TellEli10_6

Use of Typing Tutor in the Computer Lab for Strategies I

Aida Valentin

Part of the CALL Curriculum Objectives for Strategies I is to write paragraphs in the Computer Lab that include a title, margins, and indentation using Microsoft Word. When my Level I class started working on activities designed to meet this objective, some of the students asked if they could get some keyboarding practice to facilitate the process and help them become more proficient at using the keyboard.

Having Iona Sarieva as a resource is a great advantage since she was the one I turned to when I needed to find a program that would help students develop and improve keyboarding skills or, as it is also known, a typing tutor. Iona suggested that I go to http://www.senselang.com/ or http://www.powertyping.com/ which are free websites that can be used in our lab.

My Strategies I class tried out the first website, http://www.senselang.com/, and found it easy to use and very helpful. It provides 15 lessons during which students can focus on particular strokes using only certain fingers. These lessons progress to writing complete paragraphs. The program also allows the teacher to post a text for the students to practice. The other program, The Power Typing Tutor provides a wider variety of lessons accompanied by games for practice.

I find that students can benefit greatly from investing some time into improving their keyboarding skills. This will save them time later on when they have to write research papers and other papers for higher levels as well as for college classes. It should definitely be included in the beginning lab lessons and continued throughout the semester in between other activities. Keyboarding skills, or as I call it, typing, are valuable skills to have in our technology-based everyday life and more time should be spent on developing them in our computer classes.