Rutherford teacher advocates for early introduction of keyboarding

For years it was called Typing 101.

Nowadays it’s referred to as Keyboarding, and another significant difference is that instead of waiting until high school, the newly named course is offered in middle school along with digital literacy, computer applications and document formatting.

Dr. Carol Parker, a keyboarding instructor at Rockvale Middle School, is advocating the idea that full keyboard instruction and digital literacy should begin as early as third grade.

Parker is traveling to Chicago, where she will speak at the Business Education Research Conference on Wednesday. The conference is held in conjunction with the National Business Education Association Convention being held April 11–15.

Parker will also be honored during a luncheon for an article on the subject that has been selected for publication in The Journal of Research in Business Education.

The title of her article is “The Implementation of Keyboarding Instruction at the Elementary and Middle School Levels.”

Parker, who earned a doctorate degree last May from Middle Tennessee State University, was originally asked by Dr. Robert B. Blair if she would consider taking her dissertation, which looked at writing scores from two years ago to see if keyboarding had a positive effect on writing assessment scores, and turning her research into an article.

Dr. Virginia Hemby-Grubb not only encouraged her as well, but also invited Parker to speak at the conference.

Keyboarding had previously been a popular research topic, but there hadn’t been a lot done in recent years, according to Parker.

“I took my dissertation and a little more research I’ve gathered from presenting at different conferences,” Parker said. “It’s looking at when is the right time to start teaching keyboarding.”

This day in age, children grow up with technology in their hands by the time they even learn how to spell.

“But the problem is, they’re not doing it correctly,” said Parker, who introduced her own first-grade-aged daughter to the idea of home row and how to correctly type her own name along simple words like yes and no.

“Research shows that as soon as they have access to a computer, whether it’s kindergarten or pre-K, they should start awareness.”

Parker said some of her keyboarding students have been typing incorrectly for years.

Others go through middle school without ever taking a keyboarding course.

“That’s why, honestly, it should start in elementary school,” Parker said, “and then by middle school they should be into computer applications. We’re looking into coding also.”

Parker hopes that her speech and the subsequent article will help to renew discussions regarding keyboarding at the elementary level.