Keyboarding

Become faster and more confident at the keyboard. This course will help you learn how to touch-type the alphabetic, numeric, and symbol keys; create, save, and edit word processing documents; and successfully take a timed writing test during a job interview.

Details
Syllabus
Requirements
Instructor
Reviews

Enrollment Options

$125.00

Select Instruction Type:

Self-Guided

3 Months Access

No Instructor. Course begins when you enroll.

Instructor-Moderated

6 Weeks Access

Study online with Instructor moderated discussion boards.

Select Course Start Date:

December 18, 2024

January 15, 2025

February 12, 2025

March 12, 2025

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$125.00

Self-Guided

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Details

If you want to learn touch-typing or improve your existing typing skills, this is the perfect course for you! In these lessons, you'll use the Keyboarding Pro 5 program, a typing tutorial designed for personal computers, to learn how to touch-type—that is, to type text you read from a printed page or a computer screen without looking at your keyboard.

With the skills you master here, you'll become faster and more confident at the keyboard. By the end of the course, you'll know how to touch-type the alphabetic, numeric, and symbol keys; create, save, and edit word processing documents; and successfully take a timed writing test during a job interview.

Syllabus

Lesson 1 - Getting Started With Key Pro 5

Your first lesson guides you step by step as you download, install, and set up Key Pro 5. You will also get acquainted with the program, learning about the home row keys and the reach to the "i" key on the QWERTY keyboard. Are you confused about what home row and QWERTY mean? Don't worry—this lesson explains all of that.

Lesson 2 - Lowercase Letters, Plus the Reaches to the "e" and the "n"

Now that you're getting comfortable with the home row on the QWERTY keyboard, it's time to introduce you to some new keys. This lesson will focus on lowercase letters. You will also use Key Pro 5 to practice the reaches to the e and the n. Is all this typing causing you aches and pains? You will find out how to reduce fatigue while typing.

Lesson 3 - The Left Shift, h, t, and Period Reaches

In this lesson, you will learn four new keystrokes: left SHIFT, h, t, and period (.). You will also provide some tips on improving speed and accuracy and introduce you to the Key Pro 5 word processor program.

Lesson 4 - Learn the r, Right SHIFT, c, and o Reaches

Continue to build your keyboarding vocabulary by learning four new key reaches in this lesson: r, right SHIFT, c, and o. You will also learn about "the Zen of typing", which is how touch-typing becomes an instinctive and unconscious action.

Lesson 5 - The w, Comma, b, and p Reaches

Your typing vocabulary continues to expand rapidly with the addition of the reaches to the w, comma, b, and p. Before you know it, you will be typing complete paragraphs. This lesson also covers what you need to know about carpal tunnel syndrome, a serious and painful condition that you can avoid.

Lesson 6 - The g, Question Mark, x, and u Reaches

Expand your typing vocabulary by mastering four more key reaches: the g, question mark (?), x, and u. Just a few more reaches, and you will know how to type the whole alphabet. In this lesson, you will also learn about the function (FN) key and the numbers lock (NUM LOCK) key, which are on most laptop keyboards.

Lesson 7 - The q, m, v, and Apostrophe Reaches

This lesson teaches you another four reaches for your typing vocabulary: q, m, v, and apostrophe ('). You will also learn how to save a document with a word processing program.

Lesson 8 - The z, y, Quotation Mark, and Tab Reaches

It's time to add another four reaches to your typing vocabulary: the z, y, quotation mark ("), and tab keys. After this lesson, you will know the reaches to all the alphabetic keys. You will also find out how to open, edit, and resave word processing documents.

Lesson 9 - Alphabetic Key Review, the 1 and 8 Number Reaches, and Timed Writings

Are you ready to improve your skills and learn some new ones? After you review the z, y, x, q, v, quotation mark, and CAPS LOCK keys, you will learn the reaches to the numbers 1 and 8. Then you will take timed writings in the Key Pro 5 word processor.

Lesson 10 - Number Reaches, Deleting Text, and Alphabetic Key Review

What's the difference between the DELETE key, the BACKSPACE key, and the Cut command? By the end of this lesson, you will understand how and when to use these three editing tools. You will also continue to improve your skills with the alphabetic keys, plus you will learn more number reaches: 5, 0, 2, and 7.

Lesson 11 - Number and Symbol Reaches, Number Rules, and Key Review

When should you spell out numbers (like this: one, nine, five hundred), and when should you write them as figures (1, 9, 500)? You will also continue to improve your skills with the keys you have already learned, and you will finish the number reaches by mastering 4, 9, 3, and 6. Then you will learn two symbol reaches: the dollar sign ($) and the hyphen (-).

Lesson 12 - Symbol Reaches and Skill Building

You have already mastered some of the symbols and punctuation marks. In your last lesson together, you will meet the rest of the symbols. You will also work on your accuracy and speed with the Key Pro 5 Skill Building lessons. And you will find out how you can continue to hone your keyboarding skills long after you have finished this course.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course must be taken on a PC. (Note: Mac, Chromebooks, Surface, and all other tablets are not compatible.)

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 8 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge is also compatible.
When the class starts, you'll receive instructions for downloading and installing a working copy of Keyboarding Pro 5. Please do not purchase or download the software from another source.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Instructor

Kathy Van Pelt

Kathy Van Pelt has taught computer courses at a community college for the past 25 years. She specializes in Microsoft Office applications, Google Drive and Google Applications, the Windows and Mac operating systems, and keyboarding. She spent seven years teaching word processing and business classes at a private business college and loves being in the ever-evolving educational field.

Reviews

I really enjoyed this course. Even though I have typed for years, it is always good to go back to the basics to correct bad habits. I like the software and I loved the course.

Thank you, this course helped me with my busy life style. With a husband, kids and a fulltime job this was very convinient for me. I would print a lesson and take the kids to their afterschool sports and was able to keep up with school work and my family life. I would recommend an on line course to all those busy mothers out there.

This course was perfect! I can finally type! Being proficient at typing will enable me to take more advanced computer courses. I have been severely handicapped by my poor typing abilities until now. Thank you very much for providing such a useful tool.

Kathy, thank you for teaching this course. Your tips, resources and study materials were very helpful. I would recommend this course to anyone seeking to improve accuracy and/or speed. This course and the program software is designed for both. For anyone who wishes to type from reading materials without looking at the fingers, then I would suggest taking this course. This course really works! From the first lesson and after many years, I broke that habit. I had fun learning. I will never look at my fingers again! Take the course. It's worth every dollar.

The instructor taught a very well written and organized course. She was very encouraging every step of the way and willing to share her knowledge of the subject matter from past experience. Her emphasis on patience and diligence made me realize that mastering keyboarding continues even after the six week course as long as one has a good foundation. She definitely provided me with an excellent foundation by offering an excellent course.

I took typing in high school many years ago. I took this class to help me break old bad habits and to help myself build speed and accuracy for my new job, as well as learn the numeric and symbol keys. I started this class with an average typing speed of 45 gwam and finished the class by averaging 65 gwam. I will continue to use Keyboarding Pro to help become an even faster, more efficient typist. I am so glad I decided to take this course. It made a big difference for me.

Kathy Van Pelt is a very dynamic instructor who is apparently highly skilled and knowledgeable in the area. I felt like I was sitting in the classroom while reading her lessons. She quickly and appropriately responded to questions in such a way that did not make me feel silly, especially when the answer to my question was extensively discussed in a previous lesson! I would definitely recommend her and the keyboarding class to others.

I have gained so much confidence in my typing now that I have taken this class. There were weeks when I didn't believe practice would help - but indeed it did. I've tried other typing courses (books, etc.) but this is the only method that stuck!!! Thank you so much, Kathy!!!

Thanks so much for teaching this material. You made this class, surprisingly, very enjoyable! I was encouraged by your comments, professionalism, and enthusiasm for the subject. I am so excited to continue with practice and look forward to developing greater speed and confidence.

Thank you for the outstanding job you did with this class. I learned so much, and I really enjoyed it - every step of the way! You did your part, and you did it masterfully. Now it's up to me: practice, practice, practice!