Your pre-training briefing…
Hi there! I’m Jonathan Stevens, your trainer.
Please read this briefing thoroughly & carefully, ideally at the latest 2-3 days before the training.
Depending on your reading speed it may take between 10 & 20 minutes. Take a couple of breaks if you like…
It’s intentionally informal, even conversational. It may echo things you’ve already heard or read about our training approach. And it may tell you even more!
…what’s it for?
On the workshop, I aim to help you learn a surprising amount in a short time – and really thoroughly!
I will also equip you to follow an effective & manageable “practice path” after your training
(to consolidate & convert your new learning into a full new habit)
But preparation is useful too.
What you do before the workshop can be as important as what you do on it and afterwards.
This document (plus your other pre-course activity) will inform you & prepare you for your training.
This briefing will help you:
(a) know what to expect at your training;
(b) maximise what you get out of the training; and
(c) clarify what you’ll need to put into it – at the training and afterwards.
If everyone arrives at the course well ‘briefed’, things kick off really effectively.
There are 4 short sections
1: Scope
(what’s achievable quickly, and what only happens through on-going practice)
2: Surprises
(some of what’s different about this course, and why)
3: Principles
(some of the rationale behind the StarTouch approach)
4: Background
(an introduction to me, your trainer)
1: SCOPE
The immediate objectives of the initial training event are:
You learn quickly
(and thoroughly & memorably!)
You can touch type very accurately by the end
(but slowly!)
You know how best to continue practising
(to consolidate & embed your skill)
The eventual objective of the whole approach (including your post-training practice) is:
your touch typing stays accurate and becomes increasingly fast in the reasonably (maybe surprisingly) near future
you benefit from touch typing for the rest of your life!
Many find it hard to believe you can learn to touch type in such a short time. Usually they are making the mistake of thinking that learning to do something equals learning to do it fast.
But Speed is for later!
To start with,
Accuracy is King!
We train you thoroughly.
Very thoroughly.
But first we train you to be slow.
Very slow.
This allows you to be Accurate.
Very Accurate!
In other words, by the end of the training, you’ll (carefully, consciously & accurately) be able to:
a) Sit correctly
…in a posture which makes touch typing easier & less physically draining
b) Adopt the ‘home position’
…placing and holding your fingers easily & consistently in the correct.
c) Keep your eyes front
…always looking ahead, resisting the urge to look down at all
d) Make the correct finger movements
…with care, control & very high accuracy: pressing the correct key for any letter of the alphabet and any of the main punctuation symbols.
That is the essence of touch typing!
And you can learn it very well, in a very short time…
…as long as you accept that, to start with, you’ll be:
Very slow… (not fast YET… Speed comes later)
Very conscious… (not a habit YET… Automation comes later)
Still a bit awkward… (not necessarily feeling ‘natural’ YET… Comfort comes later)
So to start with, your touch typing will not yet be good enough (ie fast, automatic and comfortable enough) to totally replace your old typing style immediately. You’ll need to practise your new skill for a while, to reinforce, consolidate and embed it, before you apply it in the ‘real world’.
Which is why your practice path after the training is equally important (see below for more on this).
If it helps, consider cycling as an analogy.
(if not, scroll down to skip this bit!)
When someone first learns to ride a bike, they must end up able to:
- Use their feet on the pedals to turn the wheels.
- Hold & turn the handlebars to steer.
- Maintain their balance while moving – ie not fall off!
If they cannot do all three things, then they have not yet learnt.
But when they can do all three, you could say they have finished the learning…
…but still need to practise lots.
Because…
To start with, the new cyclist will probably be slow, unsteady & a bit anxious… maybe riding only a short way before stopping… and not attending to their surroundings!
They have finished learning the essence of the skill; they can ride a bike. But it’s not good enough for the ‘real world’ YET. They need to improve the WAY they ride… with increasing steadiness, confidence, and of course the highly desirable speed – also the ability to focus on other things (like traffic).
All of this can come later. And it does… but only with continued, repeated, effective practice of the basic accurate skill.
These further ‘refinements’ do not need to be achieved before you can say the learning’s taken place. And they cannot happen as quickly as the initial learning.
But if practice is determined and frequent and accurate, the consolidation can happen surprisingly soon.
So… becoming a fast and proficient cyclist needs:
effective learning PLUS continued effective practice.
The same is true of becoming a fast and proficient touch typist.
2: SURPRISES
Both the learning & the practice aspects of StarTouch are very different from what most people expect; and almost certainly different from any previous experience you may have had with learning to touch type. They’re intentionally different.
You may have heard it said: “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”?
Well, StarTouch does not simply cram into a short time the same approach as other traditional courses (usually multiple lessons over several days or weeks). Doing this and expecting the same results would be crazy.
Instead, StarTouch is designed to be different. You can expect a number of surprises. Expect your opinions about touch typing (and learning, memory & practice) to be challenged.
Below are a few of the surprises you’ll encounter, with brief explanations (further detail and other surprises will have to wait until the workshop itself):
1) You will NOT spend the whole time at a keyboard, thumping away at dry repetitive exercises.
That is not learning. That’s brute repetition; trying to make your fingers do it right, not training. StarTouch is about Training. At the workshop & after; a process, not a lecture or boot camp.
2) Touch typing is not about the keys as much as you might think.
It’s more about you: your body, arms, fingers & brain. Some of the learning, the physical connections & controlled movements, can, and should, be learnt (and practised) AWAY from a keyboard, desk & computer!
3) Don’t expect simply to learn how to press the keys.
Any complex skill is the product of separate ‘component’ skills & knowledge which can be learnt separately, and then consolidated and combined, to make the eventual skill possible. There’s more to touch typing than you may think.
4) You will NOT be expected to touch type all the time from the end of the workshop onwards!
That would be the kiss of death for your newly acquired skill. Having lots of typing to do does not, in fact, present you with the best opportunities to practise your new skill.
To help explain this: imagine trying to do a 4-mile bike ride to the station, in busy traffic, when you’ve left home late, just ONE DAY after first learning to ride a bike (very shakily for just 4 metres at a time)! Wouldn’t it be better to continue walking to the station for another week or so, while you practise & improve you cycling in a nearby car park every evening?
5) Learning requires you to create memories. And that requires an active brain. The Whole Brain.
Learning is often hampered by shutting down much of the brain & body (while the ‘academic’ bit can focus intensely on trying to learn). Everyone’s memory works better when more of the brain & body is activated, and involved in absorbing learning. So expect to be busy and active and standing and talking and laughing and moving and interacting.
This contrasts with many courses where you sit still & quiet for long periods, while someone talks over an endless slideshow. Then occasionally it’s ‘heads down’ for some hushed & intense individual exercises at a computer or workbook.
With StarTouch, expect something different. And more effective!
3: PRINCIPLES
The training event will introduce and promote some principles which underpin the StarTouch approach.
Again, some may not be what you’d expect. As you initially encounter and digest, and then start to work with these principles through the course, you’ll find that, however counter-intuitive some may seem, they will combine to forge an increasingly robust and logical methodology.
Below, very briefly, are some of the principles you’ll encounter. Again, it’s not an exhaustive list, and the explanations are brief. But read them through, and see if they start to make sense to you…
Practice Makes… Permanent
(…not “Perfect”. If what you’re practising is wrong, then you’ll just become permanently expert at your mistakes!). So…
Accuracy is more important than Speed
(Ideally every single bit of practice should be 100% right – wasting no time & effort. Sacrificing speed in the early stages of your training pays dividends later.) But mistakes do happen, so…
Don’t agonise about the past. Organise the future
(Shrug off errors when they happen. Avoid obsessing, or even talking, about them; don’t give them the oxygen of publicity! Instead, acknowledge & learn from them. Put all your effort into looking ahead & PLAN how to be right next time. Usually the key is slowing down next time!)
Live in the Old House while you build the New House.
(No one moves into a new house when it’s just foundations, or when the shell is complete but there’s no water, electricity or carpets. They stay living in their old house and keep building the new one.
That’s why you’ll be instructed to keep using your old typing style for a while after the course, whilst putting as much time & effort as possible into developing your new skill. With a focused practice regime, you can swap over within as little as a couple of weeks!)
4: My Background
After graduating from Exeter University in German & French, I spent over 20 years training a range of Human (Soft) Skills and Computer Skills; everything from Presenting, Negotiating & Selling, through to MS Office, specialist software, and even programming skills for Excel.
Over the last 9-10 years however, I’ve specialised: developing, and now solely focused on, this surprisingly innovative approach to training touch typing, a skill which is a hugely underestimated component of efficient working (and indeed, living) in the 21st Century, with the potential to significantly impact daily productivity organisation-wide, as well as individual productivity, time management and health & well-being.
Have you completed your other pre-course activities (the online questions & measuring your current typing style)?
If not, find them here: www.startouch.co.uk/before (password needed: startmeup)
If you have any difficulty accessing any of these preparatory activities – please contact us urgently
( 020 8288 8255 / 07765 257 671 / info@startouch.co.uk )