Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Let’s Improve Our Keyboard Skills!



From what I have learned after observing especially Professors and Senior Lecturers (PSL) in action, is that many of them often lack the ability to type quickly. It is often the one, two, three, four fingers magic show! It wouldn't also surprise me if there is a strong correlation between poor typing skills and de-motivation to facilitate online learning.

The faster you type, the more time you have to think (Better yet, do it at the same time!). The beauty of great typing skills comes when you are capable of typing as fast as (or faster than) you think. Also, then you don't need to say, "What was I thinking again?".

In short, to improve the success of any e-learning or online facilitation initiative, I believe it is vital that educators (and students) have good keyboard and typing skills (say at least 30+ words per minute), so that they can efficiently answer e-mails, forum posts, chat sessions, develop content, projects, assignments, and so on.

If you don't have great keyboard skills already, don't worry. Just ignore your stubborn ego, and start practicing. You don't need to spend money, because here are a bunch of free learning tools to assist you:
  • keybr.com
    Take a typing speed test and practice typing online.

  • Peter's Online Typing Course
    Provides a set of free online typing lessons and typing exercises for beginning typists, and frustrated hunt-and-peckers who want to move from four-finger typing to full-blown touch typing.

  • Goodtyping
    Free online typing course. Please try it without registering. If you like what you practice, then bother to register :)

  • TypingWeb
    is a free online typing tutor & keyboarding tutorial for typists of all ages. All skill levels will benefit from TypingWeb's free keyboarding lessons.

  • Rapid Typing
    A typing game, where the training takes place in a “virtual picturesque underwater world” adding some fun to the learning.

  • PowerTyping
    An online free typing tutor for kids, students and adults alike!

  • BBC Typing Tutorial
    Aimed at the younger kids, but is great fun for anyone learning typing.


Have fun mastering your keyboard skills, which will empower your potential and ability to really enjoy online facilitation in a 'Boltelicious' way. Just remember to practice and ignore your stubborn and lazy ego (if so!) :)

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