Five adults with developmental disabilities participated in a keyboard skills training program employing color coded keys and typing drills. Through typing skills, the subjects were taught basic computer operations such as taking disk directories, loading programs and executing the programs. Repetitious learning was the model used. Data collected…

One group of secondary keyboarding students was taught on typewriters and switched to microcomputers after six weeks, the other used microcomputers first, then typewriters. Using computers, students showed faster completion times and fewer typographical errors. Transfer from computers to typewriters slowed times and increased errors. Overall,…

Seven 5-minute, straight-copy timed writings administered to 87 college students revealed that (1) use of the print and return features of electronic typewriters does not automatically heighten speed or accuracy; and (2) students do not necessarily choose the best combination of features for enhancing performance. (SK)

Compared the ease and efficiency of the Qwerty and Dvorak keyboards by analyzing five popular lists on high frequency words to determine differences in fingering for the keyboards. Found that more high frequency words and more characters are typed on the Dvorak keyboard home row, and therefore children should be taught to use the Dvorak rather…

Error analysis of 260 timed writings by secondary and postsecondary beginning and advanced students found that, regardless of the level of instruction or the type of equipment (electronic typewriter or microcomputer), an inordinate number of errors were associated with home key rows. (JOW)

A study compared the typing speeds attained by students who learned to type on typewriters with the speeds attained by students who learned on computers in order to determine whether the medium of instruction has any effect on achievement. Data were gathered on the speeds of 585 students from west central Indiana high school business teachers. Of…

A 1980 survey of 9,000 high school sophomores with 3 follow-ups over 6 years revealed that high school typing courses led to greater employability and earnings for non-college-bound students and was of equal benefit to students of lower socioeconomic levels. One course sufficed for white males; white females benefited more from more than one…

The concept of individualized instruction has been discussed for more than 60 years. Some individualized instruction techniques that have been implemented over the years with varying degrees of success are ability grouping, nongraded schools, special classes for exceptional children, tracking (academic versus vocational), remedial classes, and…

This practicum addressed the problem of fourth grade students who watched their fingers and used the "hunt and peck" method while answering questions in curriculum-based software. The following objectives were established: at the end of the 15-week practicum period, all of the 22 targeted students will demonstrate at least 80% accuracy in correct…

Twelve people living at the O. D. Heck Developmental Center Autism Program participated in this study, along with nine people who provided facilitated communication (FC) support to them. The 12 individuals were selected because they were the most competent producers of FC in the program. The study involved showing pictures of everyday objects to…

To determine if initial keyboard training resulted in more effective use of capital investment, two groups were tested: one received keyboard training using a manual typewriter, the other trained in word processing on a computer. Keyboarding was tested before and after and student attitudes were surveyed. Concluded that keyboard training is cost…

Describes the use of keyboarding instruction, without the use of computers, to improve the spelling skills of first grade students. Improvement in various ability groups is discussed, changes in student attitudes are described, and recommendations are given for teachers using the "Keyboard Success" text. (LRW)

A study concluded that there were no significant differences in posttest speed achievement of students in grades 3 through 6 when pretest typewriting speed score was used as a covariate. Fifteen or fewer hours of instruction allows development of typewriting speed at the lowest level of skill acquisition. (JOW)

This paper explores the issue of how, when, and where to teach keyboarding at the elementary school level through a review of the keyboarding literature and descriptions of three studies conducted with fifth grade students in the laboratory school at the University of Wyoming. The literature review briefly summarizes findings on the following…

This study of college students in business administration classes compares attitudes toward office computer use of students with typing or word processing skills to those of students without those skills. Results show typing and/or word processing skills were associated with greater degree of conceptual understanding of future office computer use.…