This blog will be a summary of an article I read entitled "Who Should Teach Keyboarding and When Should It Be Taught?" by Maragret J. Erthal. I wanted to find an article that related to our recent in-class discussions, and I was very please when I stumbled across this article.
The article starts of by stating the classes in which keyboarding used to be taught. Erthal explained that most of the time keyboarding was taught in business classes. During one's freshman and sophomore years, the student would be taught typewriting I and II. The junior year would be spent learning Office Practice and shorthand I, and senior year would be spent learning Secretarial Practice and shorthand II.
The author then goes to explain how the computer completely revolutionized the way keyboarding was taught. Computers allowed students to be more efficient and soon other disciplines started noticing the advantages of using a computer. English and math teachers started requiring the students to use the computer more and more in the classroom. The schools even started a Computer Literacy class. The business teachers thought they were the most qualified to teach this course, but in time math and science teachers thought they were capable of teacher this as well.
Erthal explains that by the 1980s personal computers started making their appearance in elementary classrooms. When these students came to high school, the teachers found that enrollment in keyboarding classes had dropped and students were using the "hunt and peck" method.
From there, the author explains that with the rise in technology teachers must consider when keyboarding should be taught and who should teach it. She discusses some of the requirements of learning and teaching keyboarding. One must have the psychomotor skills that are capable of learning such a skill and there must be a sound pedagogical procedure in teaching keyboarding. Erthal then states some of the advantages of learning keyboarding early on. Those listed include enhanced use of time, effective use of computers, neater finished products, higher motivation, and better developed language skills. With all of this said, when does one begin teaching keyboarding skills?
The author suggested that children between the ages of 10 and 12 should begin learning keyboarding skills. Erthal believes that younger children do not have the dexterity or appropriate hand size to learn keyboarding. At the initial keyboarding stage, the author would like to see children learning the appropriate keyboarding techniques, and once this stage is completed reinforcement activities should take place afterwards to straighten these skills. Erthal suggests that it takes about thirty hours of initial keyboarding practice for children to acquire correct keyboarding techniques. The next question that comes to mind is who should teach this class. The author believes that the person who teaches this course should be very knowledgeable. She does believe that a business teacher can teach this, but that teacher must have know the methodology behind teaching elementary students. Otherwise a teacher who has had training in keyboarding can teach this skill to the students. The author believed that the next thing that must be decided was what software to use. This questions proved more difficult. Erthal stated that many software is good for "drill, remediation, enrichment practice, as well as adding variety to keyboarding instruction", however the software cannot recognize the individual need of the students. Choosing a good software can prove to be very difficult. The author summed up the article by explaining the importance of learning keyboarding skills, and summing up her arguments.
I found this article to be very similar to what we have learned in class. Erthal's age at which she suggested students start keyboarding was very close to the age suggested in our notes. She also agreed that when students first learn keyboarding teachers should spend around thirty hours teaching this skill and reinforce it throughout the years. She also talked about the difficulty in picking out a developmentally good software. I was happy to see another source that matched the beliefs from our class notes.
Thank you for a good summary of the article. I do not have extensive knowledge regarding keyboarding in the classroom, but it does make sense not to teach children in kindergarten how to effectively type, as they will not have developed the fine motor-skills necessary and have hands that are too small to effeciently reach for the keys, as we want them too. I just wonder, if we only pay attention to tecahing keyboarding skills when students are 10-12, have they not already developed bad keyboarding habits by the time we see them? A good article, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a topic that is given little attention by teachers, yet it is important. I was glad to see that this article reflected much of what the research I had found and shared in class. What is still difficult is who will teach it? I can guarantee that schools are not going to hire a "teacher" to teach children how to type at the elementary level. Therefore, teachers are going to have to do it - without being trained in the skill. So, software choices in this area are going to be critical. Nothing is ever perfect, but it is something that we take for granted sometimes.... it will effect what we do in the classroom with technology for most students.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see the need for schools to start teaching more and more keyboarding as technology started to become more advanced. I agree with the author in that children younger than 10 do not have the right hand size or dexterity to learn keyboarding. I think that middle school is the perfect age to start. I have a niece and nephew in middle school & they are both motivated to learn keyboarding skills. Just the other day my nephew wanted me to watch him type a sentence without looking! He typed one sentence and was so proud!
ReplyDeleteI don't know what I would do if I was ever asked to teach keyboarding. I would hope there would be some kind of training on it-even if it was short. I think it would just be best to wait until the middle school level where there is a specific teacher for it & wouldn't "waste" core curriculum time from the elementary classroom.