Keyboard Short Course (20-30 hours) designed to 1) quickly help students lacking proper keyboarding skills become productive, and 2) use in classes where keyboarding in not the emphasis, but very useful for completion of assignments. Timing drills range from 15-second to 2-minute. Numbers and symbols are not covered.
In approximately 20-30 hours (a good quarter course), beginners can reach speeds of 30-35+ WPM and also attain accepted accuracy standards of one (1) error per minute of timed writing. Experienced typists can improve their speeds by 10-25+ WPM. Keyboard Short Course is appropriate for Middle School, High School, and Adult-College education.
There are 126 timed drills that are automatically scored and recorded when the student meets the standards set by the instructor (the instructor sets his/her own grading and accuracy standards. Every lesson contains timed drills and students are encouraged to meet the standards applied by the instructor beginning right with Lesson 1. The alphabetic and punctuation keys are covered; no numbers and symbols.
Standards can be individualized to each type of student so that each student is challenged: the special needs, beginning students, and experienced students can all be graded differently by applying different profiles appropriate for each student type. In additional to individualizing goals, accuracy standards, minimum speeds, etc., the number of lessons can also be individualized.
For experienced typists, use the 2-minute Course Entry timing. If a student already can type 40 WPM, apply a higher grading scale of 50 WPM as the goal for each timed drill in each lesson. When the course is finished, the Course Exit timing should be taken. The Course Entry score, Course Exit score, and Improvement score will show on the Final Grade Report. There is much to be gained by going over the basics again at a high rate of speed (goal) each time.
Is there any document processing or formatting included (letters, memos, tables, reports, etc.)? Yes, and it is free! Nuts 'n' Bolts Formatting is an eBook that is available to all Ellsworth Publishing and Keyboarding online customers. Most keyboarding textbooks are expensive, thick, quickly outdated textbooks with more formatting than can be used, and the instructions change everytime the office software changes (usually every 3 years). This leaves instructors with expensive keyboarding books with outdated instructions. Ellsworth Publishing releases this eBook in PDF format and keeps up with the version changes at no charge. It makes perfect sense. Instructors can download the sections they wish to cover, use a copy center to run off a classroom set--free! Ellsworth Publishing also provides its eBooks at a minimal charge if you desire to purchase a bound, pre-printed copy.
Does your keyboarding course require an "exposure" to the Ten Key pad? You can have the "exposure" free by requesting that we add the Ten Key Mastery course to your other courses on your online account. The Ten Key Mastery course will run in a 'demo' mode with only limited lessons available, but usually enough to satisfy an "exposure" requirement.
Keyboard Short Course is a condensed version of Keyboard Mastery which has more reinforcement timings. This course will teach keyboarding with speed and accuracy. It covers alphabetic and punctuation keys (no symbols or numbers). 15 second to 2 minute timings. 5-9 week course. For beginners or semi-experienced. Course length is 20-30 hours.
| Keyboard Short Course | ||
![]() All lessons have 10 lines.Click the sections to see lesson content. |
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| Learning the Keyboard (Lessons 1-11) | ||
| Lesson | Title | Timings |
| Course Entry - All Keys | 2 minute timing | |
| 1 | Home Row (A, S, D, F, J, K, L, ;) | 10 lines, 15 sec. each |
| 2 | T, E, H Keys | 10 lines, 15 & 30 sec. timings |
| 3 | O, R, N Keys | 10 lines, 15 & 30 sec. timings |
| 4 | M, C, Left Shift Keys | 10 lines, 15 & 30 sec. timings |
| 5 | I, Period, Right Shift Keys | 10 lines, 15 & 30 sec. timings |
| 6 | Comma, U, Caps Lock Keys | 10 lines, 15 & 30 sec. timings |
| 7 | B, P, W Keys | 10 lines, 15 & 30 sec. timings |
| 8 | G, Colon, Q Keys | 10 lines, 15 & 30 sec. timings |
| 9 | V, Forward Slash, Question Mark Keys | 10 lines, 15 & 30 sec. timings |
| 10 | X, Y, Z Keys | 10 lines, 15 & 30 sec. timings |
| 11 | Hyphen, Dash, Apostrophe, Quote Keys | 10 lines, 15 & 30 sec. timings |
| Punctuation and Technique Review (Lessons 12-18) | ||
| Lesson | Title | Timings |
| 12 | Mixed Timings - All Keys | 10 lines, varied timing length |
| 13 | The Ostrich - All Keys | 1 minute timing |
| 14 | Living Healthy | 1 minute timing |
| 15 | Grain - All Keys | 1 minute timing |
| 16 | The Crocodile | 1 minute timing |
| 17 | Importance - All Keys | 2 minute timing |
| 18 | Australian Rabbits - All Keys | 2 minute timing |
| Course Exit - All Keys | 2 minute timing | |
| Created Lessons | ||
Create an unlimited number of personal lessons with up to 10 lines per lesson.
You can assign up to 10 at a time for the students to work on.
Thats 100 lines of additional typing.
Possible lengths are 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute, 4 minute, and 5 minute timings.
Assign vocabulary, science or history homework, or some of the latest news interesting to the students.
The possibilities are endless.
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Watch and learn best practices to using Keyboarding Online software to get the absolute best results from students. Information for both instructors and their students (PDF and PowerPoint).
| General Course Syllabus | |
| Below is a sample course syllabus that can be utilized for your course. Also included is a sample quiz that can be handed out to ensure that the syllabus was read thoroughly and reduce the amount of time you spend during class repeating what is included in the syllabus. Both PDF and DOC formats are included. | |
| Keyboard Short Course Syllabus |
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| Keyboard Short Course Syllabus Quiz Questions |
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| Teacher Tools | |
| Below are some helpful tools in learning why you should use the program, how to use the program, and videos describing the different features the program has to offer. | |
| Why Keyboarding is Important |
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| Why, When, How to Teach Keyboarding Video | |
| Teacher Manager User Manual | Link / |
| Video Tutorials | Videos can be viewed on our site or on YouTube |
| Student Tour | |
| The tutorial for students will show students how to enter their course and navigate/use Keyboard Short Course appropriately. | |
| Student Tutorials |
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