Introduction & Purpose
Typing is one of the essential skills that a white-collar or even a blue-collar employee should learn (David 2-5). An aerospace firm situated at the heart of Seattle, Washington is concerned about the keyboard typing skills of it’s over 2000 white-collar employees. Most of the tasks involved in the company require the use of a computer and other gadgets that utilizes a QWERTY pad. Mr. Underwood, the firm’s personnel manager, together with the director of training is planning to conduct a company-wide training program so that aims to enhance their slow and poor keyboard-typing skills.
In order to make the process of determining what training program more efficient, it would be helpful to know the strategies used in the past that did not work. Mr. Underwood stated that the hunt and peck method of keyboard typing has been proven ineffective for the employees because of the inaccuracies and inadequate speed of typing it promotes. It has been reported that in the hunt and peck method, the employees merely look at the keyboard and are almost not paying attention to the monitor; so they cannot actually see whether what they have typed so far are still correctly-typed or otherwise. And so, Mr. Underwood advised the training director to recommend a software program that can meet the company’s criteria and will be in line with the company’s current goal—to improve the employees typing abilities.
The objective of this paper is to compare three keyboard-typing software programs by evaluating their features and then formulate a recommendation that points out the best software among the three.
Findings & Benefits
SOLO Typing Tutor
The developers of the SOLO Typing Tutor described it as a software that will help users inevitably type faster, save a lot more time on their typing tasks, minimize and eventually get rid of typographical errors as they type, be a more competitive candidate for an administrative type of job, see typing not as an strenuous activity but as an utterly enjoying one, and finally, to learn how to type. Speed and accuracy of typing are two of the most important aspects in typing that have to developed (Liebowitz & Margolis 3). The software’s compatibility with the Aerospace firm’s computers will primarily depend on the type of operating systems that they have. Upon testing, it has been discovered that the SOLO Typing Tutor Software cannot be installed on computers that have Linux, UNIX, and Macintosh operating systems. As of the moment, the program only works with computers with Windows XP, Vista, & 7 operating systems installed. The executable installation file measures approximately 17 Megabytes. The demand for hard drive space is actually not that large. It is recommended however, to clear up at least 100 MB of hard disk space for the extraction and installation of the necessary files for the software to work.
Users will be able to see a simple and easy-to-navigate interphase from the main menu down to the more function-specific screens. The software utilizes a variety of typing exercises. The users can pick the type of exercise they will take for that particular day depending on their personal preferences, or the exercise’s level of difficulty.
A user who has a licensed copy of the software will also be able to access the different additional support utilities from the developer’s website. Examples of such include typing games, typing tips, and even additional typing courses. Users who have used the SOLO Typing Tutor Software for quite some time already may have noticed that the software was primarily intended for PC gamers. PC games these days make use of multiple keyboard keys as command shortcuts (Karat et al. 5). Meaning PC gamers, in order to maximize their gaming experience, should learn how to touch-type multiple keys and that particular skill can be learned by using the SOLO Typing Tutor Software. Lastly, the software can be bought for $19-$25. The software supports English, German, Italian, and Russian languages. It actually has a separate version for each.
Typing Master
Typing Master is one of the most popular keyboard typing tutorial software solutions. The developers describe the Typing Master Software as a software that will enable its users type on the keyboard two times faster (it basically doubles the users’ typing speed), learn how to touch-type (a typing style wherein the typist does not look on the keyboard keys every time he types a single letter or word), save time on their typing tasks. The developers, in their website, also stated that users will be able to see results and improvements in their typing style and speed within the first 5 hours of interaction with the software.
The software is not computer manufacturer-biased. It does not support a single computer manufacturer’s line of products. The software can be installed and used as long as the operating system installed on the computer adheres to the software’s requirements. Right now, the Typing Master Software is only compatible for installation on Windows XP/Vista/7 computers. Macintosh OS users can still use the software. However, they are not allowed to install the software directly to their computer system due to compatibility issues. They can still use the software; however, they have to have an internet connection first because the only types of lessons they can take are the online-based ones. The software does not have support for Linux and UNIX-operated computers.
One distinct characteristic of the Typing Master Software is its versatility. It can be used by a single entity, by an educational institution (for students and teachers), or by privately and publicly owned companies. The Software can be integrated into a Learning Management System compatible with SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) such as Blackboard and Moodle. By using this strategy, users will be able to ladderize their computer typing progress ().
The interphase is quite confusing at first. But there are help and pop-up buttons that provide the users information about the purpose of a particular button. The user just has to point the mouse towards the button and then a small pop-up box will appear containing vital information about the purpose of that particular button. Without a simple and user-friendly interphase, the good functionality of the software will most likely be ignored (Soukoreff et al. 4).
The typing exercises are a little more complicated than the ones from other typing tutorial software programs. The software features a satellite mode wherein the software watches how the user types even when he uses other programs (e.g. word processor, internet browsers, etc.). The software diagnoses the ability of the user to type and then formulates a user-specific typing exercise plan that tries to address those weaknesses. Since the Mr. Underwood wants a software product that is suitable to adults, the level of exercises should correspond, and not contradict, with every criterion (Brown 9).
The Pro version of the software only costs $30. The size of the executable installation file is approximately 9 MB. Again, it is recommended that the user has at least 100 MB of hard disk space.
Rapid Typing Tutor
The Rapid Typing Tutor Software is a freeware developed to help computer users learn how to type faster and more accurately. It is a freeware. Meaning, a genuine copy of the program can be obtained from the developer’s website without having to pay for a single penny. The software focuses on keyboard efficiency and accuracy in typing. There are games incorporated in some lessons which can make the learning experience more fun and engaging for adults and children alike. Age restriction can be a significant factor here because there are things that an adult can easier understand compared to children (Clare 1). The software can also be used by multiple users because of its advanced user profiling system. Each user can track their own typing lesson progress and development in up to 15 different criteria. They can gauge their improvements based on the number of words they can type per minute, and their typing accuracy.
The software, despite being free, offers a complete set of keyboard-typing courses. Additional features of the software include a virtual keyboard (helps the users visualize the position of their hands against the fixed position of the keyboard keys); customizable exercise and lesson plans (the users can either focus on the speed or accuracy of his typing, depending on the area he wants to focus more on); support for multiple languages (users who use keyboards having a different language or a set of letters may still use the software).
The freeware is not computer manufacturer-biased. However, it is only compatible with machines that have Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8 operating systems installed. The software does not support computers with Macintosh, Linux, and UNIX operating systems installed. The executable installation file measures approximately 9 MB. It is however recommended for the user’s computer to have at least 100 MB free hard disk space.
Conclusions & Recommendations: The Final Verdict
The Aerospace firm would like to focus on having the employees learn how to touch-type in a computer keyboard for work purposes, type faster, and type with high accuracy. Therefore, among the three Keyboard Typing Tutorial Software Products that we have reviewed, the Typing Master seems to be a more fit solution to the Aerospace firm’s problem. Sure it costs a little more than the other two software products but the advantages (hardware and user age compatibility, additional features, more advanced exercises, impressive developer support, etc) far outweigh the price disadvantage. Typing master also enables the users to learn how to touch-type in the long run. The users can also see results after their first five hours of interaction with the software. Mr. Underwood will surely see a lot of changes from the firm’s employees’ typing speed and accuracy after using the software for quite some time.
Works Cited
Brown, C. Human-Computer Interface Design Guidelines. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing. 1988. Print. June 2012.
Clare, J. Should Children be Taught to Touch-Type? If so, from what age? And what’s the best way of doing it? United Kingdom: The Telegraph. 2005. Print. June 2012.
David, P. Clio and the Economics of QWERTY. American Economic Association: American Economic Review. 1985. Print. June 2012.
Karat, C., Halverson, C., Horn, D., & Karat, J. Patterns of Entry and Correction in large Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition Systems. CHI Conference Proceedings. 1999. Print. June 2012.
Liebowitz, S., & Margolis, S. Typing Errors Reason. Reason Archieves. 1996. Print. June 2012.
Soukoreff, R., & MacKenzie, I. Metrics for text entry research: An Evaluation of MSD and KSPC, and a new unified error metric. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI 2003. New York: ACM. 2003. Print. June 2012.
