Software - The Right Tools!
Software does not seem to be the issue it once was. The educators at the NSBA conference discussed it almost as an afterthought. The question of the validity of drill and practice software brought a resounding "NO!" Keyboarding was more of a discussion. All agreed that keyboarding was a necessity at some time, but noone was anxious to accept responsibility for it at a particular grade. Generally, most felt that:

ï many schools had redundant keyboard teaching at various points in the students' career
ï it is possible that keyboarding is used as a crutch to take the place of more project-based technology activities
ï there are more interesting methods that might be used to promote proper keyboard fingering (software such as Communikeys or Co-Writer)
ï older machines could be used for keyboarding exclusively, rather than tying up multi-media machines with keyboarding.

The subject of software was not a conclusive discussion. All participants agreed that integrated use of the software was the key to success. The only software programs mentioned specifically were Accelerated Reader, KidPix, and MicroWorlds.

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