In addition to her activities promoting the teaching of keyboarding, Gay is a full time teacher with a very demanding schedule. Nevertheless, she kindly took some time out recently to participate in the following "virtual" interview.

>How did you become interested in keyboarding for children?

I took a job as a K-8 computer lab teacher with all kinds of grand ideas for how kids could use computers to express themselves, expand their thinking, explore ideas. I naively hadn't given any prior thought to teaching them to keyboard. Within that first year however, I realized students could not take advantage of those "higher-level thinking" potentialities of computer technology if they were laboring slowly over each letter stroke. I realized that learning to touch-key was the most important ENABLING skill I could help them develop. So I began to research how best to teach touch-keyboarding, and experiment with different instructional methods in my lab. This topic eventually became my masters thesis project.

>Why is keyboarding important?

Two main reasons: empowerment, and health. Sure, anyone can use a computer without knowing how to touch-key; but to be most efficient and truly gain the advantages of word processors and communications programs (to say nothing of programming), efficient keyboard use is the underlying, empowering skill.

The fastest hunt-and-peck typists rarely exceed about 35 words per minute no matter how much they practice. And because they must look at the keyboard to find the letters, they do a poor job of copying text, wasting much time finding their place again after each phrase. When composing at the keyboard, they lose time looking back and forth from screen to keys. The touch-keyboardist can keep eyes on either screen (when composing) or printed page (when transcribing) which is vastly more efficient. The touch-keyboardist surpasses 35 words per minute quickly after "automaticity" is reached, and then will continue to gain speed and accuracy simply through regular use of the skill over time.

Youngsters today are using keyboards much earlier than high school age, when the skill used to be taught. By high school, if they haven't had an effective program of touch-keying instruction, many kids will have established two-finger hunt-and-peck habits. This is very difficult to overcome, because they have to key slower during the period of re-training the muscle responses. By this point in their school careers students are often expected to produce word-processed papers, so it is asking a lot to expect them to slow down. Most will continue in their inefficient habits to meet the short term goals of the immediate assignment. Even if they have a good keyboarding class in high school, the improper keying methods that many will continue to use outside of the lesson environment sabotages and impedes the new learning. It is very important that we train kids properly BEFORE they spend much time using keyboards for word processing.

The other crucial reason it is important we teach kids proper touch keyboarding early is for their long term physical health. Repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome are on the increase among computer users, and the cause can usually be traced to poor keyboarding technique. These kinds of injuries are cumulative, and take years to develop. I feel it is imperative that schools recognize this health risk to students and emphasize prevention through training in proper technique from the earliest years when computers are used in school.

First and foremost--not enough time in the school scheduling stucture. Just think for a moment about how "typing" was taught prior to the computer age. Usually it was taught in high school, for a semester or a whole year, with something like 45 minute periods, 5 days a week. For a one semester class, that totals up to over 60 hours of direct instruction and practice, conducted by a teacher who was specifically trained in teaching the skill. Now, for some reason, we expect students can accomplish mastery of this tough skill in 30 minute weekly lab sessions, conducted by teachers who have never even had a class in how to teach it, and may not even touch-key themselves! And even that weekly 30 minutes is rarely devoted to keyboarding; all these other computer skills and curriculum tie-in projects are also supposed to be covered in that time! What is wrong with this picture?

Another big problem is the pervasive expectation that a software program can "teach" this skill, or worse yet, that kids will simply learn to touch-key by osmosis or something if they simply spend time using computers. Truth to tell, there is simply no substitute for a trained, live teacher conducting this instruction and monitoring skill development. In the early learning stages, technique is EVERYTHING. No software in the world can tell which finger is being used to strike a key, or whether the wrists are held in a way that prevents future development of repetitive stress injuries. Software can play a role in skill-building after the cognitive phase of the instruction, and if it is well-designed (based on sound psychomotor learning fundamentals) it can be useful for the most self-determined learners. But alone, it will not be effective for most students.

>How do you tackle these problems?

On the time issue, I lobby constantly for more of it. This is difficult in a time when there's this major national focus on specific "standards" and touch-keyboarding skill is not included among those standards! In fact, none of the standardized tests I'm aware of even allows students to use keying skills in the writing segments, let alone requires them to. This is so divorced from the reality of how writing is done in our world today that I don't see why more educators aren't screaming about it.

I also support the widespread use of low cost portable keyboards such as AlphaSmarts. These can "make time" for keying, because they can be used anytime, anywhere. They allow the smooth integration of keyboarding with the rest of the school program.

Another thing I do is take every opportunity I can to train teachers in how to teach touch-keyboarding. I've produced a teachers' guide; a manual that includes lesson plans and everything needed (except the hardware) for implementing a program of touch-keying instruction in elementary grades.

>How did you use your CapCUE grant?

The CapCUE grant supported my efforts to train teachers. It covered the cost of producing and distributing 30 of the teachers' guide manuals I just mentioned, and provided half-fee scholarships for teachers who enrolled in either of two inservice training courses I presented. The first was conducted in a one-day workshop at the Placer County Office of Education in August 2000; the second was conducted online, with teachers from across the U. S. (and even one from the Bahamas) over a three-week period during October 2000. A total of 22 teachers received the training, and I learned a great deal about how to improve the training experience. The 8 manuals not provided to teachers in the training classes were distributed to teacher-reviewers who continue to provide feedback for improving the program.

>Was applying for the grant easy, challenging?

This was the easiest grant I've applied for, and I sure appreciated that. It did not require a lot of time-consuming research and data-gathering. It simply required a clear statement of purpose, and a reasonable budget .

>Do you have advice for teachers who are thinking about applying for this year's grants?

Go for it!