App

TapTyping

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet
This TapTyping app also includes:

Familiarize your pupils with how to type by tapping on a tablet screen. They will master the tablet keyboard with a set of lessons that get progressively more advanced. Track progress with a speed test every few lessons.

2nd - 12th Physical Education 16 Views 4 Downloads
App Overview

How to Become a Master Typist:

  1. Create a profile by entering a name and tapping Create User Profile
  2. Begin with either the Speed Test to set your first benchmark, or the iPad Crash Course to learn how to use the keyboard on your device and start practicing
  3. Move through the courses: Beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, as well as a section titled Extra Credit
  4. Check out your words per minute, accuracy, and elapsed time after each exercise
  5. Use the heat map of where your fingers touch the screen to see your mistakes and adapt your typing method
  6. Test yourself periodically to track your progress

Features:

  • View your words per minute and accuracy after each exercise and for each test and course
  • Track your progress from the Statistics tab; see your words per minute, accuracy, characters typed, time spent, and typing tests
  • Take the speed test whenever you want
  • Create multiple profiles and switch between profiles easily
  • Pause, retry, restart, or quit a lesson at any time; your data will be saved if you quit and the app will show a percentage completed for each lesson you start
  • Get a star each time you complete a lesson (18 stars total are available)
  • Challenge yourself with extra credit texts ranging from act 1 of Romeo and Juliet to well-known spam e-mail messages
  • View a leaderboard of top typing speeds
  • Connect the app to a Twitter account

 

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Instructional Ideas

If your class is going to be using tablets often, this is a good tool for teaching the basics of typing. Students can practice in class for just a few minutes at a time, or work through the lessons at home. It's easy to check progress and make sure pupils have been using the app.

Set up stations if you have access to fewer devices. Keyboarding skills are important and can easily become part of your curriculum.

Connect your device, or your pupils' devices, to a Bluetooth keyboard to practice typing with a full keyboard.

Classroom Considerations

Since this is not the best app for teaching users new to typing which fingers to use, you might need to reinforce the relationship between fingers and keys with additional lessons.

This is designed specifically for typing on an iPad or iPhone screen.

The sound it makes when you type a letter incorrectly does not go away when you put the tablet on mute. Plug headphones in to divert the audio.

Pros
  • Easy to track progress and see improvement in typing speed and accuracy
  • The course gradually introduces the keyboard to beginners and allows more advanced typists to jump ahead
  • Allows for multiple profiles on a single device
Cons
  • The app does not do the best job of teaching which fingers to use for which keys; there is a note at the top of the practice exercises, but they keys don't light up and there aren't any animations of fingers to watch
  • Connects directly to Twitter and an online leaderboard