| The purpose of the study was to determine the beliefs, practices, preferences, and trends of people knowledgeable in keyboarding techniques on the microcomputer versus the electric typewriter, electronic typewriter, and stand-alone word processor. The specific keyboarding skills compared were keyboarding practices, machine adaptability, use of electronic dictionary programs, accuracy and speed, mastery of the keyboard, and motivation of students.; Based on the findings of this study, the Qwerty keyboard was preferred over the Dvorak keyboard. There was no uniform agreement on selection of the best machine to teach the touch system of keyboarding. It was felt by many of the business educators that the electronic dictionary should not be introduced during keyboarding classes. There was a preference for the microcomputer and the electric typewriter over the electronic typewriter and the stand-alone word processor for developing keyboarding accuracy. Where cost constraints existed, the business educators felt that the electric typewriter was the most efficient for teaching keyboarding. Where cost constraints did not exist, the business educators felt that the microcomputer was the most efficient for teaching keyboarding. It was not recommended that keyboarding classes be lengthened. The business educators felt that students are better motivated to learn the keyboard on the microcomputer, and they preferred tutorial disks over textbooks for motivating students to learn keyboarding. It was felt that all students should enroll in keyboarding classes. WordPerfect was the word processor program preferred to teach keyboarding. Business educators and business education majors should be required to become qualified in computer literacy. All seven keyboarding competencies identified by the Policies Commission for Business and Economic Education were considered important. |
