Why do you recommend learning and using these key-based commands rather than clicking with the mouse, as most people are used to doing?ĭH: I first thought of the idea of keyboard shortcuts when we had an elderly lady with such bad Parkinsons that she could only use one hand and that very awkwardly and she and some others could barely grip the mouse. Typesy: Your site isn’t just about learning to type – it also contains a series of lessons on keyboard shortcuts showing people how to efficiently create and navigate through documents while still keeping your hands on the keyboard. The first lessons used only fingers 1 and 2 of each hand while the student had time to exercise all fingers ready to progress. When I first started tutoring for SeniorNet in 2001, rather than use any of the many typing tutors I had used in schools I designed a special course for older, stiffer, sometimes rhuematic fingers and maybe slower brains by introducing often-used key combinations in English words, as they are set out on a computer keyboard.

Do you find that there’s a difference in how you teach typing to older adults, compared to how you instruct children?ĭH: Yes, young fingers are flexible and could cope with any of several typing courses I have used. Typesy: With the use of technology in almost every part of our lives today, people of all ages need to learn how to use a computer keyboard. Today I don’t think any distinction is made so many men are using computers so they need to learn to type. I believe that when there were first typists in offices only males were used and it took quite a while for females to become accepted as typists.

I caught their interest in a cunning exercise I got them to do but no time to explain that here. Also at a Secondary School I taught a mixed class but I have to admit that in that class some of the boys had no interest in typing. Were there boys who also wanted to learn typing back then, and is there still the idea that typing is primarily something that women do?ĭH: When I started to teach typing in 1972 there were SOME boys interested in learning typing, not as many as girls, and when I taught classes in our Polytechnic in the mid 1980s it was to mixed classes. Typesy: You started teaching typing back when it was a skill that was generally only taught to girls, who were expected to end up as secretaries typing letters for their (usually male) bosses. We asked Doreen about her thoughts on learning typing, and what she plans to do next. A history of teaching typing to people at all age levels has given her the ability to explain the best ways to learn to touch type, and the seven lessons in her Beginner Typing series are a quick and effective way to get the typing skills you need. Now she’s sharing her skills with others both as a private typing tutor and on her website. When it comes to typing, Doreen Holding demonstrates how learning this skill at a young age continues to bring her success in the professions and projects she’s taken on. The best motivation for learning a new skill is looking at the benefits that other people have gained from that skill.

Learntyping org lesson 2