Welcome to the Typing Tutor IV keyboard instruction program! This
program will tailor a course that matches your goals, experience, and
available practice time, to help you gain mastery of the keyboard. @
This introduction will explain the usage of the Typing Tutor IV
program. If you are new to computers, you should read the
Typing Tutor IV user's manual before proceeding. @
Experienced computer users may want to get right into the program and read
the introduction later. As
the bottom line of this screen tells you, pressing the
Esc (Escape) key will get you past the introduction. @
The Esc key is used
throughout the program to get out of what you are doing and do something else.
You can always look to the bottom line to find out where Esc will take you. @
The top line of each screen lets you know where you are in the program. In the
upper left corner is the name of the current screen, and your name is in
the upper right corner. @
Selections of Typing Tutor IV features are made from menus. Each menu
gives a list of program features to select from. One feature of every menu
is called Help. Selecting Help will get you information about the other
features of that menu. @
The Main Menu is the starting point for the selection of all the features
of the program. The selections available on the Main Menu are: Lessons,
Tests, Reports, Options, Game, Help, and Quit. Selecting any of these except
Help or Quit will lead you to a secondary menu with more choices. Selecting
Help will give you a fuller description of all the choices on the current
menu. @
Help is available as an option on every menu. Selecting each of the menus
and reading Help is a good way to familiarize yourself with all of the
features of the program. @
After reading this introduction you will be asked some questions about your
goals in using this program, and your current skill level at the
keyboard. This information will be used to help create customized lessons
and tests for you, and to give you meaningful feedback on your progress.
If you wish to revise your goals later, you can do so by selecting Options
from the Main Menu. @
The area where you will probably want to spend most of your time is in
Practice Lessons. To get to Practice Lessons, you should select Lessons from
the Main Menu, and then Practice from the Lessons Menu. @
A lesson consists
of a series of one-line drills. Each drill appears in a box at the top of
the screen with an arrow pointing up at the first character to be
typed. As you type the line, the arrow will move along the line pointing
to the next character to be typed. If you make a mistake, an arrow will
appear above the line pointing down to the error. At the end of a line
type either space bar or Enter to complete the drill. @
To monitor your progress with lessons, you will want to take Practice
Tests. The results of a Practice Test are recorded in your history file,
and will appear on your personal Progress Report. To get to Practice Test,
select Tests from the Main Menu, and then Practice from the Tests Menu. @
Tests are taken in the same way as lessons, except that there are multiple
lines instead of just one. Type the character above the pointer, and space
bar or Enter at the end of each line. @
You will see your Progress Report when you exit from the program, but you can
also select it by choosing Reports from the Main Menu, and then Progress. Also
from the Reports Menu, you can view your Speed and Accuracy Graphs. These
graphs show how you are doing on each key, and compare the current session's
data with your history. @
You can take a break from lessons and tests and play the Letter Invaders
game. It is fast-paced, fun, and when you get back to lessons you will find
that it sharpens your typing skills too! Letter Invaders allows you to
play with just the keys you have learned in your lessons (it does assume
you have learned the home row keys '*' and '#'), so you get a game
matched to your current skill level. You get to Letter Invaders by selecting
Game from the Main Menu, and Play from the Game Menu. @
If your aim is to gain proficiency on the numeric keypad, then instead of
Practice Lessons and Practice Tests, you will want to select Keypad Lessons
and Keypad Tests. You do this by choosing Keypad from either the Lessons
Menu or the Tests Menu. The results of Keypad Tests will be saved to your
history and appear on the Progress Report. @
This introduction covers the main features of Typing Tutor IV. There
are other features that you will want to learn by touring the menus or by
reading the manual. Good luck! Enjoy! ^
The features of the Lessons Menu are: @
Practice - is a sequence of one line drills on the keyboard. For all but the
most experienced users, practice lessons will start with simple drills using
the home keys of the left hand, '*'. As you progress, new keys will be
introduced starting with the home keys of the right hand,
'#'. When keys beyond the home row are introduced there are home
key drills to reinforce the use of the correct finger for each new key. A
fingering chart is shown whenever a new key is introduced. The use of the
shift key is taught after the home keys are learned. @
Except for home key lessons, there are three boxes on each practice screen.
The top box contains the current lesson with an arrow pointing up to the
next key to be typed. Arrows above the keys indicate mistakes.
If you make a mistake, you can use the backspace key to correct it. At
the end of a line press Enter or the space bar to continue. The middle
box displays the focus keys for each new drill. These are keys that need the
most improvement. The bottom box shows the speed and accuracy for the drill
just taken. At the end of each sequence of drills (normally 10 drills,
but you can change this from the Options Menu) there is a summary for that
lesson. @
Fingering - allows you to take a home key lesson on any key. A fingering
chart is displayed highlighting the selected key and its home key, and drills
are given for all keys other then the home row. @
Keypad - gives drills and home key lessons for the numeric keypad similar
to practice lessons on
the regular keyboard. Each drill is three lines instead of one, and the '+'
key on the keypad is used to end a line. This is similar to the way you would
tally a column of numbers. Keypad lessons start with the keys
'456' as the home keys, and new keys are introduced as you progress. @
Help - displays this screen. ^
Tests give you the chance to type a screen of text at a time. Each test is
followed by scoring information which is also recorded in your personal
Progress Report. Taking tests at regular intervals, or at the end of each
session allows you to measure your progress. Tests work the same way as
lessons: an arrow points up to the next key to be typed, and errors are
marked with a down arrow. The space bar or the Enter key terminates
a line (or the '+' key on keypad tests), and backspace can be used to
correct errors. @
The features of the Tests Menu are: @
Practice - is a test that includes only the keys that have been introduced
in your lessons. If you have not taken any lessons, a practice test will
include just the '*' keys. If you are a very experienced typist, a
test will include at least all of the alphabet. @
All-keys - tests your skill on the entire keyboard, even on keys that
have not yet been introduced. @
Disk - is a test using a file stored on the disk.
These are standard
speed tests similar to the ones you might receive if you were being tested
on your typing skills at a place of employment. In addition to the sample
disk tests provided with Typing Tutor IV, you can create your own tests
and store them on the disk (refer to the users manual for further
instructions). @
Keypad - gives you a test tallying several columns of numbers with the
numeric keypad. @
Help - displays this screen. ^
The features of the Reports Menu are: @
Progress - is a tabular summary of your tests and lessons. For tests
the type of test (Practice, All-keys, Disk, or Keypad) is recorded with the
date taken. The name of the file used on disk tests is also shown. There
are separate sections for practice lessons on the keyboard and for numeric
keypad lessons. Each of the lesson sections gives session and history
information. 'Session' includes everything you have done since starting
Typing Tutor IV this time, and 'history' summarizes all the work that
you have saved in previous sessions. @
For each lesson and test there is information about the number of keys that
are faster than your goal. This shows your progress in learning
new keys. The average speed and accuracy is also shown. For non-keypad
items there is a speed breakdown by key type. The three breakdowns are:
Letter (alphabet and punctuation keys), Number, and Symbol. @
Speed - shows a WPM graph for each key, so you can analyze your strengths
and weaknesses in detail. At the bottom of the screen, beginning with
'*', are all the keys in the order of presentation. Each vertical
bar displays
your performance on that key in this session and historically. One pattern
(or color) is used for this session, another for history, and a third when
they overlap. @
Accuracy - is a graph with the same layout as the speed graph, but it
portrays your accuracy percentage for each key instead of its speed. @
Help - displays this screen. ^
The features of the Options Menu are: @
WPM - lets you adjust your goal for the typing speed you wish to achieve.
If you have reached your original goal, you can set a higher goal to go
for. If you find that your original goal was too high, try setting a
lower intermediate goal. @
Time - allows you to change your planned practice schedule to a different
number of hours per week. @
Drills - chaƒƒ ƒ ƒ ƒ▄@┬@╪╩µµ▐▄\@@¿╨╥µ@▄Ω┌─╩Σ@╥µ@▐Σ╥╬╥▄┬╪╪≥µ╩Φ@Φ▐@Φ╩▄@╚Σ╥╪╪µ@╥▄@┬@╪╩µµ▐▄X@─ΩΦ@≥▐Ω@╞┬▄@┌┬╓╩@╥Φ@╨╥╬╨╩Σ@▐Σ@╪▐ε╩Σ@Φ▐@╠╥ΦΦ╨╩@ε┬≥@≥▐Ω@╪╥╓╩@Φ▐@αΣ┬╞Φ╥╞╩\@Ǫ▐Ω▄╚@Z@ΦΩΣ▄µ@Φ╨╩@µ▐Ω▄╚@▐▄@▐Σ@▐╠╠\@Ç£┬┌╩@Z@┬╪╪▐εµ@≥▐Ω@Φ▐@╩╚╥Φ@≥▐ΩΣ@▌ame if it was entered incorrectly. @
Intro - lets you reread the Typing Tutor IV introduction. @
Help - displays this screen. ^
The features of the Main Menu are: @
Encrypt - allows encryption of a disk test. Once a test is encrypted,
it can no longer be understood except when taking a disk test. There is
no way to return an encrypted file to its previous state, so if you need
the original file, make a copy of it first. @
Reports - is a menu that allows you to view student results on disk tests, or
see the progress of individual students. @
Password - lets you change the code required to get into instructor mode. @
Delete - allows you to delete a student record from the history ficüƒ?αß'ƒÇƒ ƒƒ üƒ?αß ƒÇƒƒƒ üƒƒα߃ ƒ ƒƒ ƒ ƒ üƒ?αß# ƒÇƒƒ ƒ ƒ ƒƒ ƒƒ ƒ ƒƒ ƒ ƒαß ƒ üƒƒ$ƒ ƒ ƒ ƒ ƒ ƒ ƒ ƒ ƒ αß ƒ ƒ ƒ ƒƒ üƒ?α߃ǃ ƒ Session History
- displays a Progress Report on an individual student. @
Speed - displays a Speed Graph for an individual student. @
Accuracy - displays an Accuracy Graph for an individual student. @
