Adult learning typing....

[lendaddy]

I have wanted for several years to learn proper tying technique (touch typing). I have zero formal training and use my own screwed up method. The issue is that I scan from keys to screen and thus errors are not recognized in real time.

How long should I expect it to take to teach an old dog new typing?

Online? Night classes?

Thanks

[legion]

I believe you can still find free/cheap programs to teach you typing on your own computer. Look in the bargain bin or in the children's section.

My first typing class was in sixth grade. I think I still "cheated" by peaking until high school. The volume of work on the computer at that age quickly got me accustomed to touch typing.

I'd say you can probably master it in a couple of months if you work at it hard.

[Rot 911]

Tons of online instruction, like this: Free typing tutor online with free typing lessons.

[lendaddy]

I have Mavis Beacon (sp) but it doesn't seem very effective. Then again I'm trying to do it with a 4 and 6 year old running around so concentration is perhaps off

[aigel]

I learned on a DOS program that was almost fun. It felt like a really stupid and tough computer game. To get to the next level, you had to master all the keys in the current level. Took me literally 2 weeks to type with 10 fingers, excluding the less common special characters and numbers.

George

[Don Ro]

Much respect for you to do this.

Take a real class, with a real teacher, with real lessons, with proven techniques...much quicker learning.
In a few weeks you'll be so glad you did - instead of any other method of learning.
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I took typing as a hi-school senior in order to lighten my load. Fun class/cute babes.
In the early days of my business, I typed my own invoices. Then I got a computer...blah, blah, blah.
I never realized how knowing how to type well would accent my life.
Good luck.

[lendaddy]

Thanks guys,

Anyone care to comment on the philosophy of learning it? Is the brute force repetition method where it's at or is there a good deal of finesse in the method?

[legion]

This is one of the few things that I would say I learned through rote repetition.

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by lendaddy

Thanks guys,

Anyone care to comment on the philosophy of learning it? Is the brute force repetition method where it's at or is there a good deal of finesse in the method?

Thinking. Hang on. Calling for Muse...
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One thing I remember is that she (Sister Mary Colleen) set up the metronome and had us punch keys to the rhythm. "Never mind if you know you hit the wrong key, just keep moving to the beat." That was in the very beginning...2 beats/second, I guess. Then moving to a quicker pace, etc. As the lessons went on, no more metronome...we had our own natural rhythm.
Yes, brute rote muscle memory brought about by repitition. You quit smoking, you can also learn to not look at the screen. A few classes and you'll be on your way.
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I suggest a real person to teach you because you, as the student, will more likely follow a good teacher and learn much more quickly.
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Edit: This is what I meant: You quit smoking, you can also learn to not look at the *keys*.

[lendaddy]

Thank Don, I think you're right.

[legion]

We had cloth sheets over the keyboard in my first typing class so we couldn't look at our hands.

I've also heard of people using keyboards with no markings.

[porsche4life]

Once you learn the basics you can get practice on the forums and by chatting with lots of ppl online... I am typing this and watching a movie on TV....

[Tim Hancock]

All I can remember from one typing class in high school is the little old lady teacher rattling off commands for us to follow along with at the typewriter...... "semicolon... semicolon... space... space". I should have spent more time paying attention and less time screwing around.... I still pretty much peck my way around the keyboard as I rarely needed to "type" at my machine design job for the first 5 years or so. Other than e-mails, I still don't need to "type" much at my current mechanical design job, but I sure could make use of it typing on my hobby forums.

Let us know what works for you Lendaddy and maybe I will do the same.

[aigel]

The computer program would start out with 4 letters. Then it would flash a letter at you and you had 2 seconds (or on that order) to hit the correct key. If you hit the wrong key, it would flash the next key at you and keep going. Things would speed up until you could do 2 hits a second (or on that order). Then the program would give you sentences (gaga-language at first, as you can't write anything with jfkd) but later they were real sentences. Here you also had to copy the sentence in a given time. To get to the next level, you had to master the current key set. Then they would add 2 keys at a time.

There is nothing to it. I remember looking at a typing book and it went by the same method. Started with 4 keys and added 2 per lecture. They also had a metronome recommendation to get a rhythm. I recommend a computer program and some discipline. I am no speed typer, but I can master 60 wpm pretty easily. The biggest advantage of typing blindly is that your brain can focus on what you type and not on the act of typing.

George

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by legion

I've also heard of people using keyboards with no markings.

I'll never forget, we had one of those sitting just inside the room door...used to freak me out.
I asked her (shaky voiced) if we were expected to use it in order to pass the class. She said, "Of course." The fear of that machine had me become one of the top students. I did great on it...good teacher, she was.
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An aside, in the early days with the metronome, she'd come into the room with a slow bop in her step, bopping her head & snapping her fingers to a slow rhythm. She set the metronome to her finger-snapping, & off we'd go. She was the kind of teacher who inspired you to learn.

[Damian in NJ]

I had a smoking hot (what we now call a 'milf') teacher in my ninth grade typing class. I tried so hard to impress her I ended up coming third in a state typing contest (they scored girls and boys separately, they'd never do that today).

[gprsh924]

Hide the keys and practice. I learned in 6th grade in class, we had to put a sheet of paper over the keyboard so we couldn't see the keys. Practice, practice, practice, I think its really the only way

[alf]

The key is to keep returning your index fingers to F and J and using the right fingers for the right keys, mastery just comes with use and is easy.

I could touch type but will have trouble telling you what key is where without a keyboard in front of me.

[LakeCleElum]

Best thing I did to help my career..........Took 2 years of typing in high school......40 yrs. later, I still am good friends with some good looking girls in that class........Additionally, I could type well in a job that had my peers doing the "hunt & peck".............

[javadog]

I think if I had been in a typing class with lots of good looking girls, I would have been too busy hunting and pecking to get much learning about typing done.

Name withheld by request.