TypingMaster for LMS

User Manual

Contents

1. Introduction

Welcome to TypingMaster! This powerful typing tutor will help you improve your typing substantially whether you are a novice or a seasoned professional.

The complete touch-typing course will teach you the touch-typing technique starting with the basics and advancing step-by-step using examples, word drills and games to get you familiar with your keyboard. Courses to practice the special keys of the keyboard and the numeric keypad along with a course to increase your typing speed are also included.

This manual will help you get started using the typing tutor. It explains all of the features and how you can improve your typing skills.

2. Studying

To access TypingMaster you will need a user ID and password to your internal learning platform (LMS), such as Moodle or Blackboard, a web browser, for example Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari. Your Network Administrator, Course Administrator or Teacher will provide you with the details needed to access TypingMaster typing courses.

2.1 Choosing a Course

To choose which course you want to study, follow the usual routine offered by the LMS you are using. TypingMaster courses include the following but note that your course administrator may have chosen not to include all courses in the LMS.

Note: Your administrator may not have all courses enabled.

2.2 Starting a Lesson

When you click on the course name, you will be taken to the lesson view. From here select which lesson you would like to study.

Each course consists of lessons which, in turn, consist of exercises. Normally you should complete a course from the top to bottom. When you select a lesson by clicking on it the typing tutor will load.

Note: You may find that lessons are locked, there are 2 reasons why lessons may be locked:

• TypingMaster is in trial mode. This is when no licenses have been purchased yet or the license has expired. The locked lesson will not be available until licenses are purchased. You can, however, preview each lesson, simply by starting that lesson.
• Your administrator has set Lesson Lock. When this is enabled you must pass each lesson starting from the first to unlock the next one.

2.3 Completing Exercises

When you start a lesson, the typing tutor application will open and you will be taken to the screen that shows the exercises of the first lesson. Note that when launching the typing tutor the very first time it may take some time to load.

On "Course" page it is time to start drilling and practicing to learn efficient touch-typing. Each course consists of lessons which, in turn, consist of exercises.

The name of the lesson is shown at the top of the page and exercises for that lesson are listed on the left hand side of the screen.

The exercise you should start working on is highlighted. Exercise duration is shown next to the exercise link unless lesson duration has been set to unlimited by the administrator. To begin an exercise, click on the name of the exercise with your mouse.

If an exercise is completed, a check mark will be displayed next to it on the exercise list. A blank circle indicates an exercise that has not been completed.

For more information about different exercise types see chapter 4 Exercise Types.

2.4 Viewing Exercise Results

After having completed the exercise you will be taken to the results page.

The upper half of the exercise results page shows you the statistics: how much time was used to complete the exercise, your gross speed, accuracy and net speed.

The bottom half of the screen shows the keys you are having trouble with and their difficulty index. The keys are arranged from the most difficult to the easiest. The difficulty index is based on the amount of mistyped keys and corrections that you have made.

2.5 Viewing Course Results

You will find a course report on the course view page, at the bottom after all lessons.

Clicking on "View course report" will open the report showing the following details: General info for that course; including the course name and the time you have spent studying the course. The Course Report also shows the gross typing speed, accuracy and net typing speed for each exercise.

LMS Score: Depending on the LMS you are using, you may also find a "score" for each completed lesson or test. The score is your net typing speed result in the lesson exam or final test. In case the typing speed unit used is characters/keystrokes per minute (cpm/kpm), then multiplying the score by 10 gives your net typing speed in cpm/kpm.

2.6 Final Test

At the end of the Touch Typing Course and the Speed Building Course is a Final Test. This exercise typing works just like lesson exams where you copy the text shown. The program will count your speed and typing mistakes. The important difference between lesson exams and final tests is that the speed and accuracy you type during a final test is used to test your learning after the course and the result will be the final result for the whole course.

After the exam, you will receive results on the outcome of the test. The duration of the test will be displayed along with information on Gross speed, Accuracy and Net speed.

• Gross speed is the speed at which you typed.
• Net speed is gross speed minus the number of errors.
• Accuracy percentage is the percentage of words typed correctly.

The administrator may have set a minimum limit needed to pass the test. If you failed to meet these limits you will fail the exercise. If you fail you will be notified the speed or accuracy you need to pass the exercise.

NOTE: Not all the courses have final test in the end. Instead these courses have lesson exam at the end of each lesson.

2.7 Additional Tests

Administrator can set up additional tests which will be shown in the course list.

3 Exercise Types

Once the typing tutor has loaded you will be taken to the exercise view of the chosen lesson. The exercise you should work on first is highlighted.

If an exercise is completed, a check mark will be displayed along side that exercise.

It is also possible to navigate between the exercises. If you wish to study a specific exercise, simply click on the exercise you wish to start.

The exercises are made up of several exercise types. These basic exercise types are explained in this section.

3.1 Keyboard Exercise

Keyboard exercises are designed to teach new keys. The screen in a keyboard exercise shows a keyboard with the keys that are currently being studied highlighted. During the exercise the key to be pressed is marked blue.

Underneath the keyboard, two hands are shown. A blue dot indicates the finger you should use to press the key. This helps you memorize the locations of the keys and use all fingers effectively when typing. Remember, try not to to look at your hands, just follow the on-screen instructions.

At the top of the screen, the sequence of keys to be pressed is shown.

At the right side of the screen the clock indicates how much time you have left to complete the section.

After learning the new keys, you will copy words that are made up of these keys. This will help you memorize the new key locations.

3.2 Word Drill

In word drill, you copy words that are shown in the top half of the screen.

Words are shown either one at a time or in rows of words. Your position in the original text is shown with a green letter and by removing the letters you have typed. The keyboard visual is still there to help you learn key positions without looking at your keyboard.

This exercise type puts emphasis on accuracy and all words need to be typed correctly. If you press a wrong key, the program will display a red warning and show the correct key to press and finger to use. If sounds are enabled, you will also hear a warning sound.

The right side of the screen contains information on how much time you have left to complete the exercise.

3.3 Sentence Drill

Sentence drill is similar to a word drill, only this time you need to type whole sentences

After completing the drill type, Duration, Gross Speed, Accuracy and Net Speed of your typing along with written evaluations and a comment will be displayed after the exercise.

3.4 Paragraph Drill

A Paragraph drill is quite similar to sentence drills. In the paragraph drill you copy a longer passage of text instead of separate words or short sentences.

The main difference in the paragraph drill compared with the sentence drill is that the program displays your position by underlining the current word to be copied and you have to keep track of the position yourself. During the exercise you can make corrections to the word you are currently typing using Backspace (unless disabled by the course administrator). Once you press the space bar, the word is considered final and no corrections can be made.

If you skip over one word in the source text, TypingMaster does not display an error although this is counted as one. This is to help you keep your typing fluent. If you jump over more than one word, TypingMaster displays the word typed as being incorrect and also shows your position in the original text.

3.5 Review Drill

If you are using the ActiveX interface (see section 5.1 for details), you will have access to a Review Wizard that monitors your typing progress for that lesson. Based on the data it collects, the Wizard creates information on your problem areas.

The bottom half of the screen shows the keys you are having trouble with and their difficulty index. The keys are arranged from the most difficult to the easiest. The difficulty index is based on the amount of mistyped keys and corrections that you have made in the lessons, games and typing test.

On top of these statistics, an overall index of difficulty is given along with a written assessment on the need of review. If you have a high difficulty index and the program suggests that you review your problem areas, it's a good idea to follow this advice.

At the top portion of the Review screen, you can select the keys to be reviewed. The keys that are giving you trouble are listed to be reviewed as a default. You can also choose to practice on the keys you have already studied. In the third option, you can select the keys to be studied yourself by writing them on the space provided.

3.6 Games

Bubbles Game

In this typing game your task is to burst the bubbles before they exit the screen. To burst a bubble, you will need to press the letter that is inside the bubble. Each bubble that you burst gives you points. If you press a wrong key, points will be taken away. Red and blue bubbles are faster than the ordinary green ones and give more points. After missing six bubbles, the game ends.

WordTris game

This game is a variation of the classic Tetris. In WordTris you have to type the word shown in a bar and catch it by pressing Space before it hits the bottom. The game ends when 6 uncaught bars fill the box.

3.7 Lesson Exam

At the end of all lessons is a Lesson Exam. This exercise typing works just like paragraph exercises, copy the text shown. The program will then count your speed and typing mistakes. The important difference between paragraph exercises and lesson exams is that the speed and accuracy you type during a lesson exam is used to track your progress through the course.

After the exam, you will receive results on the outcome of the exercise. The duration of the test will be displayed along with information on Gross speed, Accuracy and Net speed.

• Gross speed is the speed at which you typed.
• Net speed is gross speed minus the number of errors.
• Accuracy percentage is the percentage of words typed correctly.

The administrator may have set a minimum limit needed to pass the exam or test. If you failed to meet these limits you will fail the exercise. If you fail you will be notified the speed or accuracy you need to pass the exercise.

You can see the results for any completed lesson exams you have on the Results page.

4 Troubleshooting

4.1 ActiveX And Java Tutors

Depending on what operating system and browser you use the typing tutor may look different.

• Users with Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP/Vista using Internet Explorer 4 or greater use the Windows ActiveX® typing tutor.
• All other operating systems and browsers will use the Java® typing tutor.

There are some minor functional and technical differences between these two tutors. Below is information on these differences as well as solutions if you encounter any problems.

4.2 ActiveX Typing Tutor

ActiveX typing tutor has a menu at the right side of the program screen. This menu is not available in the Java tutor and it provides some additional features specific for the ActiveX tutor. Below, you will find a list of all the different options in the menu with brief descriptions.

Note: Some menu items may be disabled by your administrator

Below are the descriptions of games that are unique for the Windows tutor. These can only be accessed from the Windows typing tutor in the Games menu tab. See section 4.6 Games for descriptions on the games that are available in the study material also in Java tutor.

Clouds Game

In "Clouds", you will see a blue sky with clouds rolling by. Some of the clouds will turn sunny and a word will appear under them. On the other hand some clouds will turn dark and stormy. You can catch both types of clouds by typing the word under the cloud.

Try not to miss the stormy clouds, since after six missed stormy clouds, the game will end. On the other hand, the sunny clouds will give you lots of bonus points.

You can move between the clouds at any time by pressing Enter to go forward and Backspace to go back. You can also use Space to go forward, but it will not work if a word is incomplete.

ABC Game

This simple game is a test in typing speed. The goal is to type to letters from 'a' to 'z' as fast as possible. Typing each letter gives you a score, the faster you type them the better the score. When you type a letter the bubble it is in will disappear and you can then type the next letter. The game ends when all the letters have been typed.

As well as the letters 'a' through to 'z' you can select from other combinations including capital letters and numbers.

4.3 Java Typing Tutor

This typing tutor will be used when using non-Windows operating systems, such as Mac OS X, Linux and other UNIX operating systems. It will also be used if you are using a Windows operating system and another browser than Internet Explorer, such as Netscape or Opera, for example.

Requirements are any Java 1.1 compatible browser. To make sure you have Java installed, you can find more about Java at:

http://www.java.com

Simply click on an exercise to start. To return to the exercise list click on "Cancel". To close the tutor, click on "Exit this lesson" or use the Close window icon (at the very top and on either the left or right of the window).

4.4 Typing Tutor not Loading

Some common errors and their solutions:

Loading the Tutor Takes a Lot of Time

When waiting for the typing tutor to load for the first time please be patient. Depending on your network connection speed the typing tutor may take several minutes to load. After the first time the typing tutor will appear noticeably faster when loaded again.

Error: 'Unable to start ActiveX component'

If you receive the error 'Unable to start ActiveX component', please follow these instructions below.

If you use Internet Explorer on Windows

1. In the Internet Explorer click on Tools > Internet Options
2. Click on the Security tab
3. Select the Internet zone
4. Click on the Default Level button
5. Click OK
6. Reload this page

If the error still occurs you can try installing the typing tutor. If you choose this option you do not need to change any settings in Internet Explorer. NOTE: You must had Administrator privileges on the computer to run this installer. If the computer is your own (e.g. your computer at home) you should not have problems, but if you are using a computer in a class room or in a secure environment you may need some assistance installing the typing tutor, ask you teacher or Network Administrator if you are unsure.

To install the typing tutor all you need to do is click on the install this required ActiveX component link that appears when you see the Unable to start ActiveX component error. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the install.

Alternatively if adjusting your settings does not work you can try the Java tutor. Look for the Start Java Tutor heading on the error page with instructions and a link to start the Java tutor.

If you use Opera web browser

Users of the Opera web browser may also encounter this problem, this is due to Opera pretending to be Internet Explorer. Opera users either click on the Start Java Tutor that appears on the bottom of the error page, or in Opera 7 go to the File menu and down to the Quick Preferences, there make sure Identify as Opera is selected. Return to the Studying page and try launching the lesson again.

If you use some other browser or operating system

In this case the error is most likely caused by your course administrator locking the tutor to the ActiveX only. Please consult your course administrator to resolve the issue.

Error: 'Unable to use Java'

If you receive the error 'Unable to use Java' and you are using Internet Explorer click on Tools > Internet Options and click on the Security tab. Select the Internet zone and click on the Default Level button and click OK. If you are using Netscape or another similar browser make sure you have Java set as Enabled (often a check box in the Preferences). If you do not have Java installed please see the error instructions on where to download it.