ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION - WebJunction



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Computer Classes

Computer Keyboard

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Skills

Jackson District Library

244 W. Michigan

Jackson, MI 49201

517-788-4088



2010

OBJECTIVES:

Ask participants what they want to learn from this class. If you have a board or easel available write them down.

(They will say things like everything. How to cut and paste how to type a résumé – Point out that you only have an hour and half, and they need to learn the basics first. Then tell them what your goals for the class are.

Participants will

• Become more familiar with the use and function of the computer keyboard

• Have a list of online programs to use for keyboard practice

• Become more comfortable with the use of the keyboard

I usually ask them if this is what they were looking for, most of them will indicate it is then I say “Good I don’t have to go home.”

Have the students open MS Word (remind them that they learned how to open a program last week. Discuss each of these points. Have them type a few lines; something like

Name, Date, The quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party.

Or they can type whatever they want. It should be more than one line.

The keyboard: general points

The keyboard diagram on page 3 illustrates the type of keyboard found on a Windows pc: the keyboards of other types of computer are slightly different, but have the same basic keys.

Different applications

A word processor, a spreadsheet, a computer terminal program - all these are different "applications" (i.e. programs). The keys on a keyboard may behave differently, depending on the application being used.

Default

The word "default" means, "what you get if you don't ask for something different.” This word is used a lot in computing in such phrases as "the default setting is…”

Auto-repeat.

If you hold down any key for longer than about half a second, it will start repeatingggggggggg

Auto-repeat is a nuisance - not to say dangerous - if you accidentally leave something on the keyboard, like a book. This causes a stream of characters to be sent to the computer; we have seen essays destroyed by a user resting a hand on the keyboard while talking to a friend. Ask them to hold down a key to see how the auto-repeat works

See also Typing Technique, later.

Insertion

Generally, when you are typing text or data into a document, the new characters are inserted, the text will be inserted where ever the flashing typing cursor is.

Toggle keys Ask if anyone knows what a toggle switch is. (A switch that turns something with one touch and off with the next

Press a toggle key once, and it switches on a certain effect. Press the same key once again, and the effect is then switched off. The most used toggle keys are Caps Lock, Insertion and Num Lock (see the diagram). You might want to point out that the key does not say toggle key, it acts as a toggle switch. (I have had people ask where the toggle key is)

Food and drink

Do not eat or drink when typing - take a proper break instead. Crumbs, drinks, greasy or sticky fingers are all enemies of keyboard and mouse.

Ctrl-Alt-Del Have the students try this show them the task manager, explain when they might use it.

This strange combination of keys has been the PC user's friend from the earliest days. While pressing down Ctrl and Alt with two fingers of your left hand, tap the Del key at the right hand side of the keyboard. In modern Windows systems, this brings up the Task Manager dialogue. This allows you to display a list of the Tasks currently active and to "End the Task" for anything, that has stopped responding. This can prove very useful at times.

A typical PC (Windows) keyboard

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1. Main Alphanumeric Keyboard

Here you will find all the letters of the alphabet, and all the numeric keys. In addition, there are over 30 “non-alphanumeric” characters, like punctuation marks (;:,.({! Etc) and special symbols (@ % $ & etc)

2. Escape Key

Sends a real put invisible, character to the computer, It usually signifies that you want to escape from what the computer is doing – but don’t use Esc unless you are instructed to do so by your documentation or by information from the computer screen you are using. Have them right click then use the esc key it will make the context menu disappear.

3. Function Keys

There are usually twelve of these marked F1 up to F12. Do not use them unless instructed by your documentation. These keys have different functions in different applications. The F1 is almost always a help key. I usually explain that they may never have to use these keys.

4. Print Screen (PrtScr) etc

Again, these have special functions; don’t use them unless instructed by your documentation. I usually explain that they may never have to use these keys

5. Indicator lights Tell them that these keys may be in different locations on their keyboards at home.

Indicate that the names special key has been pressed. If strange things start o happen when you are typing, check these lights – you may have pressed a special key by accident; they are all “toggle keys” so press the key again to turn it off.

6. Numeric keypad

When Num Lock is NOT pressed, the keys on this keyboard (illustrated) duplicate the arrow keys; four have the words Pg Up, Pg On, Home and End these are also cursor control keys, for use with software like word processors, databases, spreadsheets, etc.

/ is the symbol for arithmetic division, and * is the symbol for multiplication.

Del is used to delete characters; see also no. 14 Backspace. I explain that I leave my Number lock on and use this as a number keypad, there are other keys and other ways to navigate the computer screen.

7. Arrow Keys Have the student practice how these work.

8. Shift Keys

There is a Shift key at each side of the main keyboard. If you hold down either Shift key and tap another key, it produces an "upper case" character - a capital letter, or the upper characters on the key. However pressing it down alone does nothing.

For example Shift and A produces a capital letter "A" instead of the normal lower case "a.” Shift-5 produces the character "%.” Have them practice doing this.

9. Enter key

Used to send a command to the computer when you have finished typing it. Or (when using a word processor) it starts a new paragraph.

10. Space bar

Produces the "space" character. This is a real, distinct character- it is not simply a "blank'"

(When word processing you should use the Tab key, or paragraph formatting, to create large areas of space - don't hold down the Space bar.)

11. Ctrl, Windows and Alt keys

▪ One on each side of the keyboard, for convenience

▪ By itself, the windows or Ctrl (Control) key does nothing. But when you tap another key, or click the mouse, while holding down the key. This produces a different effect than normal

▪ The Alt key is different again: rather than like Caps Lock, it is a kind of toggle key, and prefixes the next key you press, thus changing its action Alt is used a lot in windows.

Documentation tells you when to use all these special keys. Demonstrate how this works try Ctrl O it will open the open file window- use the esc key to close it.

Note: Documentation sometimes uses the “^” character to mean the Ctrl key. Thus “press^C” means hold down the Ctrl key and tap the C key”; it does not mean press the “^” character (shift-6 and then the C) This is an ancient computing convention.

12. Caps lock (toggle key)

Press this once to make all letters appear in capitals; it has no effect on non-letter keys. (The caps lock key will not type the symbols) Press again to turn off the effect. If the caps log is on (check the indicator lights) and you try to use the shift key it will type a lower case letter.

The caps log will not type the symbols.

13. Tab key

Used to “tabulate” date or text, and also to skip from field to field in spreadsheets, etc. You can change tab settings to what you want. An extremely useful key

14. Backspace key

Use to delete a character by “backspacing” over it- or several, if you hold it down. This is often used instead of the Del key (which deletes “forward”). Have them practice using the back space key.

15. Special key pad

These keys are duplicated on the numeric keypad (see No.6).

Have them practice using these keys.

Press Page Down Down one screen They may think that they have erased the text explain that it has only moved the screen so they are seeing the bottom half of the screen. The text will reappear when you

Press Page UP Up one screen

Press Ctrl+end End of Document

Press Ctrl+home Top of Document

Press End End of Line

Press Home Beginning of Line

Press Ctrl+Down Arrow Down one paragraph

Press Ctrl+Up……………………… Arrow Up one paragraph

Similar-looking characters

When people used typewriters it was quite common to use one character in place of another - some typewriters did not have a complete character set. For example, if your typewriter had no number one, you might have used the letter "l.” Have them type the L l 1 so they can see the difference. Also have them try the 0 O o

Point out that on excel, this is extremely important because the calculations will not be correct if you use letter keys.

Don't substitute characters on a computer! Here are some similar-looking characters:

Number zero "0" Letter “o” or “O”

Number one "1" Letter “l”

Number “2” Letter “z” or “Z”

Underline “_” Hyphen (minus sign) “-“

Semicolon “;” Colon”:”

Back slash “\” Forward Slash “/”

Single quotation mark (These two appear on

Double quotation mark the same key)

Arrow keys

The four keys marked with arrows move a pointer on the computer screen, which is called a

"cursor". When you are typing commands, or when word-processing, etc., the cursor shows where typing will commence if you press a character key. You can move the cursor with the arrow keys, or by using the mouse (see later).

Typing technique

When typing, tap the keys, don't press them or hit them hard.

Remember the auto-repeat feature; think of the damage that could be caused by accidentally holding down, for example, the Esc, or the Enter, or the Backspace keys! Keep books away from the keyboard.

Free Online resources:







1. Read the following tips carefully and observe them while learning to touch-type with the TACTUS Keyboard.

2. Print this page and have it available while you learn.

3. Tap the keys with a regular cadence as if you had a metronome beating the time, using a slow, deliberate pace. You may find that your speed will decrease at first but will increase again as you learn the location of keys.

4. Always rest your fingers on the home keys. If you need to move the hand, for instance to operate the mouse, return the fingers to their home position before tapping another key.

5. Use the index fingers as "pivots" for other fingers. For instance, if you need to type the letter "P,” use the right index as a pivot and, keeping the index finger on its home position on the key J, turn your right hand gently upwards, until the right little finger reaches the key P.

6. Always keep your hands suspended above the keys, roughly parallel to the keys.

7. Do not rest your palms on the palm rest. Rest your palms on the palm rest only when you are not typing (when you are examining your work or thinking or entering numbers with the numerical keypad, etc.).

8. Say the letters aloud as you type each key. For instance, if you are tapping the key 0, say "0.” This will assist you in memorizing where the keys are located.

9. Type "letters" not "words,” that is, spell aloud the word as you type each letter. For instance if you need to type the word "house", say aloud h-o-u-s-e as you type each letter. As you become more expert, you will type words rather than letters.

10. Always use the correct finger to type a key. This will allow a "linkage" to be formed between each finger and the keys it controls.

1. II

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Typing tutorial programs

I have created shortcuts to these on the desk top, it creates less frustration trying to have students who have trouble typing try to type URLS.

(this shows the keyboard layout and gives some “silent practice” on which fingers type which keys.





scroll down - click on Typer Shark

wait for it to load and click where it says to click here to continue with Typer

Shark Basics

Click desired level- start with easy.

Type the words that appear on the sharks.

This one needs to be downloaded to your computer



Patron Workshop Evaluation Form

|Workshop Title | | |Date | |

|Held at | | |Instructor | |

Please rate each question below by circling the desired response- 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable.

|1. |The material was presented clearly and understandably. 1 2 3 4 5 |

|2. |The objectives of the workshop were clearly stated. 1 2 3 4 5 |

|3. |The workshop met the stated objectives. 1 2 3 4 5 |

|4. |The handouts were helpful and informative. 1 2 3 4 5 |

|5. |How did you learn about this program? |

| | |

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|Which branch(es) do you normally use | |

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