An excellent software program teaching Touch Typing
Computers play an ever increasing role in today’s technological world. To prepare our students for this new world they are being introduced to computers at an ever decreasing age. Phonics Alive! 6 Typing teaches students as early as primary age to use a keyboard correctly. It does so by blending tried and tested traditional teaching methods with the entertaining and interactive capabilities of a modern computer program.

Phonics Alive! 6 Typing can be networked.

Keyboarding is a perceptual motor skill. It involves perceiving and then doing, and once learnt it is relatively easy to retain.

Students are taken on an underwater journey and with the assistance of Qwerty, the submarine’s resident penguin, they learn to touch type in short, simple stages. Practice activities such as conducting the Marine Orchestra and defending the submarine from the Crab Invaders, increase keyboarding skills in a fun and absorbing way. Once the basic lessons are mastered, the program offers a speed and accuracy test to give students/teachers a traditional benchmark on which to judge their progress.

STUDENT RESULTS

Students who complete Phonics Alive! 6 Typing will have a sound basis for the development of further computing skills. The program has the capacity to record student results for all responses. The performance results can then be used diagnostically to determine whether a student needs further revision or can proceed to the next module.

CERTIFICATES OF ACHIEVEMENT
On completion of a module the student is presented with a certificate which can be printed if desired. On the certificate the student is awarded a percentage mark which is based on the number of times that they selected the correct answer on their first attempt. The student has the ability to take a Speed and Accuracy test calculated by the Australian Standard (AS2708). A certificate can be printed which displays the results of this test.

KEYBOARD STICKERS

Lower Case Keyboard Stickers are supplied with the program.

KEYBOARD CHART

Students should be given the Keyboard Chart and coloured pencils. Keys are coloured on the screen to correspond with fingers used. When new keys are learnt, the student is asked to colour in their own Keyboard Chart with the corresponding colour. Students should be encouraged to use their

Chart to check correct fingering.