ERIC_NO: ED443386
TITLE: Increasing Touch-Keyboarding Skills in the Middle School Student: "KeyWords" vs. "Type To Learn," Hand Covers vs. No Hand Covers.
AUTHOR: Reagan, Steven Dallas
PUBLICATION_DATE: 2000

ABSTRACT: A computer teacher in a middle school in East Tennessee observed that his students were entering the middle school program with computer familiarity but without the touch keyboarding skills necessary to operate the computer efficiently. It was also observed that even with instruction and practice using drill and practice keyboarding software, the students were not successful at breaking their bad keyboarding habits. This study looked at the effects of teaching the keyboarding skills in four different methods. The researcher worked with four middle school classes. One class received touch keyboarding instruction using drill and practice keyboarding software, "KeyWords Elementary." The second class received touch keyboarding instruction using "Glencoe KCA," a drill and practice keyboarding software that incorporates typing games for motivation. Another class used the "KeyWords" software with a hand cover that blocked their view of the keyboard as they practiced. The last group used the hand covers with "Type To Learn." All classes received two days of introductory lessons to familiarize them with the proper touch keyboarding technique. After two days, a series of one minute timed typing tests were given. The best three of the four tests were used to calculate an average typing score for each student. After nine hours of instruction, the same four tests were given again to determine an average typing speed. The pretest score was subtracted from the posttest score to obtain a measurement of the increased typing speed. A statistical analysis was performed on the collected data. The analysis showed that there is a significant gain in typing speed when the student uses a hand cover while using the "Glencoe KCA" software. The study concludes that the best way to retrain middle school students to touch keyboard correctly is to use a hand cover and drill and practice keyboarding software package that incorporates typing games for motivation. Appendices include tabulated results; hand cover design instructions; color-coded keyboard chart; student worksheets; typing tests; and permission letter and form for study participants. (Contains 33 references.) (Author/AEF)

MAJOR_DESCRIPTORS: Typewriting;
MINOR DESCRIPTORS: Computer Software; Educational Technology; Instructional Effectiveness; Middle Schools; Skill Development;
IDENTIFIERS: Computer Use
PUBLICATION_TYPE: 042
PAGE: 77
CLEARINGHOUSE_NO: IR020095
EDRS_PRICE: EDRS Price MF01/PC04 Plus Postage.
LEVEL: 1
LANGUAGE: English
GEOGRAPHIC_SOURCE: U.S.; Tennessee
NOTE: Master of Arts in Educational Technology and Bible, Action Research Project, Johnson Bible College.
ERIC_ISSUE: RIEJAN2001