AU2002100378A4 - Touch-typing teaching method and teaching aid - Google Patents

Description

EDITORIAL NOTE The description starts on page 2.

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2 Touch-typing teaching method and teaching aid BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates to a method of teaching typing skills to people, and particularly to children. The method concerns the teaching of touch-typing skills for operating a keyboard of a computer or a typewriter for example, where individual fingers are used to press 0 specific keys. Ideally, the method involves the use of a teaching aid in the general form of some type of finger attachments that have displayed on them the keys that each finger should press when touch-typing. In a preferred form, the finger attachments are in the form of half-fingered gloves, with the symbols representing the keys that each finger should press being displayed on the top of each finger portion of each glove.

A teaching aid, such as these gloves with the key symbols on the top of their finger portions is also 2c disclosed. The symbols may represent the exact symbols or letters shown on the keys of the keyboard, or as variations of these symbols, such as their lower-case, or in different colours, or with a special pattern or outline.

Description of the related art Currently the method mainly used to teach persons to operate a keyboard by all-finger typing, or "touch-typing", is the traditional method used previously for many years.

Basically, this method involves requiring repetitive practise typing of each key on the keyboard by the 3o appropriate finger allocated to that key. This method, 3 perhaps because it is so established, has not changed for a long time.

This traditional method has been found not to work well for some people, and especially when used to teach children to operate a keyboard. It is known that children use a different learning process to that used by adults. These days, children are introduced to using personal computers from an early age, and are encouraged or required to use them at school and at home. They must use keyboards to some i0 extent to access computers, even with software that allows the use of a computer mouse. Frequently, they start to use the keyboard in a haphazard way, by hunting and pecking at the keys using any of their fingers, including their thumb, on any key, or by using an index finger alone. These children will therefore tend to develop incorrect and inefficient typing habits, which will be difficult to unlearn or correct later on in their lives.

In a similar manner, adults who are having to learn keyboard skills for the first time, because of the intrusion of personal computers into everyday life and into most areas of employment, will suffer the same disadvantage. People who have picked up some typing skills, but need to improve on them, will also need an effective method of learning to type efficiently. People who "hunt and peck" on keyboards using only a couple of fingers can suffer damage to their hands, because of uneven pressure on those fingers, and so may want to learn to touch-type with all their fingers. Other people may want to change to a different keyboard arrangement, such as from the "Qwerty" so layout to the "Dvorak" layout for example, and they also need an efficient method of re-learning to map individual fingers to specific keys on the keyboard. Also, some people 4 need to learn foreign languages, including the English language, and the language learning increasingly requires use of a computer, or access to the Internet to practise their language skills.

Therefore, there are increasing demands for people to learn proper and efficient touch-typing skills to operate keyboards. An improved or different process for learning these skills would be valuable as a consequence of these demands.

Such an improved or different process has now been found, including a teaching aid for use in this process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A solution to the disadvantages inherent in the prior art has been found, and in one broad form involves a method of teaching a person typing skills to operate a keyboard, in which individual fingers of the person are allocated to press one or more specified keys on the keyboard, characterised in that a visual indication of at least one of the specified keys is removably affixed to the finger C0 allocated to the specified key, so as to be capable of being seen by the person when operating the keyboard.

Preferably, the person is a person lacking in skills to operate the keyboard, and or the person is a child.

Preferably, the visual indication is removably affixed to each finger by means of wearing a glove on each hand of the person, the indication being applied to the outside of and the top of at least one finger portion of the glove. As a further option, the glove may have an opening at or near the ends of the finger portions of the glove, allowing the 5 tips of the fingers of the hands to be unencumbered and uncovered.

As a further preferred feature, the visual indication is a representation of a symbol appearing on at least one of the specified keys of the keyboard. For instance, the visual indication may be an accurate representation of a symbol appearing on at least one of the specified keys.

Alternatively, the visual indication may be an alternate representation of a symbol appearing on at least one of the so specified keys. The alternate representation may be the lower-case version of upper-case symbols, where such lowercase version exists. As a further alternative, the visual indication may be a representation of a symbol appearing on at least one of the specified keys, the representation 1is being presented in a special way. The representation may be presented in a special way by being presented in a different colour. The representation may also be presented in a special way by being presented surrounded by a border or pattern The indications of each key of and F" may be allocated to the little-finger, third-finger, second-finger and index-finger, respectively, of the lefthand of the person. Similarly, the indications of each key of and are allocated to the littlefinger, third-finger, second-finger and index-finger, respectively of the right-hand of the person.

The method may also include providing additional teaching material with which to practise the typing skills, the additional material at least providing samples of the so symbols represented by the keys of the keyboard, for the person to copy by operating the keyboard.

6 Another embodiment of the invention concerns a teaching aid wearable on the fingers of one or both of a person's hands, for teaching a person typing skills to operate a keyboard, in which individual fingers of the person are s allocated to press one or more specified keys on the keyboard, characterised in that the teaching aid has visual indication means, of at least one of the specified keys, removably affixed to the finger allocated to the specified key, so as to be capable of being seen by the person when in operating the keyboard. The person may preferably be a child.

The teaching aid may be a glove capable of being worn on a hand of the person, the indication being applied to the outside of, and the back of, at least one finger portion of the glove. The teaching aid may be a pair of these gloves capable of being worn on the hands of the person. It is preferred that the glove may have an opening at or near the ends of the finger portions of the glove, allowing the tips of the fingers of the hands to be unencumbered and uncovered.

The teaching aid may be one wherein the visual indication is a representation of a symbol appearing on at least one of the specified keys of the keyboard. The visual indication may be an accurate representation of a symbol appearing on at least one of the specified keys. Otherwise, the visual indication may be an alternate representation of a symbol appearing on at least one of the specified keys.

The alternate representation may be the lower-case version of upper-case symbols, where such lower-case version exists.

The teaching aid may also be one wherein the visual indication is a representation of a symbol appearing on at 7 least one of the specified keys, the representation being presented in a special way. The representation may be presented in a special way by being presented in a different colour. Alternatively, the representation may be Spresented in a special way by being presented surrounded by a border or pattern.

The teaching aid may be of the type wherein an indication of each key of and is allocated to the little-finger, third-finger, second-finger 1c and index-finger, respectively, of the left-hand of the person. The teaching aid may be of the type wherein an indication of each key of and is allocated to the little-finger, third-finger, second-finger and index-finger, respectively of the right-hand of the person.

Alternatively, the teaching aid may have indications whereby an indication of each key of and is allocated to the little-finger, an indication of each key of and is allocated to the third-finger, an 2C indication of each key of and is allocated to the second-finger, and an indication of each key of and is allocated to the indexfinger, respectively, of the left-hand of said person; and an indication of each key of and is allocated to the little-finger, an indication of each key of and is allocated to the third-finger, an indication of each key of and is allocated to the second-finger, and an indication of each key of and is allocated to the index-finger, respectively of the right-hand of said person; and an indication of "SPACE BAR" allocated to the thumbs of both of said hands.

8 The teaching aid may also be a kit that includes additional teaching material with which to practise the typing skills, the additional material at least providing samples of the symbols represented by the keys of the keyboard, for the person to copy by operating the keyboard.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention is now discussed with reference to drawings, where: Figure 1 shows the left hand of one preferred i embodiment of a teaching aid half-fingered glove.

Figure 2 shows the corresponding right hand of the embodiment of a teaching aid glove from Figure 1.

Figure 3 shows the left hand of another preferred embodiment of a teaching aid half-fingered glove.

Figure 4 shows the corresponding right hand of the embodiment of a teaching aid glove from Figure 3.

Figure 5 shows a prototype set of half-fingered gloves, which constitute another embodiment of a teaching aid, and which is utilised in the method of teaching type skills.

Figure 6 shows the common "Qwerty" keyboard layout, and one method of allocating fingers to each key, with the "home-keys" for the hand highlighted with shading.

Figure 7 shows a version of a modern computer keyboard.

Figure 8 shows another version of a pair of teaching aid gloves (reduced in size from the actual size).

9 DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In one broad form, the invention involves a method of teaching typing skills to a person, using the efficient "touch-typing" approach where individual fingers of the person are allocated to press one or more specified keys on a keyboard. This method is particularly characterised by there being a visual indication of the keys allocated to each finger removably attached to each finger.

As used in this specification, the term "keyboard" includes any input mechanism or system that includes keys or locations that can be pressed by the fingers to record information. This includes the standard "Qwerty" keyboard used with computers and typewriters, to input roman (ie, latin) alphabetic characters, numbers, punctuation, and related symbols. It also includes the equivalent keyboard arrangement used with other languages, such as with the Cyrillic, Arabic, Hebrew, Thai, Korean, Japanese kana, and the like alphabets, including languages that may utilise multi-keystroke characters, such as Chinese and Japanese 2c kanji characters. It also includes mostly numeric keyboards, used for inputting numbers, for example. The term includes any arrangement of characters on a keyboard, including common variations, such as the "Azerty" or "Dvorak" variations for the roman keyboard, for example. An example of a modern type of keyboard is shown in Figure 7, in the drawings.

Also, as used in this specification, the term "finger" includes any or all of the five fingers on each hand; the little or fifth finger, the ring or fourth finger, the so middle or third finger, the index or second finger, as well as the thumb.

10 A visual indication of one or more of the keys on the keyboard that is allocated to each finger is removably affixed to each finger by a variety of possible methods.

Preferably, this is carried out by wearing a glove on Seach hand, that allows the indication to be displayed on the outside surface of the finger portion of each glove, on the back (or top) of each glove, so as to be visible to the person wearing the gloves when operating the keyboard.

In a further preferred form, the gloves may have ic openings at or near the ends of the fingers of the gloves.

This allows the fingertips of the person to feel the keys, since the tips of the fingers are uncovered by the glove material, and thus are unencumbered.

However, other approaches, apart from gloves, may also is be used. For example, the visual indication of the letters may be attached to finger-stalls; comprising individual tubes of fabric or other material that are slipped onto each finger, and are retained in place. These finger-stalls may as a further alternative be detachable or attachable to a hand portion of a glove, or may be able to fit over the fingers of a glove, whether or not the glove is the halffingered kind.

Another approach is to attach the visual indication of the specific keys of the keyboard allocated to each finger, to a set of rings, which may be worn on the fingers.

The gloves, or other examples of the means of removably affixing the allocated key representations to the fingers, functions as a teaching aid, which provides another embodiment of this invention.

11 Such teaching aids may be constructed from any suitable material for the purpose intended. The gloves or finger stalls may be made from a fabric, for instance. It is preferred that the fabric be of a type that is easily Swashable, that is not too thick so as to overheat the fingers, or not so rigid so as to impede finger movement.

Cotton interlock fabric is an ideal material from which to construct the teaching aid gloves. A cotton blend that includes an elastic material, such as lycraT M for example, may also be used, which allows the gloves to be close fitting onto the hands.

If the gloves used are of the kind without finger tips, then the remaining finger portions may extend to any length along the finger, but preferably they extend far enough along so as to allow the representation of the keys allocated to each finger to be located, at least in part, along each finger portion. Ideally as well, in this situation, the fingertips of the hands should be sufficiently exposed through the holes in each finger of the gloves, so as to be able to touch the keys directly and easily.

Alternatively, if full-fingered gloves are utilised, then the fingertips of the gloves may include grips, such as thin rubber pads, to allow good contact with the keys.

These teaching aids are preferably adapted for persons who lack skill in using a keyboard. Preferably also, they are adapted for the hands of children. They should therefore be available in small sizes suitable for childrens' hands. It is also preferred that the gloves (or other means) used with the teaching method of the invention, be robust, as children in particular tend to be rough users of such items.

12 The teaching aid, such as the gloves described above, display a visual indication of a symbol appearing on one or more of the specified keys of the keyboard to which each finger is allocated. An example of this is provided in Figure 5 or Figure 8 of the drawings, which shows a prototype set of gloves, according to one preferred embodiment of the invention. Figures 1 to 4 show additional examples of this.

There are a number of different touch-typing systems of allocating the fingers to the keys of a keyboard. Such systems normally have a set of "home-keys" where the fingers rest or hover during typing. With the "Qwerty" keyboard, these are normally "ASDF" for the left hand fingers, from little to index fingers respectively, and for the right hand fingers, again from little to index fingers respectively. As well, the other keys on the keyboard are allocated to each finger, generally according to how close the key is, relative to a finger when in the vicinity of its home-key. For example, some systems are outlined in Table 1 below: Table 1 shows the home-keys allocated to each finger, and two versions of common allocations of the remaining keys of a standard "Qwerty" keyboard, labelled as Example 1 and Example 2. The version as described in Example 1 is shown graphically and in more detail in Figure 6 of the drawings, where the left and right hands are indicated at the top of the figure, and the little or fifth finger is indicted as the ring or fourth finger is indicated as the middle or third finger is indicated as and the index or second finger is indicated as Figures 1 and 2 show the version of the allocation given in Example 1 of the Table, and Figures 3 and 4 show 13 the version given in Example 2 of the Table. Figure represents the allocation of Example 2, for instance.

Other allocations may also be taught as well, with the indications adjusted accordingly. Also, other keys on a keyboard, such as the number row, or the function keys commonly in the top row of a computer keyboard, can also be allocated to individual fingers, for touch-typing.

14 TABLE 1 Home Keys Other key allocation (Ex. 1) Other key allocation (Ex. 2) Other key allocation (Ex. 8) Left 5 t Left 4 th finger finger A S

Q

w z Shift Q Z wx Shift Q Z X Left 3 rd finger

D

EX

E C

EC

Left 2 nd Left finger thumb

F

RT

CV C V

G

RT

V B

G

RT

V B

G

Space Bar Space Bar Space Bar Right Right Right thumb 2 n d 3 r d finger finger J K

YU

Space B N I M Bar

H

YU

Space N M I, Bar

H

YU

Space NM I Bar

H

Right Right 4 th finger finger

L

O Shift Enter

P

O Shift Enter

P

0 Shift Enter 15 The "Qwerty" keyboard commonly displays the roman alphabet in capital letters. However, when the keys are pressed, they input and display the letters in their lower case, assuming the "Shift" key or function is not invoked.

This can confuse children, (and some adults), who are learning the alphabet for the first time. Therefore, as another embodiment, instead of the key characters being represented as they are displayed on the keyboard in their capital letter form, they may be represented on the gloves (or another form of the teaching aid) as their lower case letters. This is especially useful with young children, who may have initially been taught only the lower case letters.

In this situation, it is also common to apply an overlay of the lower case letters onto the upper case representation 1is shown on the keys. However, special lower-case displaying keyboards are available. Otherwise, the lower-case version of the teaching aid gloves may be useful for training young students, for use with upper-case letter displaying keyboards.

2c So as well as having a teaching aid that has accurate representations of the letters on the keys, it is possible to have an alternative form of the letters, such as lower case letters, or letters in another font. Such variation between the symbols on the keys, and those represented on the gloves may also constitute useful training exercises for young students learning the alphabet.

In addition, some of the visual indications of keyboard characters may be shown in a special way, such as in an alternate colour, or with a border or pattern associated 3o with the character. One purpose for doing this is to allow some of the characters to stand out visually from the 16 others that appear on the back of the fingers of the teaching aid gloves, for instance.

For example, the eight home-key character representations may be shown in a special way, such as in E red when the other characters are in black. Or else the home-key symbols may be represented with a round border circling them. Another example would be to represent the characters in located in each separate row on the keyboard in a special manner; for example the top keyboard row being shown in blue, the centre row in black, the lowest row in green, and perhaps with the home-characters also having a circle around them.

Furthermore, some specific characters, that commonly present difficulties to students may be represented in a special way. For instance, young children can get confused about the difference between the period character the comma character and the other punctuation characters on the keyboard. In this situation, the different punctuation characters may be shown in special ways, such as in different colours or borders, to help students, particularly young children, identify and distinguish the difference between these symbols.

Also, commonly used punctuation characters or functions, that require the use of the shift-key may be represented on the gloves in a special manner, so as to remind the students to operate the shift-key.

Furthermore, each hand of a pair of gloves may be labelled "LEFT" and "RIGHT", to assist the users, especially when they are children, to identify their hands.

The teaching aid, such as the gloves described by way of example above, and the teaching method also described 17 above, may be provided as a kit, or otherwise, together with additional training materials. These additional training materials may comprise samples of material for the students to practise with and copy, by operating the keyboard. The training material may also link in or have associations with the symbols represented on the backs of the teaching aid finger portions. For example, if one row of keyboard characters is represented in a special way, such as in the colour blue, the text to copy to practise these characters may also be printed in the blue colour.

The training aid, such as the gloves mentioned previously, may be packaged in kits of multiple types, such as in a variety of sizes, which is useful for children whose hands grow so quickly. Additionally, there may be a variety of different sets of the gloves provided, with different numbers of symbols represented on each set; such as a starting pair of gloves showing only the home keys, and an advanced set having all the main keyboard characters represented.

In addition, the gloves may be decorated, especially with those directed to children. The type of decoration may blend in with the training material provided with the teaching aid; for example showing pictures of cats, when the training material has words and passages about cats to practise typing with.

Some practice exercises are provided in a book, "Keyboard Phonics" by Marion Ireland, published by Nightingale Press, Sydney, 1999. A "Teachers Guide" accompanies this book.

so EXAMPLE 1 Exercises for use with the typing gloves "Three important tips: 18 1. Put typing gloves on with the letters showing below your fingernails.

2. Rest fingers on these keys: left hand A S D F right hand =J K L 3. Use the closest thumb for the space bar.

Do these simple exercises by typing a full line for each word. You may look at the gloves and the keyboard for the first three tries only, after which you must watch the screen as you type! Simple exercises for left hand: as at bat cat get set wet fed fat vet red wag Simple exercises for right hand: up mop my lip in hip pin hum hop mum you Simple exercises for both hands: go to and the boy girl pet fish home dog went EXAMPLE 2 Typing gloves Gloves made from a washable interlocked cotton material are produced, in sizes suitable for children's hands. The gloves have the ends of each finger lacking, so the tips of the child's fingers protrude from the finger holes. They are made in bright colours, such as red, blue and green, and each size may be in a different colour. The letters from a keyboard, similar to what is shown in Figure 8, are embroidered using white cotton thread to the finger portions of the gloves.

19 The gloves are packaged with explanatory material, and typing exercises, such as provided in Example 1 above.

It will be apparent that obvious variations and modifications of the invention in accordance with its spirit can be made without departing from the scope of the invention, and these are intended to be part of the invention.

Claims (4)

1. A method of teaching a person typing skills to operate a keyboard, in which individual fingers of said person are allocated to press one or more specified keys on said keyboard, characterised in that a visual indication of at least one of said specified keys is removably affixed to the finger allocated to said specified key, so as to be capable of being seen by said person when operating said keyboard; wherein said visual indication is removably affixed to each finger by means of wearing a glove on each hand of said person, said indication being applied to the outside of and the top of at least one finger portion of said glove; and wherein said visual indication is a representation of a symbol appearing on at least one of said specified keys of said keyboard.

2. The method according to claim 1, which includes providing additional teaching material with which to practise said typing skills, said additional material at least providing samples of the symbols represented by the keys of said keyboard, for said person to copy by operating said keyboard.

3. A teaching aid wearable on the fingers of one or both of a person's hands, adapted for teaching a person typing skills to operate a keyboard, in which individual fingers of said person are allocated to press one or more specified keys on said keyboard, characterised in that said teaching aid has visual indication means of at least one of said specified keys, removably affixed to the finger allocated to said 21 specified key, so as to be capable of being seen by said person when operating said keyboard; by means of being at least one glove capable of being worn on a hand of said person, said indication being applied to the outside of, and the back of, at least one finger portion of said glove; and wherein said visual indication is an accurate representation of a symbol appearing on at least one of said specified keys.

4. The teaching aid according to claim 3, wherein said glove has an opening at or near the ends of said finger portions of said glove, allowing the tips of the fingers of the hands to be unencumbered and uncovered. The teaching aid according to claim 3 or 4, wherein an indication of each key of and is allocated to the little-finger, an indication of each key of and is allocated to the third-finger, an indication of each key of and is allocated to the second-finger, and an indication of each key of and is allocated to the index-finger, respectively, of the left-hand of said person; and wherein an indication of each key of and is allocated to the little-finger, an indication of each key of and is allocated to the third-finger, an indication of each key of and is allocated to the second-finger, and an indication of each key of and is allocated to the index-finger, respectively of the right-hand of said person; 22 and an indication of "SPACE BAR" allocated to the thumbs of both of said hands.