Content Information

Lesson Scope and Sequence

The content of Typing Tournament is divided into 16 Lessons, with accompanying Drills, Games and Tests.
Each Lesson introduces a new set of Focus Keys. An animated demonstration of the location and fingering of the new keys is followed by an interactive exercise. Lesson Exercises use only the Focus Keys, while Drills, Games and Tests, though prioritising the Focus Keys, integrate them with previously learned material in realistic text-type environments.

Focus Keys

The Focus Keys of the 16 Lessons are as follows:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
a s d f + Space	; l k j + R & L Shift	h e i t	c o r n	y w p g	u q . b	m x v ,	z ? ë 1
9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
b g t 5	v f r 4	n h y 6	m j u 7	c d e 3	, k i 8	x s w 2	l o 9 p0

Instructional Rationale

The Home Row

The Home Row is the starting point for instruction, with the Space and Shift keys introduced early to build the swiftest possible route to typing meaningful content organised in words, word groups and phrases. The sequencing of letter groups is also designed to give early access to common English letter strings.

Vertical Pathways

By the end of Lesson 8 all letter keys have been covered once in the program. Lesson 9 is the beginning of a revision phase, in which letters are regrouped according to their relationship in paths up and down the keyboard rather than across the rows. Numbers are also introduced in this revision phase, as logical extensions of  these vertical pathways rather than as an infrequently visited 'top row'.

Punctuation

Basic punctuation is specifically taught, not just left to chance and the problem-solving capacities of the user. It is our belief that these fundamental keyboarding functions need to be explicitly secured so that there are no areas of indecision to interrupt the user's typing speed and rhythm.

Single Space v. Double Space

We have adopted the stylistic convention of using a single space between sentences as it is our view that the former convention of double-spacing sentences in typewritten material has been superseded in modern word-processing and publishing usage by the single space.

Generic Keyboard

We have also adopted a generic keyboard design and have deliberately excluded keystrokes located in different positions on the keyboard in different countries (for example, currency symbols, the exclamation mark and double inverted commas).

Developing Muscle Memory

The Typing Tournament lesson sequence has been designed to give learners maximum reinforcement of muscle memory. Drill concepts and overall program structure in Typing Tournament are designed in the belief that the only route to typing mastery is via regular repetition of individual muscle movements and the frequent reinforcement of hand-to-brain correspondences. These associations are developed in two different ways: firstly by ensuring that the correspondences between eye, brain, fingers and keys are carefully and unequivocally established in the first place; secondly by ensuring that time is spent systematically consolidating them.

Get It Right First Time

Hence in all the drills users are encouraged to try to strike each letter correctly on the first attempt, on the premise that to strike a key correctly the first time is a far more effective learning experience than to strike it incorrectly then retype it. In the drills incorrect keystrokes do not register. The program will only accept the correct letter, and if the user hesitates for more than 2 seconds there is an animated prompt to indicate the correct letter and the correct finger.

Practice Rewards

In addition, the overall design framework of Typing Tournament includes a special inbuilt incentive scheme to reward users who complete minimum drill requirements.

Speed & Accuracy

It is a common experience for both children and adults to begin typing courses and fail to complete them. When a typing course has no intrinsic adaptability, a negative learning cycle can be established whereby users cover the same introductory content over and over again, but fail to progress to real typing competence.

Multiple Progressions model

Typing Tournament's Multiple Progressions Model has been designed to break this negative cycle and is specially developed to give users of all ages and stages maximum flexibility in establishing and reaching their typing goals.