The purpose of this study was to examine the status and trends of instruction in both keyboarding and speech recognition among public schools in a Midwestern state. A survey was sent to 490 members of the state business education association who returned 213 (62.5%) usable responses. The subjects represented schools from kindergarten to college.…

A group of 431 business communication students included 199 nontraditional students and 362 who had prior keyboarding instruction. Keyboarding skill and computer anxiety were correlated. There were no differences in keyboarding skills of traditional and nontraditional students. Those with no previous instruction had less computer anxiety. (SK)

Of 1,243 secondary students randomly assigned to treatments, the experimental group received keyboarding instruction plus basic English instruction 3 times per week for 8 weeks. They showed statistically significant achievement in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization when theory and practice were integrated. Keyboarding speed and…

A learning style inventory and keyboarding pre/posttest administered to 48 fourth graders showed persistence to be the only learning style factor related to achievement. Pretest score was related to final achievement, indicating that natural kinesthetic ability may affect keyboarding speed. (SK)

Responses from 51 percent of a national sample of 1,000 public school administrators found that a majority believe: keyboarding is a basic skill; third-grade students are not too young; elementary teachers can teach it without certification but with inservice training; and (4) it is easier to prepare elementary teachers than business education…

A national survey of 753 elementary teachers found that only 13 percent (95) teach keyboarding, there is insufficient time for mastery of touch typing, access to equipment is limited, teachers do not have thorough knowledge of theory related to psychomotor skill development, and no formal evaluation is used. (SK)

The purpose of this study was to determine the value of business education at the secondary school level as perceived by three groups of people who have great impact on course offerings, student advisement, and teacher hiring decisions. Specifically, high school counselors, high school principals, and local board of education presidents in a…

Analysis of over 750 timed writings of postsecondary keyboarding students found speeds ranging from 39-49 gross words per minute. They left uncorrected one-half to three-quarters of an error per minute. Accuracy and speed standards representing realistic conditions using electronic equipment should now be developed. (SK)

The problem of this study was to determine whether introductory machine transcription materials that incorporate listening principles and techniques would facilitate the fusion of keyboarding, language application, and proofreading skills. (JOW)

Responses from 157 of 193 business teachers who teach keyboarding indicated that 78.7% were aware of cumulative trauma disorder and 22% had experienced it. Only 13% of classrooms were equipped with wrist rests. About 53% teach techniques to reduce incidence, but 20% did not know whether they taught preventive measures. (SK)

This study examined the validity of various measures of speed and accuracy for assessing proficiency in speech recognition. The study specifically compared two different word-count indices for speed and accuracy (the 5-stroke word and the 1.4-syllable standard word) on a timing administered to 114 speech recognition students measured at 1-, 2-,…

A survey of 429 secretarial/clerical trainers received 191 responses emphasizing that postsecondary office systems curricula should focus on communication and human relations skills, technology-related applications, telephone techniques, transcription, and keyboarding accuracy. (SK)

In 18 beginning computer classes of middle and high school students, 409 pre- and postsemester keyboarding timings were taken. Significant differences in grades were related to developmental phase (those in cognitive or overlap phases had lower grades than those in associative phase--over 25 words per minute). Students showed significant progress…

One group of secondary keyboarding students was taught on typewriters and switched to microcomputers after six weeks, the other used microcomputers first, then typewriters. Using computers, students showed faster completion times and fewer typographical errors. Transfer from computers to typewriters slowed times and increased errors. Overall,…

This study compared two software programs for teaching keyboarding to students in grades four, five, and six and compared speed achievement when students were grouped by sex. One program was an educational game. The other used traditional psychological motor skill development theory as applied to typewriting instruction. Results are reported and…