Techniques
for increasing speed (This is the second stage of
typing training)
Automatic movements - motor
(physical) learning and kinesthesia:
Speed can only increase once typing keys on the keyboard
becomes a more automatic physical motor process. People
normally learn 'where' the keys are on the keyboard very
quickly. Developing the skill and speed to hit the
letters quickly, accurately and in the correct sequence
involves more effort and takes much longer. Kinesthesia
is an essential motor skill that people use all the
time. This allows us to ride a bike, drive a car, write,
feed ourselves and perform thousands of movements a day
without 'thinking' about how to perform the movement.
The motor planning for these physical skills is subconscious,
and the movements are 'a u t o m a t i c'! We
don't need to be looking at our hands and body while
performing these actions. You
may have a very good knowledge of the qwerty keyboard.
You may be able to remember exact locations of each letter on
the keyboard. Given a blank layout, you might be able to
write in most letters and numbers correctly. But - you
still might be a slow, hunt-and-peck typist. This proves the
point that no matter how well you know the keyboard, your
fingers need to develop the movement patterns, control and
'kinesthetic' physical 'muscle and movement' memory of where
each specific key is located..... without vision
!!
Likewise, the physical act of
typing keys on the keyboard must become an 'automatic'
kinesthetic task which doesn't require thinking about the keys
or looking at the keyboard. Any thinking should be about
the 'content' of what is being typed: the words and
sentences, not the physical act of pressing the correct keys.
In summary: Motor Learning
and Kinesthesia - these sound like big words, but the concepts are simple.
Motor or physical learning happens with repetition. Your
fingers will 'learn' the movement patterns and paths for each
letter. The less you rely on your vision, the more your
fingers take over the motor tasks of 'remembering' the
position in space of each letter.
Developing automatic movements
and increasing speed requires the following steps:
1. Learn good
technique first
Learn where the keys are and which fingers should be used for
each key. Also use good body and arm/hand positioning -
good ergonomics. This will be the basis for long term
good typing habits.
2. Repetition -
repetition - repetition
Automatic movements are only developed through plenty of repetition
and practice. Muscles and joints learn position in space
and movement patterns through continuous movement in the
patterns to be learned. Every athlete and sportsman
knows that regardless of talent, practice is what makes the
body work well.
3. Don't look
No matter how tempted you are, once you have learned the
correct finger placement and which fingers to use for specific
keys, practice typing without looking. Being tempted to
look at your fingers reduces the motor training effect, and
relies more heavily on vision for finding the correct keys
rather than the kinesthetic 'muscle and sensory' senses of the
fingers. Developing good speed will be significantly
hindered if vision is used. This is true of the whole
typing process, since looking at the keyboard results in the
visual shift from keyboard to screen to paper documents, thus
reducing the efficiency of typing in all ways.
4. Be disciplined!
This point cannot be emphasized enough. Instead of
focusing on accuracy of key hits, rather work on your SPEED
during this second phase of training. You can make
corrections later, but for now, work on getting your speed up
without looking! Put a towel over your hands if
necessary. [product
idea]
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