Vance's PI Computing Classes

Integrating keyboarding and language skills with MS Office

Vance Stevens, Lecturer of Computing at Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi

Click here for a presentation on this material at the 2004 TESOL Conference in Long Beach

Instructions for Students

In these exercises you will create a memo (or office memorandum) to report and evaluate your keyboarding skills progress. As you complete the steps, you will practice these skills:

Practice your keyboarding skills in a typing program that tracks your speed and accuracy.
PI Students can find the DOS Keyboarding Tutor here (local LAN access only).
Record on a paper worksheet the exercise number and date you did it, typing speed, and accuracy for each lesson you do in the typing program (or skip directly to the next step)
Create your own spreadsheet in Excel and enter the data you recorded.
Use the Chart Wizard in Excel to create a graph which lists date and exercise on the bottom and two 'series' of points on the graph labeled 'accuracy' and 'fluency'.
Import your graph into an MS Word memo wizard and write a report in memo format on your keyboarding progress.

Materials Used

Step	Resource	What to do
1	DOS Keyboard Tutor Progress Chart	Keep a copy of this form handy when working the DOS Keyboard Tutor lessons. For each lesson completed, record your speed and accuracy as reported by the program. Regularly record this data into an Excel spreadsheet.
2	Creating a Keyboard Progress Chart in your Computing Class	This online PowerPoint presentation explains exactly how to use Chart Wizard in Excel to produce a 'chart object' in your spreadsheet Note: When entering accuracy values, use absolute numbers such at 96 rather than decimal such as .96 or 96% (since these values will appear as less than one on your chart).
3	Sample Memorandum	Use the Memo Wizard in Word to create a memo like the one shown here, with the Excel chart object imported. Follow the instructions in the memo to create a report explaining your progress report of speed and accuracy at the keyboard as you complete the keyboarding tutorials.
4	Memo Marking Sheet (with sample memo)	Here is the marking sheet for your memo. This sheet explains what your teacher is looking for in your completed memo, and shows you a sample that matches the criteria.
5	DOS Keyboarding Tutor Quiz Sheet	When it's time for assessing your typing skills, this is a form your teacher might use. There is also a marking scheme on the second page.

For PI use: Here is an Advanced Word and Excel Integrated Skills Exercise for practicing skills required for this exercise along with some advanced Word skills

This update: May 4, 2004
Address questions or comments to vstevens at pi.ac.ae http://www.vancestevens.com/