Abstract
ABSTRACTUsing computers and keyboarding skills for written communication have been common adaptations recommended by occupational therapists which are now important for all students. We used a quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test design to examine the effectiveness of a developmentally based curriculum, Keyboarding Without Tears®, as compared to free web-based activities for learning keyboarding skills in students (general and special education) in grades kindergarten through fifth. Overall, students learning the developmentally based curriculum demonstrated improved speed and accuracy, especially in the upper elementary grades and improved keyboarding method in the lower elementary grades as compared to the free web-based activities.
Highlights
Keyboarding Speed Current keyboarding speed norms are difficult to determine, because of the absence of a standardized keyboarding assessment and the variability of keyboarding instruction per grade level (Freeman et al, 2005). Freeman et al (2005) published a summary of keyboarding speed norms from a collection of research
We can begin to understand the questions: (1) Is the improvement in keyboarding abilities greater for students who have completed developmentally-based Keyboarding Without Tears® (KWT) curriculum instruction as opposed to those who have completed free web-based activity keyboarding instruction? (2) Is there a relationship between number of activities completed on the KWT® application and keyboarding speed and accuracy?
There were total of 1908 students who participated in this study: 888 students from the KWT® instructional schools and 1,020 students from the free web-based activity instruction schools
Summary
Keyboarding Speed Current keyboarding speed norms are difficult to determine, because of the absence of a standardized keyboarding assessment and the variability of keyboarding instruction per grade level (Freeman et al, 2005). Freeman et al (2005) published a summary of keyboarding speed norms from a collection of research. Keyboarding Speed Current keyboarding speed norms are difficult to determine, because of the absence of a standardized keyboarding assessment and the variability of keyboarding instruction per grade level (Freeman et al, 2005). Students in grades first through third were keyboarding at an average of 9 WPM. Students who keyed 20 WPM in fifth grade were able to maintain that level of proficiency in seventh grade (Ertl, 2007). Keyboarding speed norms in research are highly variable and difficult to generalize; an overall trend in increasing speeds with increased grade level can be concluded (Freeman et al, 2005; Pisha, 1993). Researchers do concur that keyboarding skills should be as fast as handwriting to be functional (Freeman et al, 2005; Pisha, 1993; Stevenson & Just, 2014)
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