Patent Application
20120295236
This invention relates to the teaching of touch-typing. More specifically, the invention relates to instruction in touch-typing using a keyless-keyboard with insertable keys.
Typing and/or keyboarding skills are necessary for all aspects of computer usage, including composing documents or email, searching the web and updating personal/business calendars. These skills are no longer relegated to the high school student or those in the work world as children as young as 6 years old now use computers and their keyboards for both recreational and educational purposes, such as playing games and watching interactive videos teaching letter and number skills At the same time, schools are spending less time teaching handwriting to young children, leading to declining printing and cursive skills Also, given the inclusive model of special education mandated by law, classrooms now are made up of many children with learning disabilities that may cause difficulty in learning both handwriting and keyboarding. Furthermore, it is expected that schools will be moving more and more to using computer tablets where typing is done on the computer screen itself. It is extremely difficult to learn to type on such a touch screen because, without keys, there is no sensory feedback. For all these reasons, the early instruction of the touch-typing skills used in computer keyboarding are more important than ever.
Historically, typing was taught to students in high school. More recently, its formal introduction tends to begin anywhere from the third grade through middle school, when children's fine motor skills and attention span are considered to be at an appropriate level for standard instruction. There is, therefore, a gap of at least 3 years between the age at which many children use the computer keyboard and the age at which its use is formally taught.
When these skills are taught, the method of instruction is fundamentally that which was used during the days of the manual typewriter. Current instructional practices are not geared towards children younger than the 3rd grade, nor are they designed to facilitate the needs of children with special needs.
Young children who are lacking any formal instruction in touch keyboarding and novice keyboard users are left to use the ‘hunt and peck’ method, wherein they must look at the keyboard and search for the correct letter to type. This results in slow, often inaccurate typing which over time becomes habitual and difficult to unlearn. In addition, children with dysgraphia and dyspraxia (learning disabilities that make writing difficult), are often assigned typing as a method of classroom accommodation, yet these same individuals have similar difficulties coordinating their fingers when typing as they do when trying to control a pen or pencil; as a result, they too, often resort to the ‘hunt and peck’ method of typing.
Keyboards for typewriters and computers are well known. Touch-typing is the most efficient way of working on a keyboard. Skilled typists are able to copy text or create original text without looking at the keys; their fingers have learned the position of the home row of keys as well as each letter and symbol on the keyboard and they are automatically able to type words almost as fast as they can see them or conceive of them.
Touch-typing is not easy to learn, however. It can take up to several years of extensive practice to master the basics and longer than that to reach a high level of speed and accuracy. Many people never reach mastery, typing slowly and with a low level of accuracy, forcing them to either looking down at the keyboard and/or going through several rounds of editing in order to correct their errors.
Various methods of instruction have been proposed to make typing easier to learn. Although they present slight variations to traditional instruction, these solutions basically use the same method of teaching typing that has been used for over a century. The learner is presented with an intact keyboard, usually of the QWERTY style, and is taught to place their fingers on the home keys (A S D F J K L ;). Individual letters are then practiced in isolation and within the context of words until they are learned.
Several methods advocate a technique where colors on the fingers are matched to colors on the keys. The colors on the fingers can be displayed on finger bands, rings, or gloves. The finger bands or rings could be easily dropped, lost or placed on the incorrect fingers. These methods also reinforce the unfavorable habit of looking at the keyboard while typing.
Several more technologically advanced methods have been proposed to promote better typing skills In one method, the typist wears a finger detector which, when pressed on a keyboard key, sends a signal to the PC main body which can determine if an improper key was selected. The computer then relates this error by generating a sound. Another device uses magnets attached to the student's finger tips which are then magnetically drawn to electrically charged corresponding keyboard keys. A drawback to both of these systems is that the expense of purchasing the needed technology would place them out of reach of most families and school systems.
In yet another method the tactile sensation of the home row keys is increased by either placing caps with raised edges over these keys or by replacing the standard keys with others with raised edges. While this method does help the typist find the home row keys without looking at the keyboard, it does not help the typist's fingers to easily find and learn the remaining keys.
Another type of device is a keyboard with keys that are all completely blank, thus decreasing dependency on visual key feedback. While this does help prevent the learner from looking at the keys, it does nothing to assist with proper placement of the fingers.
These solutions do not address the needs of those who have difficulty with finger coordination. Nor are they designed to prevent errors caused by incorrect finger placement. This is a key problem in teaching touch-typing, because once errors are made, it is easy for those errors to become learned and the mistake perpetuated.
Thus, there is a need for an inexpensive device and methodology to teach touch-typing skills to children younger than the 3rd grade who have not yet developed refined fine motor skills, to those with learning disabilities, and to those who have not achieved success using the standard method of instruction. There is a need to have a systematic, multi-sensory structured approach to teaching keyboarding that by design reduces the chances of errors thereby reinforcing psychomotor learning. In addition, there is a need for a methodology that actively engages the child in the learning process.
This invention provides an instructional model employing a keyless-keyboard with insertable keys and an optional accompanying instructional computer program. The keys are only inserted into the keyboard as the individual letters are taught, thus making it easier to learn by feel and eliminating errors. Using this approach, students would begin on a keyboard that is void of any keys. They would then begin learning the keys by inserting either the home row keys (A S D F J K L;) or the pointer finger keys (F and J). By only having a limited number of keys inserted into the keyboard, the user's hands can instantly find the home row keys (or the pointer finger keys) without error or the need to look down at the letters; there is no place else for the fingers to go as the rest of the keyboard remains keyless. Once the students have mastered the initial keys, new ones are systematically inserted into the keyboard as directed by the accompanying computer program. This process continues until all the keys have been learned and all of the keys have been inserted. The student has actively built up the keyboard as he/she has learned to type.
This invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing an inexpensive method to teach touch typing that increases tactile and kinesthetic feedback thereby reducing errors and promoting a faster and more efficient method of learning touch-typing. This method provides a multi-sensory systematic form of instruction as is recommended for the education of young children and individuals with learning issues. Additionally, this method is interactive since the learner constructs the keyboard (through the addition of the keys) as he/she is learning to type. By participating in the construction of the keyboard, the student is able to measure his/her own gains and experience the positive reinforcement of their success.
The features and advantages described herein are not all-inclusive and, in particular, many additional features and advantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the drawings, specification, and claims. Moreover, it should be noted that the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and not to limit the scope of the inventive subject matter.
The invention description below refers to the accompanying drawings, of which:
As seen in
In one embodiment of the invention (not shown), the placement of keys into the keyboard is specified by a light or other signal on the keyboard at the point where the key is to be inserted. The computer program provides the student with immediate feedback since it will signal when the correct key is typed and/or an error is made. Additionally, the computer program presents lessons, mastery tests, feedback on errors, statistics on errors, and games to aid in the learning process.
In an alternative embodiment, shown in
In one embodiment (not shown), the keys are blank with no letters printed on them. Because there are no letters printed on the keys, the student's desire to look down at the keyboard is eliminated. Alternatively, the blank keys may be sold separately, such that they may be substituted into an existing keyboard. In another embodiment, the keys are printed with letters on them. Alternatively, the keys may use other characters for other types of languages, e.g.: Chinese, Arabic, European or any other language.
The keyboard may include all other keys normally found on a keyboard, in which these other keys are provided with their markings indicating what the keys do. Thus, for example, the other keys may be keys giving numbers, punctuation marks, shift, tab, enter, escape, function and arrow. Alternatively, these keys may be removed as well.
These embodiments reduce the need to have two separate keyboards, one for learning and one for general use.
The keyboard may also have a storage drawer incorporated into it for storage of the keys when not in use.
The keyboard may be a split keyboard or a small keyboard.
The keyboard may include a CD ROM storage slot for receiving a CD ROM giving instruction on touch-typing. Alternatively, the computer program may installed onto the hard drive of the computer.
The keyboard may be of various differing known designs. Thus, for example, the keyboard may be a typing keyboard as found on a typewriter, e.g. QWERTY style layout. Alternatively, the keyboard may be one which contains a separate numeric keypad and a cursor keypad. In a separate embodiment, the keyboard may also be a musical keyboard wherein the keys represent musical notes.
The keyboard may be such that it is able to be connected to a computer, e.g: a personal computer, an Apple Mac, or a laptop computer. The keyboard may also be able to connect to any other electronic device that requires the use of a keyboard. The keyboard may be connected to the computer or other device by a cable or by a wireless connection such for example as infrared, Bluetooth or any other wireless protocol.
Where the keyboard requires power, this may be provided by either batteries stored in the keyboard or by a connection, e.g.: USB port, to the computer or peripheral to which the keyboard may be attached.
The foregoing has been a detailed description of illustrative embodiments of the invention. Various modifications and additions can be made without departing from the spirit and scope if this invention. Each of the various embodiments described above may be combined with other described embodiments in order to provide multiple features. Furthermore, while the foregoing describes a number of separate embodiments of the apparatus and method of the present invention, what has been described herein is merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the present invention. Accordingly, this description is meant to be taken only by way of example, and not to otherwise limit the scope of this invention.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/477395 filed Apr. 20, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61477395 | Apr 2011 | US |
