Sometimes I don’t start a task until the risks of further delay have become more stressful than the doing. There is always a seemingly legitimate distraction (like blogging!) available…

There is substantial research into this phenomenon. After a decade long meta-analysis project, Piers Steel said: “Essentially, procrastinators have less confidence in themselves, less expectancy that they can actually complete a task.”

So, to reduce procrastination, should I (a) increase stress associated with delays; or (b) make action less stressful?

Taking it as given that I am pleasure-seeking (not depressed) and that procrastination is about impulse control, here is a tentative strategy for reducing procrastination.

1. Identify. Which task makes me feel most anxious? That is the task likely to waste my time and energy the most.
2. Eliminate. Delegate stressful tasks to someone more capable, if possible. There is no point doing hard emotional work unless it is necessary.
3. Calm. Always approach the stressful task via structured relaxation – a calming activity such as breathing, meditation, prayer, exercise, breadmaking.
4. Socialise. Involve a friendly companion. ‘Belongingness’ soothes anxiety and builds confidence.
5. Associate. Couple stressful tasks with satisfying activities. By this, associate good feelings with the unpleasant task.
6. Atomise. Write targets that can be quickly achieved. Enjoy the feeling of success on completion of small steps.

Experiment begins….

References

1. Image from http://www.wittysparks.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/confusion_1.jpg
2. University of Calgary (2007, January 10). We’re Sorry This Is Late … We Really Meant To Post It Sooner: Research Into Procrastination Shows Surprising Findings. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 5, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2007/01/070110090851.htm
3. Steel, Piers 2007, The Nature of Procrastination: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review of Quintessential Self-Regulatory Failure. Psychological Bulletin, Vol 133(1), Jan 2007. pp. 65-94. [Journal Article]

TypeRacer

Exciting, even stressful – although it provides no incentive for ‘correct’ fingering. Forget your fingers, just wait at the traffic lights and, on the green signal, type the paragraph as it appears word-by-word in front of you. Race against other players, and see each player’s car progress across the screen as you type. Free online.

BBC Dance Mat Typing

Light hearted, online or offline – colourful, fun, musical and animated, it teaches quickly and cheerfully with immediate feedback from a cartoon rock-and-roll goat.

Keyboarding Skills

Lovingly designed – but long, slow and boring! Become a master Type-E-Chi at e-Learning for Kids. This is a traditional touch-typing keyboard tutor that tracks the player through many levels. Free online, and similar to a large family of other learning objects.

TouchTypers

Pointless gimmick – labelled gloves to remind kids of the key fingers when they are away from the keyboard. These seem to get lost or disregarded very quickly, so don’t justify their admittedly low cost.

Installed software

Redundant. e.g. Kewala TypeQuick, Ultrakey, Mavis Beacon teaches typing and dozens of other programs requiring installation. Multimedia games can be engaging and effective, but many such packages were designed before the current operating systems’ security models; the time spent installing and debugging on a single computer can easily exceed the time spent in use.

Do we need to teach touch-typing?

• Many children type effectively before they can fluently hand-write.
• 2-finger typists may exceed handwriting speeds.
• Writer and other tools autocomplete words after a couple of letters.
• DragonDictate is now faster than most typists.

The trends away from keyboarding can be expected to continue with future hardware generations. The continuing increase in internet bandwidth and data-centre capacity will soon allow ‘cloud’ applications (e.g. ThinkFree) to match these capabilities.

It seems that our one noble purpose in training is to alleviate a child’s immediate difficulty with the mechanics of expression.

Dissenting views

• LearningCurve 2008, discusses Linda Starr’s 2001 article.
• Carnegie 1990, reviewed the effectiveness of different methods of learning to use keyboards.

Has there been any recent research into the educational benefits of teaching Touch Typing?

References

1. Typeracer 2008, TypeRacer. Online at http://play.typeracer.com/
2. BBC 2007, Dance Mat Typing. Online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/
3. E-learning for kids 2007, Keyboarding Skills. Online at http://e-learningforkids.org/Courses/Keyboarding_Skills/index.html
4. TouchType Learning 2005, TouchTypers. DJP Solutions. Online at http://www.touchtypers.com/
5. Starr, L 2001, Teaching Keyboard – When, Why, How? Education World 02/02/2001, online at http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech072.shtml
6. LearningCurve 2008, Keyboarding: a vital skill. GlobalTeacher. Online at http://learningcurve.globalteacher.org.au/2008/04/12/keyboarding-a-vital-skill
7. Carnegie, U. (1990). Start think-keying. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 6(1), 66-73. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet6/carnegie.html