June 11, 2012
Dear Otto: How Do You Teach Adults to Keyboard?
Do you have a tech question?
Dear Otto is an occasional column where I answer questions I get from readers about teaching tech. If you have a question, please complete the form below and I’ll answer it here. For your privacy, I use only first names.
Mr. Holloway in Odessa wanted to know if there were lessons for teaching keyboarding to adults
Teaching keyboarding to adults is similar to teaching kids. They still need to learn correct posture, hand position, use of all fingers, touch typing–they just get it faster and take it more seriously. The game-like approach prevalent in teaching children isn’t necessary.
I have a wiki I use for a summer keyboarding class that starts at the beginning of keyboarding and proceeds through to mastery. You might find the progression of skills and the mix of activities useful.
Here are a list of websites that should serve well with adult students:
- Nimble Fingers–a popular progressive typing system adults will find fun and successful.
- Online keyboarding–this page is from Nimble Fingers. It’s great for adults, done online, and instructive
- Typing Lessons– A progressive and thorough approach designed for high schoolers–and great for adults
- Flash Cards–scroll down to ‘flash cards’ and have students type the words they see. This is challenging and important for adults to accomplish
- Typing Test–a great way to track improvements in typing speed. No log-in required
Any other suggestions from readers?
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Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-sixth grade, creator of two technology training books for middle school and three ebooks on technology in education. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog, IMS tech expert, and a bi-weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she’s editing a thriller for her agent that should be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
