How Do Typing Lessons for Beginners Work?

In 1888, the technique of touch typing was invented by Frank Edward McGurrin, a stenographer hailing from Salt Lake City, Utah.

If you wish to break all the WPM (Words Per Minute) records of the world or just wish to improve your typing speed to enhance your efficiency, the information provided further, about professional typing lessons, will help you out.

These are tips that will help you in gaining mastery over the keyboard. Like a master pianist, you will be an accomplished typist who composes word symphonies, with fingers effortlessly gliding over the keyboard.

There are many online courses with interactive multimedia, that can help you in improving typing speed. Learning to type is not a natural act. The ten fingers of humans were not meant for a computer keyboard. However, this skill can be acquired through regular practice.

The key is to acquire muscle memory of the keys, which lets you type without looking at the keyboard. Let us see how these online typing courses proceed. We provide you with an overview of the process and some tips along the way, which will help you acquire a decent typing speed.

In the initial phase of these courses, the core part is teaching the acquisition of finger memory. All the 101 keys of the traditional keyboard will be mapped by your ten fingers. Every finger is assigned certain keys. This is known as the Ten Finger Touch Typing Technique, which is the surest way of being able to type at a speed of more than 100 WPM.

The starting position for the fingers, as shown in the diagram below, is 'ASDF' (For Left Hand) and 'JKL;' (For the Right Hand). As illustrated below, use a finger for only similar-colored keys. For example, the middle finger of the left hand, should only be used to type '4, E, D, and C'.

The exercise for acquiring muscle memory is practicing the typing of a few keys at a time, without looking. These online courses are coupled with special typing exercises, whereby, you are given a string of letters to type, without looking at the keyboard. You begin with mastering only a few keys.

'Do not look at the keyboard' is the eternal rule to be followed, when you are learning to type. Your fingers will be your eyes from now on. This will train your fingers to locate the various keyboard keys, without any help from the eyes. That way, you will be able to concentrate on the screen and not worry about locating keys.

That job will be left to your trained fingers. You will be developing a new skill, whereby, you will make the full use of all your ten fingers, to type at blazing speeds.

There are many sites like 'Keybr' that provide an online typing interface for free, with a string of letters to look at and type, along with a speed and error counter, that helps you gauge your performance. Using such an interface, you can practice daily.

You have to make sure that you start from the base typing position presented above and use every finger to type only the prescribed keys. This will be difficult at the start, but with time, it will get simpler.

These courses begin with simple word patterns that help you in locating a few keys at a time, at the start. With time, you get introduced to newer key patterns, that are again practiced through repetition.

Over the entire course, usage of all the keys becomes second nature and slowly you reach a stage where you can type smoothly, without looking at the keyboard.

Typing is not a natural act and therefore, there are certain precautions which you should take, which will prevent any physiological problems that you might acquire from bad posture and technique. One rule that you must follow is to take regular breaks from typing and stretch out. Sitting up straight while typing, will prevent back problems.

Keep the back of your hands in such a way, that they are parallel to the keyboard and keep the wrists straight. Ensure that your back has adequate lumbar support. Specially designed ergonomic keyboards are available, which do not let your hands get fatigued.

Follow the prescribed posture, illustrated in the graphic below. Also, make sure that the screen is placed at an adequate distance from your eyes.

There is only one way to get better at typing and it is practicing all the time. Even if you devote half an hour for practice, that is quite enough. This typing skill will provide you with many benefits. It will save you a lot of time, which is the costliest commodity on offer.

Even if you do not follow a prescribed pattern for every finger and just go on typing without following any system, over time, the acquisition of finger memory occurs automatically as our brains are natural pattern recognition and learning systems. So keep practicing and you are only going to get better at it, with time.