Training Keyboarding Skills on a Simulator: Student Trainees in Grades Three to Six

Abstract

A training program was designed and developed for students in an elementary school. Accepted design criteria were used and organizational, task, trainee, document and device analysis, system specifications, design concept development and prototyping and user testing were addressed. The program is three-fold: training students to operate a keyboarding simulator, educating students about the importance of neutral wrist and finger placement and transfer of this keyboarding ability to a standard computer system with a Qwerty keyboard configuration. Four job aids were developed to illustrate examples and nonexamples of correct seated posture, correct finger placement on the home row keys, an enlargement of the trainee scorecard, and an instructor checklist. The trainees performed the tasks specified in the original system specifications. The final training and evaluation took place at the beginning of the subsequent academic year