“Most of us are still typing like electro-chickens, hunting and pecking with our index fingers to find the right keys” says Sue Westwood of Student-type.com
The average student can type (that’s input the words, check and correct them) at around 20 words per minute. A student that can type properly (use all their fingers, look at the screen, not their hands) will type at least 80 words per minute.
Assuming the average student will have to type 300,000 words in their three years of university or college, then a non-touch-typing student will take 333 hours longer to complete their coursework than one that can type.
That’s 70 nights of a student’s life they can have back to do something frankly more useful with.
Student-type.com has developed a unique typing program, in association with an Educational Psychologist, to get students learning to type over the summer in preparation for university. With A-level results due from the 18th August students need to think about getting ready for their studies.
“Many professionals now recognise the importance of typing. Sadly though, the UK lags behind the likes of the USA where it is a standard part of the school curriculum,” says Westwood.
“Here in the UK, whilst all students are expected to type up their work, very few are actually up to typing it properly – and they are wasting millions of hours, just sitting in front of a computer.
“Many people either think they can already type, or believe it’s only needed if you want to be a secretary in a business. But once the scale of the time people are wasting is appreciated then we are hopeful this attitude will change,” says Westwood.
It’s not just time that is saved, typing has also been shown to improve literacy, and work rates improve allowing the typist to keep up with their thoughts. But not yet taught in schools, touch typing remains something that eludes many.
Indeed, Professor John Sutherland of University College London has said “It’s pointless …to rabbit on about ‘the future is electronic’ if our best students can’t find a V on the keyboard without 5 seconds’ hesitation. Who would employ a graduate with a reading speed of 20 words per minute?”
In the last month, Student-type.com has joined with Oncampus, who provide students with their University internet site, to offer students the opportunity to learn to type in the summer off before they start university.
Daniel Moran, MD of Oncampus says “Working in partnership with Student-type.com, Oncampus can enable students to improve their computer literacy skills. Not only will this help save students time in their studies, it will also better prepare them for the post-campus workplace. This is time they can reinvest back in their studies, or let’s face it, time they can re-allocate back in the student bar!”
The typing program from Student-type.com costs just £26.99, and includes full lessons, unique colour coding of fingers for rapid learning and retro games to encourage practice. The program was developed by an Educational Psychologist (who also developed the BAFTA winning DanceMat typing program for the BBC).
For further information please contact Sue Westwood at Student-type.com either by phone on 01462712144, or by email to [email protected]
Editor’s notes:
Oncampus is a media publisher, servicing the UK student market. They work in partnership with student organisations to provide tailored websites, group social and CRM software plus other media solution to help them engage with their members. Their bespoke online solutions help students around the UK find out ‘what’s happening on campus…now’. They have provided this service for the past seven years.
