Keyboarding Programs: Tutors, Games, & Tests, Oh My!

I always enjoy a good challenge and welcome opportunities to improve my skills, so I very much enjoyed the various keyboarding programs I explored in class tonight.  The various keyboarding programs provide tutoring, games, and/or tests to help keyboardists improve their keyboarding skills.  I have utilized free online programs like these before, particularly when I first began a secretary/receptionist job that required quick and accurate keyboarding, and now I can type about 65 WPM with an average of 97% accuracy.  My goal is to bring my WPM up to at least 75 while maintaining or improving my current accuracy.

Not all keyboarding programs are created equal.  I was very impressed by the programs provided on typingweb.com; I like how this one website offers helpful tutorials, engaging games, and tests to track progress.  I found the feedback concerning problem keys very helpful as well. Teachers can create an account on this website that they can use to track their students and refer them to different keyboarding activities.  I played the game Type Toss, and find myself smiling while I typed.  I can see myself coming back to this website just for fun.

Some of the other keyboarding programs I like and to which I would refer students include touchtype.co and typing.madefun.net.  I like touchtype.co for beginning keyboardists because it is a keyboarding tutor program that shows a picture of the keyboard on the screen and the keys light up as you press them, providing the student with visual guidance so that they do not have to look down at the actual keys.  I also like typing.madefun.net because, like touchtype.co, it provides a visual of the keyboard on the screen while you type; however, unlike touchtype.co, the keyboard on typing.madefun.net is color-coded to instruct and remind the student concerning which fingers are responsible for which keys.

I am glad to have had the opportunity to explore and test these various keyboarding programs, and now I will be able to confidently refer struggling keyboardists to helpful programs as well as continue to develop my own typing skills.