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NOVEMBER 2005

Bytes for Learning’s Ultrakey 5

By Mitchell Levine

Although not everyone would agree on the actual educational efficacy of the current emphasis in our schools on computers, there’s little doubt that in the New York City schools, at least, they’ve become a focus. From tutorial software, to Internet research, to specialized classes in graphics and Web design, students spend more and more time in front of a monitor.

A strong case can be made, then, that for students needing to interact with most digital technology, keyboarding skills are the equivalent of literacy. As one’s ability to decode written language is a controlling factor in their access to learning, an educational computer user is limited by their ability to manipulate a keyboard. In timed exams in tutorials, typing is a factor in returned grades. Unfortunately, for most, typing instruction is still caught up in the 1950s with programmed learning hardly even an. Thankfully, Bytes of Learning has brought keyboarding pedagogy into the 21st century with its latest version of its seminal keyboarding tutor, Ultrakey 5. Unlike many of the products reviewed here, Ultrakey isn’t really a tutorial program. Essentially, it’s an updated version of the old tachistoscope: pour text files into the application and it flashes them word by word on a viewing screen at variable rates of speed. Once you’re done reading, a quick test will inform you as to exactly how successfully you were able to process the material.

On the other hand, simply undergoing this process trains the eyes and cortical centers to operate more expeditiously, which is why the product also has its “educational mode.” A series of suggested drills is given to exploit this phenomenon, and, after undertaking one, I can honestly say that it not only exercised my reading capacity, but acted as a general mental hotfoot as well. Once the reading has commenced, typing instruction follows with a variable rate of speed determined by the instructor.

Full report capabilities are available, and the one of the most exciting features is the server software that Bytes of Learning provides to both students and teachers. Students can access their classroom instruction online for an interactive keyboarding lesson anywhere they have an Internet connection, while teachers can fully monitor their progress from any location as well. It’s important to note that this is not a Web-based product—tutorial lessons are only accessible from within the software itself, and not from an Internet site.

That’s the best recommendation I can give. For more information, log onto the company’s site at www.bytesforlearning.com.#

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