The Typing Coach Online Typing Course from The Typing Coach is a great introductory course for children or adults that need to learn how to type. This online typing course is only $17 a per person for an entire YEAR access! Audio, video, and written instruction are used in combination with lots of practice and objective, timed, and scored assessments to get the student typing like a pro.
Several of my kiddos would definitely benefit from this typing course. With electronic devices we sometimes assume that our children will JUST learn how to type. As I tell my children typing and typing properly are two different things. Using your index fingers is not typing. My 10 year old daughter eagerly volunteered to do the course. She had been wanting to learn how to type for some time now. She was very excited. After she got started she actually asked if she could practice typing and do more lessons. I gave her free reign to progress at her own pace.
My daughter is a very competitive person so she not only set out to type the selections perfectly but she also wanted to continually increase her speed.
I was able to have Microsoft Word open alongside The Typing Coach website page. If she wanted to slow down or stop for some reason she only had to click the audio pause button.
I tried to have her use proper posture and hand positioning most of the time. She was very receptive to the instructions given in the beginning of the course about the importance of keyboard placement, posture and hand positioning.
The Typing Coach website is easy to navigate and downloading practice sheets to print was easy.
The course layout is pretty straightforward. The program offers slower paced lessons for the student that needs a slower progression. I don't really remember back to my own typing course in high school. I am sure it was a similar set-up to this one. I like how the student learns each row separately and slowly combines rows once they are learned. Once the student learns where all of the keys are and is proficient they are challenged with some serious practice excerpts. At the end of the course the student takes a final assessment.
There are several ways for the student to listen to the audio lessons. Directions are given for various systems.
This fun progress chart helps the student keep track of where they are within the course. My daughter added in her times to the activities.
Lessons start out simple. As you can see, when learning the keys what is typed is pretty much garble. There is plenty of repetition in order for the student to gain proficiency. The course encourages the student to practice each row and master the lesson before moving on. The course encourages the student to not get into the HABIT of looking at the keyboard when typing.
Each lesson has detailed instructions to aid the student in their typing proficiency. My daughter was really challenged when she was told to not look at the keyboard or the screen. Not wanting to make mistakes this was hard. After awhile she realized that if she trained herself to keep her eyes on the practice sheet ONLY that most of the time she was able to type the given selection without error.
Since my daughter so willingly wanted to learn to type she did more than the one lesson a week recommendation. If the student follows the one lesson a week plan they will complete the course in 10 weeks.
My daughter said, "I was very excited about learning how to type. I thought it was going to be a lot harder than it really was. Sometimes I get nervous about not keeping up but that didn't happen. The man who talks during the lessons is really good at talking slow and repeating what he says lots of times. Typing is fun. Pretty soon I will be able to type whatever I want."
Eventually the student will work on typing selections such as the U.S. Bill of Rights and a motivational selection from Charles Swindoll on Attitude. This course is set up in a way that if followed according to what is asked of the student typing mastery is achieved. It is important that the student realize that when they complete the course they need to continually practice their typing to increase wpm, typing with fewer errors, fluidity of typing, and overall proficiency.
My daughter had a short time when life was a bit chaotic in our house. She missed about a week of typing. I was concerned with how she would do jumping back in where she left off. Instead of having her progress to the next lesson I had her use the practice sheets that she had already completed. She spent a day reinforcing the rows and combinations and then continued on with a new lesson. As the saying goes, "Repetition is the mother of all learning."
Overall I really liked this program. I would definitely recommend it to others. The price is fantastic. This would be perfect for a summer enrichment. I will most definitely be using this course with some of my other children.
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