding fun, and keyboarding other.