7 Easy Tips for Beginners in Touch Typing
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Touch typing, i.e. the skill of typing with all ten fingers without the need to look at the keyboard as you go, is a valuable skill, if you want to drastically increase your typing speed. If you are new to touch typing, here is a beginner’s guide to help you get started.
What Is Touch Typing?
Touch typing has nothing to do with a touch screen. Basically, touch typing is the ability to type with all your fingers without the need to look at the letters on the keyboard. You achieve this not only by memorizing the placement of each letter, number, and sign on the keyboard, but by also memorizing which finger controls which keys. - Regarded by Maketecheasier.
7 Simple Tips for Beginners to Touch Type
1. Watch your posture
There are two reasons why you should sit properly at the computer. The first has to do with ensuring adequate blood flow to the fingers and facilitating correct positioning of the hands. The second is because you don’t want to injure yourself. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome causes a dull aching pain or numbness in the wrist, lower arm or hand but it can be avoided by keeping the elbows bent at a 90-degree angle and the wrists loose, with hands lightly resting on the keyboard.
Before you begin a lesson, adjust the height of your screen so your neck is straight and take care not to hunch your back into a curved position. Place your feet flat on the floor, shake your hands and take a few deep breaths to relax your body. If you make an effort to learn this routine as a beginner, you’ll build healthy typing habits that will help protect you from injury later on.
2. Aim for accuracy rather than speed
It does not matter how fast you type if you have to go back and fix all your mistakes. Fixing mistakes takes more time than it does to just slow down and take the time you need to type accurately. Fast typing depends on developing precision muscle memory. Allowing yourself to type incorrectly will actually reinforce your bad habits and common mistakes! Slow your typing pace until you can attain 100% accuracy. If you come across a difficult word, slow down further to type it properly. Develop good habits and speed will be your reward. - From How-to-type.
3. Use your senses
Multi-sensory learning is when you involve all of your senses in helping you to acquire a new skill and it can be particularly useful in typing. Eyes, ears and fingers work together when you see a word on screen, hear it read aloud and type it using the correct fingers. Certain multi-sensory programs, including the Touch-type Read and Spell course, also give you the option to display a hand guide on your screen that indicates how the keys should be typed. This visual guide may be useful to you as a beginner learner and you can always turn it off in a later lesson when you are more comfortable with your keyboard skills.
4. Learn from your mistakes
When you are first learning how to type, accuracy is not as important as mastering the typing technique. In fact, repeatedly making the same mistake can be a blessing in disguise as it often alerts you to incorrect finger positioning. If you keep accidentally hitting the wrong key, try to set up a camera that records your hands while you’re typing and then watch carefully to see if you are starting off with the home row keys and moving each finger in the target way.
For particularly hard movements, try saying the letter out loud as you type it and if all else fails, place a piece of putty or Blu-tack on the key to make it easier for your fingers to find. Remember, it is essential to master each lesson with 80% or greater accuracy before you move on.
5. Have fun with it
Learn all of the keys and then start playing around with your new skill. Have you ever closed your eyes or turned the lights off and tried typing in the dark? Touch typing also enables you to maintain eye contact with a friend or family member as you transcribe your conversation. Once you learn to find the keys through touch alone and build up typing speed, you have a brilliant skill for taking notes. You can also learn computer shortcuts and other handy keyboard tricks.
6. Don't rush
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| Photo: PTD.com |
We know you want to reach those top typing tiers as quickly as possible, but rushing through your typing lessons isn't going to help anyone. When you're just starting to learn proper touch typing techniques, take your time. Not only will this help the lessons sink in, but it will keep you from making lots of mistakes as you're learning. Remember, accuracy is almost always more important than typing speed.
This is why you are always provided with an adjusted word per minute speed after you take a typing test. You may be able to type 100 word per minute, but if every other word you type has an error in it, you might as well not be typing at all. Most jobs that require a certain amount of words per minute will often designate an overall accuracy rating as well, as noted in Elearningindustry.
7. Reward yourself
| There's a reason that people are given rewards for achievement: it motivates them to reach for even higher levels of success. There's no reason that you shouldn't use the same reasoning to reward yourself for making progress in your touch typing lessons. Set small, easily obtainable goalsand once you've completed them, reward yourself! It doesn't have to be anything extravagant or expensive. Just go to the store and buy your favorite ice cream, or treat yourself to a manicure or something. Not only is it enjoyable for you, it gives you that bit of extra motivation that you might need to continue practicing. - Noted by Elearningindustry. |
Take a break if you feel that you get distracted easily and are making a lot of mistakes. It is more productive to come back when you feel refreshed.
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