Least Tern > But not Least

But Not Least...

It Fingers

A Review of Keyboarding Literature

"Assume nothing." (Bruce Dixon - Learners, Laptops and Powerful Ideas, 8/15/2002)

The Keyboarding Stew - When To, Whether To, Why To, How to "Teach" Keyboarding

 

What better use of a lazy, hazy July 4th Friday than to spend six hours learning about the pedagogy of teaching keyboarding. I would not have done the search without the day. Nonetheless, it was rewarding and informative, and it is research to which I will return periodically. The reward was that my own opinions, developed over 15 years of teaching computer topics in the k-12 classroom, were supported. More importantly, I learned a great deal about WHY my decision to focus keyboarding instruction in grades 4 or 5 has been a good one. And I will return to the research over and over again for three reasons: First, there is a great deal of disagreement in academia about this topic; Second, brain research at Yale in this and related areas is fascinating; Third, I am curious about recording the exact point at which k-12 educators find that keyboarding is either a moot point or unnecessary.

A Review of the Literature: What and Why and When | A Key Concept | Digital Communication Skills | Recommended Applications

The goal of touch-typing in the school is for the student to be able to take his/her eyes off of the keys while entering syntactically and mechanically correct text in the English language (I focused upon English language keyboarding) so that others will be able to read it. When I went to EBHS in the 60's, keyboarding was in the secretarial track. I took it so that I would be able to type my high school and college essays. This goal has shifted with the times: typewriters are now computer keyboards and computer use begins in the elementary school (earlier in many homes). A more important goal, often mentioned in the online literature, is emerging: to "type faster than the student can write." (Zeitz) These two goals alone raise many interesting questions. The question becomes even more interesting when the keyboarding stew contains physical and physiological development, learning theory, reading and writing skills development, learning problems, overall curriculum, access, and technological trends. The skill of keyboarding has become confused with computer use and "computer literacy" in the k-12 environment. A little bit of untangling would be a good idea.

Education World's article, Teaching Keyboarding: When? Why? How? (Starr) makes three key points that are supported by a review of the literature:

  1. Beginning too soon will lead to failure
  2. Technique is more important than speed or accuracy - success is all about correct keyboarding technique
  3. Support throughout the curriculum over at least three years, of both techniques and authentic use of the new skill, is a must

There is agreement in the research and anecdotal literature that the best keyboarding programs are, in the words of Shannon Fleming, "a conglomerate of an instructor, software, and modeling." (Fleming) There is also agreement that modeling (use often and across the curriculum) and a trained instructor are most important at the elementary level, that software must be selected carefully (see Recommended Software), and that repetition is key to success for most students. In Bloom's learning theory this learning strand is called automaticity. (see Deer Lakes for a scope and sequence of where automaticity fits into the Grade 2 reading curriculum and how it relates to other items in the taxonomy. Notice how many automaticity skills are still developing in Grade 2 reading.). It is the same principle as learning to play an instrument (except, of course, for the gifted), walk, or field an infield grounder. Practice, frequently, with reward and with increasing challenges leads to the automatic response typing that we call "keyboarding."  When students can not successfully develop automaticity, for any reason, the learning task will be unsuccessful and frustrating. A major reason for failure is that the task is begun too early (explored further below), but paying attention to how students are progressing and the mistakes they make repeatedly, and knowing about learning issues that may inhibit their progress at keyboarding, are also important in understanding failure.

There is a general agreement that keyboarding instruction should be begun before students are expected to keyboard confidently and often for school work. In most schools at this time (July 2003) the key year falls somewhere between the end of 3rd grade and the beginning of 6th grade. Like puberty, the age at which school work quantity is expected seems to be moving down, but the range is consistent across the English writing educational world.

These points alone would be sufficient to to develop a reasonable argument for initiating an upper elementary or early middle school keyboarding program. You can stop reading here if you have such a program in place and jump down to But...

"It's only 1-1 that the power happens."  Seymour Papert, as quoted by Angus King, 11/25/03

gold starKeyboarding is not a collaborative activity.

top

Need more convincing? Read a Quick Post on the topic.  Then take a look at the stew of my research findings in more detail.

  1. Physical and physiological development
    1. Keyboarding success depends upon eye-hand coordination. Students who are better at this will be better keyboarders. It can be taught and improved upon, developing automaticity.
    2. Keyboarding uses small motor skills, not gross motor skills. These develop after the gross motor skills, in the best scheme of things. Many 3rd grade students have weak small motor skills, most are still developing them. One fascinating idea, from Leigh Zeitz, is to introduce students to the keyboard by involving their gross motor skills. This is done through Playground Keyboarding. (Zeitz)  I could find no research findings, but enjoyed the concept greatly. It reminded me of using a hop-scotch field to drill my daughter in addition, subtraction and multiplication.
    3. Researchers generally agree that the small motor skill of handwriting, especially cursive/script, should be developed before keyboarding lessons. I like this idea for these reasons:
      1. Practical - students will be able to generate, in class, content to keyboard - an anti-plagiarism strategy that can begin in elementary school
      2. Practical - tests are generally taken by hand throughout school
      3. Pedagogical - there is much learning theory about the connection between writing and reading - there is also research to support the claim that short-circuiting this connection can be disastrous. The formation of letters and the formulation of the concept of letter are directly tied. Reading development, especially in those students who are inherently non-verbal learners or who have language deficiencies, can be interrupted by lack of attention to writing.
      4. Pedagogical - although not widely studied in terms of automaticity, handwriting is, according to Bloom, (Pable) an automaticity skill. Thus is further evidence that it should be learned without the interference of a competing skill development.
    4. Pinky reach is an issue. Although there are both research and affidavits to support the claim that small hands can hit all of the keys correctly, the question Why should they have to? is not answered to my satisfaction. Leigh Zeitz and others suggest a smaller keyboard (Zeitz).
      1. I like this idea if the keyboard is on a laptop or a handheld that the student will continue to use for several years (forward thinking)
      2. I hate this idea if the student has to migrate to a full-sized keyboard after learning. Automaticity is hard to undo. "In a study which reversed the teaching material after automaticity was achieved, subjects were found to need even longer periods of time to reach a similar level of proficiency when re-learning the material than they originally required when starting from the original level of no knowledge whatsoever." (Pable)
    5. Fatigue and carpal tunnel - this is where technique is important - there is no disagreement at all that furniture must allow for adjustable seat height, correct arm rests, wrist rests, etc. This is true for all ages. There is also agreement that attention must be paid to posture, flat wrists, straight backs, etc. if keyboarding is taught. For a current review of research read Workstation Ergonomics Guidelines produced by Cornell and focused upon early elementary and elementary students. (Cornell).  For a sobering view of the seriousness of Typing Injury, take a look at the FAQ.
    6. Depending upon what research you believe, handwriting speed is between 11 and 15 wpm (Zeitz and Fleming).  I found several online keyboarding speed tests (I achieved 72 wpm at Free Typing Test). I could not find any test of handwriting speed. That's interesting. If I handwrite at 75 wpm, keyboarding is not a task improvement.
  2. Learning Theory
    1. Elementary school students, up to and past age 10, are generally concrete thinkers but striving to develop higher level cognitive thinking. Keyboarding is a symbolic skill (Fleming), but like all automaticity tasks, one that is best done when requiring little cognitive interaction. Imagine how poorly you would walk if you thought carefully about the direction, angle, size of each step or if someone was walking beside you telling you exactly what to do with your arms and where to place your feet. Teaching keyboarding will be a failure if the student has to, or is curious to, focus upon what each finger is doing. Focusing k-4 keyboarding upon the alphabetic characters, task keys and numerals (this is often called "keyboarding readiness" in the literature) focuses upon the concrete act of identifying characters and the cognitive question: What are these used for?. Thus, it is counter productive to adapt this mode of keyboard instruction. Cognition and computing are fine elementary level friends, however, and that is what Hands-on-Technology and Computer Literacy are all about.
    2. Ditto for keyboard games, such as those provided for using Word or the AlphaSmart (Fun) to teach keyboarding. In fact, research agrees that games are not the way to teach keyboarding at all. Further, the principle of automaticity would seem to insist that keyboarding be a 1-1 activity (student to keyboard).
    3. Is name-typing keyboarding? Typing one's own name is often a successful lesson for the beginning keyboarder. I say, parlor games and rote learning. Becoming "familiar with the keyboard" has been found to actually decrease the ability to "type faster than they write", (Fleming). This makes sense in terms of the Phonemic Awareness sequence of Deer Lakes Schools - notice how automaticity in relation to reading increases slowly k-3 then seems relatively unnecessary at grade 4. (Deer Lakes)
    4. Subvocalization is to be expected at the beginning stages of learning an automatic task like keyboarding. Let the students speak the lesson as they do it, turn off the software sound, and discourage background sound. The vocalization decreases as the task becomes more automatic.
    5. In moving from the concrete to the associative in 9-11 year old spurt of intellectual growth, students are beginning to make associative connections. Their brains are literally growing to make this possible. (D'Arcangelo) At this stage, keyboarding has a place in their development. One of its foci should be increasingly upon creating meaning at the keyboard, with authentic texts. Which brings us to writing.
    6. Attention span - this does not seem to be an issue. In fact, studies show that students attend well to positive keyboarding instruction as long as they see growth and a reason for doing it. Attention span increases with success, but also with the need to write. Which brings us again to reading.
  3. The Connection Between Keyboarding and Reading
    1. Reading precedes writing (or at least the writing teachers want the students to learn to keyboard for). Reading, in the words of Leigh Zeitz, "creates a reason to type." (Zeitz)
    2. Learning to read is the development of phonemic awareness - the ability to distinguish, repeat, predict, remember, decode and play with the component phonemes of words. "To read, we have to break up spoken words into smaller units, understand that letters represent sounds." (D'Arcangelo)  In making a physical object (a key) represent a letter - repeatedly, divorced from its sound, its place in a word, its place in a string of words - we battle the process of reading development.
    3. In the early stages of reading, children explore and play with phonemes. Rhyme and alliteration are important in their verbal play, and for this reason are found in early reading texts. The intial lessons in any automaticity task are, in contrast, fatiguing and frustrating. It would make no sense to confuse the pleasure of language play with the frustrations of repeated keyboard drill.
    4. Fleming reports on one study in which students in grades 3 and 4 improved slightly in reading scores with keyboarding lessons (Fleming). It is Zeitz's contention, and suggested by Fleming, that this is related to the desire to work at the computer rather than a connection between the two skills.
  4. Keyboarding, Writing & Word Processing
    1. In his major review of the literature, Effects of Using Instructional Technology in Elementary and Secondary Schools, James A. Kulik makes a convincing case for the dominant role of word processing in the k12 classroom (Kulik). By 1998, he reports, over 79% of fourth graders reported using a computer to word process assignments. Recent studies have consistently found a positive correlation between word processing and the quality, quantity and positive attitude toward writing. Moreover, Kulik reports an overall positive correlation between writing skill and use of word processing prompts; students who respond to prompts as they type seem to, in the long run, write better.
    2. I could find no other study that directly correlates keyboarding speed or accuracy and writing.
    3. Many studies by assistive technology researchers, focusing upon children with special needs (physical, emotional, chemical, behavioral, attitudinal, intellectual, learning style weaknesses), find that it is not wordprocessing, but is multimedia that brings students into the fold and up to an appropriate level. Focusing their time on keyboarding may, then, be counterproductive computer time. Visit the NCIP Library to read condensed versions of these studies or to access the full versions.
  5. Keyboarding on the Net
    1. Statistical reports about the impact of chat rooms, IM'ing and e-mail on the volume and nature of preteen and teen writing are impressive. Overwhelmingly, this age group is communicating more of the time (at home) in these media than on the phone. Refer, for example, to John Fetto's article, Teen Chatter.
    2. Casual evidence from educators suggests that students who use e-mail more often keyboard better. Read this comment from Keith E. Gatling.
    3. Internet keyboarding is not restricted by grammar, spelling, usage and punctuation rules.
  6. The Connection between Keyboarding and Learning Problems
    1. "Becoming confident and competent at using these computer skills builds self-esteem. It also aids organization and work study skills, as the computer permits verbal and linear information to be displayed in graphic mode which is suitable for those students with non-verbal and visual-spatial learning strengths. " (Sladden) The correct tools for organizing, such as a calendar or planner, Inspiration and TimeLiner, would seem to be more important than keyboarding. Learning to use them effectively is a cognitive skill, not a keyboarding skill. This learning begins in a good kindergarten computer program and is far more important in the elementary years than keyboarding.
    2. There is general agreement and much anecdotal evidence that students with language issues will write more and write it better via keyboarding. Again this brings us to the argument that keyboarding "faster than one can write" should be in place before students are asked to generate a great deal of content.
    3. There is little evidence to support a claim that touch typing improves spelling. Fleming reports only one study. In this study, improvement occured in some students. (Fleming) As noted previously, Kulik suggests that the more powerful connection is the availability of a spell-check prompt.
  7. Keyboarding in the Overall Curriculum
    1. Schools need to identify that grade and that point within the grade at which quantity becomes important in terms of written work. Preliminary keyboarding skills (over 15 wpm) should be in place before this point.
    2. Schools need to identify when handwriting (print, script) are taught, map the expectations of their use k-12, and develop lessons and allow teaching time to develop this skill if it is deemed important.
    3. If a school should not trade-off handwriting instruction with keyboarding time, what is going to go?  If keyboarding is looked at as a small-motor, or automatic task, rather than as a technology or computer skill, it would perhaps be appropriate to cycle keyboarding with dance, athletics, or music lessons. The Saskatchewan Education Dept. goes so far as to recommend that every academic subject area allocate some time to keyboarding instruction.(Saskatchewan)
    4. If reading is the ability to apply alphabetic and phonemic principles "very generally across encounters with words"(D'Arcangelo) and comprehend the results, then writing is the ability to apply the same principles to encounters with one's own words to make the result comprehensible to others. This again is a cognitive, not an automatic, task. Keyboarding is not be confused with writing. The word processor is a tool to aid in the writing process by making it faster, more accurate (with spell and grammar check), more editable and more easily distributed (perhaps its biggest asset). Period.
    5. Computer "skills" belong in a technology curriculum. I have written in other But not Least... essays about these skills. The important thing is that these skills should not be isolated from curricular content and authentic experiences. The same is true for keyboarding. Beyond the software skill-drill exercises, it is important that a school pursue ways for developing keyboarding skills to be applied across the curriculum. More about this later.
    6. Who should teach keyboarding? There are eloquent arguments for specially trained teachers at the elementary level (generally made by specially trained teachers). But I think the Australians have got it right. CrossRoads - Teaching Keyboarding Skills (along with word processing) is a program to train anyone to teach this skill. Furthermore, when I apply the steps in development  of automaticity (Pable) to three recommended keyboarding applications, I find that all three have already done the work of a trained automaticity instructor. An adult is needed to guide, evaluate, insist upon technique, and eventually to provide or oversee content. Let good software do the drill.
  8. Access
    1. To develop keyboarding skills, a student needs access. There are many instructional recommendations, but the most fall within the range identified by Zeitz:
      1. 4 weeks for 30 minutes a day
      2. 50 hours over 3 years (Zeitz)
    2. Getting keyboards in the hands of students is an access issue for schools.
    3. Providing opportunities for classroom application of skills is another access issue.
    4. Providing opportunities for home application of skills is a final issue.
    5. Although I would not recommend that keyboarding drive the development of a technology hardware program, I do think the research strongly suggests that schools that provide both instruction and access will develop students with better keyboarding skills.
    6. Schools should investigate ways for this to be made possible, if keyboarding is important. They might also investigate New Technologies.
  9. Keyboarding and New Technologies
    1. Handheld devices can be used with a portable keyboard. Because the screen is small, the emphasis can be on technique.
    2. AlphaSmart makes a battery powered keyboard, complete with instructional software.
    3. The liquid touch-screen, wireless, portable keyboard has yet to be developed. If some teachers can improve keyboarding skills with "paper keyboards," (Fleming) this technology will be a winner. Think of it as a kiosk without the frame. The February 17, 2004 issue of PC Magazine reports upon the development of both a liquid-type roll-up "screen" and a virtual keyboard that can be used with a PDA or a TI-83. Keep tuned.
    4. Beyond the keyboard
      1. Speech recognition - Watch out for it. In its infancy educationally, this may well be a classroom reality by the time our 3rd graders are in high school. It is likely that a computer as we know it will not be required. In fact, it may be that hard-copy disappears from school, replaced by digital and "spoken" text.
      2. Handwriting recognition - Already available for the student as part of the tablet PC, this technology has grown beyond graffiti. Watch out for this one too. I like it as an idea because of math.
      3. Texting - In nations other than the USA, students communicate endlessly with their thumbs. This is automaticity. The keyboard is the cell phone menu.
      4. Alternatively, cell phones have now been combined with PDA's and come with a miniature QWERTY keyboard for e-mailing. Why learn anything more than key location?
      5. Real-time chat - Ubiquitous already, chat requires the input of digital communication data. It has a syntax and vocabulary of its own, closer to invented spelling (pre-phonemic awareness) than to productive reading and writing. The battle is already waged. It has already been reported that almost 50% of teen girls use chat daily to talk to friends (Paul). That number is not likely to go down.
      6. Hotkeys - Hot Keyboard (PC only) and similar utilities create key sets for often repeated tasks, like macros in Office. It would be possible to type an entire lesson plan or grade report comment with hot keys.
      7. Wireless networking - text and e-text textbooks can be distributed seamlessly, vastly reducing the student need to keyboard notes, annotations, homework assignments. Time can be redirected to analyzing, discussing and collaborating, all of which can be done with minimal keyboarding. Applications such as NetMeeting and Hydra make it possible for a group of students to collaborate on a text in real time, reducing the actual keyboard time for each group member.
      8. SmartBoards and related devices allow for the manipulation and annotation of computer output through touch as well as "writing." Keyboarding not necessary.
      9. It is possible to generate an entire digital project without extended keyboarding. These projects, often cooperative, are increasingly seen as alternatives to the essay. After all, if a picture is worth a thousand words, isn't that quicker than keyboarding?
      10. Skype (http://www.skype.com/) may well make even minimal keyboarding obsolete, as P2P (Peer to Peer) phone conversations can now take place using Internet connections (free and private). 

    These last are all arguments against a long-range commitment to keyboarding in the curriculum. PREDICTION: As faculty grow in their knowledge of hardware and software applications for the curriculum, and schools grow and change in their technology toolkits, there will be less need for keyboarded text.

A Last But...

new idea The new SAT will contain a handwritten component. It will be scanned and e-mailed to evaluators. Think about that. Even more, think about how the list below might impact upon student performance when this component can be entered digitally (keyboarded).

What about the keyboarding that no one seems to teach, much less mention? Student use of the computer to communicate extends not just to alphabetic and numeral digits. I propose that keyboarding programs be renamed "Digital Communication Skills" and also teach these skills:

  1. The 2,900 keyboard shortcuts for the Windows environment including the function keys.
  2. The equivalent set for the Macintosh environment.
  3. A core set of hotkeys established by the school for all users - how to create application specific keyboard shortcuts (including Macros)
  4. "smileys"
  5. Chat talk, especially the 25 or so abbreviations and acronyms common to all virtual communities
  6. Graffiti or its equivalent, depending upon the tool of choice
  7. Speaking clearly to facilitate speech recognition
  8. Listening closely to facilitate non-written communication and text-to-speech
  9. Texting
  10. Use of the SmartBoard or similar product for visual display
  11. Use of digital non-verbal communication media, such as video and presentation software

and provide handwriting speed tests - how can you improve upon something about which you have no data?

Recommended keyboarding applications - The following applications are listed here because they appear as recommended on three or more of the sites researched. I have found, however, that all four embrace, in their drill and reinforcement methods, the three steps to developing automaticity identified by Bloom and others (Pable). Furthermore, all four meet the excellence criteria proposed by Keitz and supported by most of the research and incidental teacher reports:

top

dividingline

Cornell University Eronomics Web. Workstation Ergonomics Guidelines for Computer Use By Children (as presented on the MSNBC Today Show, January 5th, 2000). Cornell, 2002. accessed 2/3/2004: http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/cuweguideline.htm

D'Arcangelo, Marcia. Learning About Learning to Read: A Conversation with Sally Shaywitz  Available online: http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/edlead/9910/darcangelo.html

Deer Lakes Reading/Language Arts k-5: Language Arts 2-Phonemic Awareness., EdVISION.com Corp. and Deer Lakes, PA, 2002. Available online at: http://www.dlsd.k12.pa.us/Language%20Arts/LanArts%206%20-%208/CR25507.HTM

Fetto, John. Teen Chatter. American Demographics. Ithaca: Apr 2002. Vol. 24, Iss. 4; pg. 14, 1 pgs.

Fleming, Shannon (Smith). When and How Should Keyboarding be Taught in Elementary School? (a Graduate Review thesis for The University of Northern Iowa). Available online: (link to .pdf file) http://ci.coe.uni.edu/facstaff/zeitz/web/general/keyboardingresearch.html

Fun Activities for Teaching Keyboarding. Available online (.pdf file): www.alphasmart.com/pdf/Keyboarding_Activities2.pdf

Jeffco Schools. Implementation of Keyboarding in Jeffco Public Schools. Available online (.pdf file): http://jeffcoweb.jeffco.k12.co.us/isu/itech/keybo/keydx.htm

MacIntyre, Phil. The Development of Elementary Keyboarding Skills Using Typewriters and Computers. SSTA Research Centre Report #90-16, 1990. Available online: http://www.ssta.sk.ca/research/curriculum/90-16.htm

Minkel, Walter. Keys to the future: when should students learn proper keyboarding skills? School Library Journal, May 2003. Available online: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1299/5_49/101941165/p1/article.jhtml?term=keyboarding

Pable, Jill. The Effects of an Automaticity-Based Computer Practice Program on Architecture and Interior Design Students' Hand-Drawn Quick Perspective Sketching Ability. April 4, 1999. Available online (Word .doc file) at: www.coedu.usf.edu/itphdsem/eme7939/jp199a.doc

Paul, Pamela. Nouveau niche. American Demographics. Ithaca: Jul/Aug 2003. Vol. 25, Iss. 6; pg. 20

Saskatchewan Education. Recommendations: General Keyboarding Recommendations. Available online: http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/elemkey/recommendation.html

Sladden, Elspeth. Bio. Available online: http://www.thelearningstudio.com/bio.html

Snow, Catherine E. with M. Susan Burns and Peg Griffin, editors. The Process of Learning to Read.   Available online: http://books.nap.edu/html/prdyc/ch2.html

Starr, Linda. Teaching Keyboarding: When? Why? How? Education World, 02/02/2001. Available online: http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech072.shtml

Zeitz, Leigh, Ph.D. Keyboarding Research and Resources.  Available online: http://ci.coe.uni.edu/facstaff/zeitz/web/general/keyboardingresearch.html

Zeitz, Leigh, Ph.D.Playground Keyboarding. Available online: http://www.pls.uni.edu/pls/newsletter/2002/nov2002/Page3.html

Zeitz, Leigh , Ph.D. Teaching Keyboarding at the Elementary Level: What the Research Says. Available online (link to .pdf download): http://ci.coe.uni.edu/facstaff/zeitz/web/general/keyboardingresearch.html

 

 

E. Sky-McIlvain 2/5/04