Second Week: 'ToUcH iT,sEnSe It !!!'

Monday, 19th July 2010

The 3-hours class starts over with a nice greeting by Pn. Foziah. It's time to be diligent again.

She has currently introduced us to the 5 modules that we are going to complete throughout the course. They are:

1. Internet and computing skills

2. Photo Editing Skill

3. Audio Editing Skill

4. Video Editing Skill

5. Software Editing Skill

After that, we saw a thick sample of module done by her previous student, obviously from one of our seniors. It was frightening as we have never submitted any assignments of such thickness from the past 4-years of study in college. But, then we have to agree that no pain, no gain.

Then, comes the time to reveal the truth when Pn. Foziah asks us, "Do you know, what is touch typing?" For the past years of using computers for typing, I've never known that there is a skill required to type. Anyway, better late than never.

Touch typing is a technique that can be defined as (this definition is retrieved from wikipedia):

- typing without using the sense of sight to find the keys

A person who uses touch typing is known as 'Touch Typist'. A touch typist knows the location through muscle memory.

Obviously, we can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, right. So, there are some tips and rules for us to really master this skill.

Typing Tips

1. Your wrist, elbows and keyboard should be on the same horizontal plane, and at a 90 degree angle to your upper arms.

2. There should be at least two inches between the front of the seat and the back of your knees. Your feet should be flat on the floor.

3. The top of your screen should be near eye level.

Right sitting position

Wrong sitting position

4. Place your hands on the keyboard. Hold your thumb on the "Space Bar", first finger of left hand on the "F" and first finger of right hand on the "J".

5. Don't look at the keys when you type. Just slide your fingers around until they find the home row marking.

6. Don't hammer on the keys. Try using the minimum force possible.

7. To switch between upper/lower case use always opposite hand.

8. Try to type with a constant speed.

If we really analyse the way one should be sat during typing, we could say that typing does not jeopardise our body posture. It's just that most of us do not know the tips and started to put the blame on this innocent tool, this day. So, let's master it, then.