Get kids to touch type!

When I see kids hunting and pecking, especially by the time they hit secondary school, I cringe. Unfortunately, the keyboarding classes that many of us took as kids are long gone in favor of applications courses. These classes were usually offered in high school anyway, though, which is simply too late for students now, who should be well-versed in computer usage before they leave primary school.

The ability to touch type is simply fundamental to efficient use of a computer; without it, students quickly become frustrated with anything other than pointing and clicking. If we want kids to use productivity software effectively (and many of us agree that getting kids to write using a word processing program improves their ability to edit on the fly, collaborate, revise efficiently, etc.), then we need to give them the tools to do so. More than anything else, these tools include touch typing.

The BBC has an incredible website with both Flash-enabled and non-Flash typing tutorials, hosted by engaging cartoon animals. While some kids may find the fairly thick accents a bit hard to follow at first (the goat pictured is Scottish), the program itself is great for even relatively early readers.

Every step in the typing sequence reinforces previous skills and moves quickly enough that kids won't get bored, but slowly enough that they grasp the skills. Visual cues, written words, and spoken instructions get at multi-modal learning better than many commercial products. Done in the style of the highly successful Muzzy foreign language films, I have to wonder if I'll bother actually purchasing any typing software again.