Keyboarding- everyone has their own ideas and thoughts on how and where students should learn keyboarding. As we progress into the digital world, students are going to need to have basic computer skills to survive school (high school and college) as well as in the real world. These basic skills include keyboarding. So questions to consider:
1.) At what age should students be introduced to keyboarding?
2.) Who should be responsible for teaching keyboarding?
3.) When is there time in the school day to teach anything else?
4.) How should keyboarding be taught and assessed?
Question 1:
The average age for keyboarding instruction seems to begin in 3rd and 4th grade. I can still remember having keyboarding in 3rd grade our teacher was Mr. Markus (and the computers would say “Don’t mark us”) We also did finger exercises to stretch our fingers and get them used to moving up and down. I do not remember having specific keyboarding besides that year, until I was a freshman in high school where I took a 10-week course. I think for the most part I have learned to keyboard while typing papers and other assignments.
Shelbyville Central School District set a sequence and scope for keyboarding.
http://www.shelbycs.org/technology/scope_sequence.html
-1st graders where taught what the home keys are and proper posture
-2nd grade slowly introduce keyboarding software at a basic level for home row only
-3rd grade begin touch typing skills through software
-4th grade to 6th grade students will continue to practice proper keyboarding skills
-7th grade student begin to be assessed by accuracy and words per minute.
Missouri’s keyboarding sequence:
http://missouricareereducation.org/CDs/ResourceListing/KeybSSc.pdf
Over all they say that students should master all proper keyboarding techniques by 6th-8th grade. In K-2 they should be aware and introduced to all proper keyboarding techniques. By 3-5th grade student should master correct posture while typing. In 9th grade students should use the correct reaches to type keys, type rhythmically and keeping eyes on the copy instead of on the keys.
A = Aware, I = Introduce, R = Reinforce, M = Master
Question 2:
Prior the teacher responsible for teaching keyboarding was the business teacher, especially in the high school but now as keyboarding is being introduced younger it is falling on the responsibility of the classroom teachers. The elementary teachers already have full plates with assessments and paperwork to complete- this is something else that they will need to be trained in to implement it correctly. Keyboarding is also something that has to be monitored closely. Leigh Zeitz from the University of Northern Iowa states “bad keyboarding habits may reemerge during such unsupervised activities.” This also applies to keyboarding at home. I will not help the student if they are practicing incorrect keyboarding skills as home. So who should be teaching keyboarding in school?
Question 3:
Going along with the teachers not having room on their plates for anything more, the students schedules are packed moving from one special to another and minutes in the general classroom are barely being meet. So when can keyboarding be squeezed in?
Question 4:
Leigh Zeitz article A New Look @ Researched-Based Keyboarding Instruction discusses three stages of keyboarding. “These three stages include: Cognitive Phase (Key Introduction), Associative Stimulus Phase (Kinesthetic Memory Traces), and Autonomous Muscle Response Phase (Automaticity).” Students must begin by consciously moving their fingers to the correct keys. Type to Learn 4, a keyboarding software program, teaches students quick-blends and quick-words that are used often in the English language. Students will begin to feel comfortable with the blends and not have to focus on where those keys are. The next phase is to develop the memory of key placement, while the final phase in the automaticity of the rhythmic typing.
But should keyboarding be assessed like any other subject? Should it be on the report card? Otherwise if the student it not internally motivated to participate in keyboarding what motivation will they have?
The questions I raised at the beginning still have no true answer. Keyboarding is an important skill in today’s world but how does that translate into our schools and curriculums.
1.) At what age should students be introduced to keyboarding? As soon as they begin to tamper with the computer. I'm currently teaching my students how to use a computer. Although I never considered teaching typing it would be a good idea. The earlier the better.
ReplyDelete2.) Who should be responsible for teaching keyboarding? All schools should have typing classes with a keyboarding teacher. Wow, no $ in the budgets :(
3.) When is there time in the school day to teach anything else? All assignments should be done via computer/email so students would have no choice but to learn how to type.
4.) How should keyboarding be taught and assessed? I answered this already.
I took keyboarding/typing my senior year of high school and it really paid off in college. I typed several assignments for people and made decent $ doing so. However when I look at the awful job of keyboarding that is going on at my school I feel frustration. Students graduate and can't type, use processing software, or cite a source correctly because no one taught them. The are going to be lost in high school and college. Keyboarding/typing should be mandatory in all schools from grades K and up.
Keyboarding is a life skill that must be addressed in the elementary schools if we're going to produced self-sufficient lifelong learners for the 21st century. I mean really, it should be part of the computer class curriculum and required in all lab settings as well as in the library and classrooms. Many assignments must be completed using the computer at any give grade level. I have a chart for home keys in my classroom as do many teachers, and require students to use appropriate keyboarding skills when using computers. I know we have software for teaching this skill as well. It should not be optional, but part and parcel to the tech skills being taught. Who has time to hunt and peck?!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that keyboarding will become a a necessary skill in our technology oriented future. I can totally see a future where pencils and paper will be replaced with lap top computers for each student. In the high school district where we live, most assignments are expected to be handed in via internet already. Students really need to start learning basic keyboarding skills in early elementary school, probably as you suggested in 1st grade. The earlier we can orient them with the basics of keyboarding the better off they will be. I do understand the time constraints our overworked teachers already deal with, but this is a skill that can be incorporated into lessons that we are already teaching. I don't think it has to be a seperate subject we teach.
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