How Can I Help Students With Poor Keyboarding Skills?

Formerly known as typewriting skills; keyboarding skills are the correct finger placement on the keyboard enabling the students to enter words quickly and accurately. Students can be introduced to this training as early as in their elementary ages. This helps to prevent development of incorrect techniques and habits that are difficult to correct in the later ages. As students learn the letters, they are instructed in the “hunt and peck method” and taught to type their names. They are introduced to the QWERTY system and taught to incorporate the use of both hands for entering. Formal keyboarding lessons are commenced in middle school, as they then have good control of the skills essential for learning the technique.

Keyboarding lessons include instructions regarding proper posture (sitting with feet placed on the ground), the correct placement of fingers on the home keys, thumbs on the space bar and wrists held straight while using both hands for typing.
The initial lesson requires the student to familiarize themselves with the art of keyboarding. Students learn the placement of their fingers and are instructed to type words or sentences (dictated). With practice and development of motor memory (they can place their fingers without looking at the keyboard) students are able to type text, solely depending on the screen for psychomotor feedback.

With increase in skill, students can proceed to typing from text material. This helps to facilitate and develop their eye-hand coordination. To begin with, small paragraphs are given, to avoid losing placement while typing and then gradually more content is added.

Only when students are thorough with the technique, do we focus on accuracy and speed of typing.

These are some activities that you may use in your classroom to teach or strengthen keyboarding skills:

ABCD: Instruct students to type ABCD till Z. You can also change the pattern and ask them to type starting with a particular letter say S and then complete the sequence through R.
Sing and write: Pick a line from your favorite song, and type as you sing along.
Paired writing: Students are paired and given a paragraph to type. Students alternate by typing each line i.e. one will read and the other types a line and then switches positions.
Relay typing: Similar to the previous activity, students are grouped in teams, with each member having one line to type. When the teachers says “Start,” the individual with the first line will run to the computer, type his sentence accurately and tag the second person in line. At the end of race, the teacher will assess for speed, accuracy and technique demonstrated by each team.
Finish your sentence: You can have pre-written sentence prompts such as “If I was…,” or “When I came home…” and instruct the students to complete the sentences.

Discuss here: Have voice and texting made keyboarding obsolete?

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