Important Information

Running TTRS

Your First Lesson

Options

Dictations

On-Screen Aids

Error display

Copy typing

Change font

Remember and Repeat

Changing Colours

Membership Card

TTRS Maintenance

Import/Export History

When working at the computer, and especially when typing, it is important to observe the following recommendations:

• Your chair or stool. Make sure that your chair is at a height that allows your feet to be flat on the floor or on a footrest, whilst the front of your thighs are not pressed down on the front of the chair. You should be able to slip your hand in the space between the top of your chair and your leg.

• Your posture. Make sure that your working surface is such that you can sit comfortably upright whilst working, so that your back is not curled up, nor your shoulders hunched. If your shoulders start to get stiff or you have a burning sensation, stop working and go and do something active for a while, and try to adjust your posture when you return to the keyboard. Feel free to download this posture poster as a reminder.

• Your arms and wrists. In order to avoid Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), it is important to keep your wrists as flat as possible, so that the tendons that go through the carpal tunnel are not working around a corner. In order to achieve this, it may be necessary to adjust the height of your keyboard, and/or provide support for your wrists.

• Finger action. Your hands should be held in a relaxed manner over the keyboard with the fingers gently curved downwards and the wrists straight. There is no need to bang the keys hard, a very gentle touch is all that is necessary.

• Position of the monitor. The monitor should be straight in front of you and at a height that allows you to view it without having to hold your head and neck in an unnatural position. Looking up at a monitor all the time can give you a stiff neck and headache. You may need special glasses to work for a long time at the computer, especially if you usually wear glasses or are long-sighted.

• Avoiding strain. At regular intervals, and at the end of every module, hang your hands down at your sides and shake your hands about in a relaxed manner. Then grasp your forearms and massage them gently before going on to the next

module. If you get pain, tingling, pins-and-needles or numbness in your hands or wrists please stop typing and take a break. STOP AT ONCE! Do not type any more today and change how you sit and work tomorrow. RSI is probably irreversible and great care should be taken to avoid it.

• Short sessions. Do not work at the computer for long periods of time. Short frequent sessions are better.

1. Double click on the TTRS icon to start the program. The icon may be under My Documents/TTRS or on the Desktop (at this point you may be invited to change the resolution – this is optional)

2. When the licence screen appears, press ENTER.

3. Type the user’s number into the box. Users’ numbers run consecutively from 1001.

4. The main module screen will appear.

5. Press ENTER to move onto the working module screen.

1. Make sure you are in a quiet room free from distraction. If you have other people wanting to do the course make sure they allow you to concentrate.

2. Make sure that your sitting position and the position of your fingers are correct.

3. Decide before you begin how long you will make the session. Never stay at the computer for more than an hour at the most.

4. Make a regular timetable if you can, and stick to it. Regular short

sessions are probably the best for you. Work out what works best for you eg. you may decide to do two, three or more modules a day, or to do fifteen or twenty minutes per day, three, four or six days per week.

5. Stop the sessions before you get too tired. It is better to leave the course wanting to do more than to exhaust yourself. Typically 10-30 minutes of a typing session is sufficient for them to make regular progress.

Teaching and Learning Points

1. Always make sure that you are sitting correctly, high enough in the chair and with your feet touching the ground easily or placed on something solid.

2. Your hands should be beneath the hands on the screen, so that you are sitting straight and lined up with the monitor.

3. The fingers of your left hand should cover the letters ASDF, with GH showing in the centre, and the right hand fingers covering the letters JKL; these keys are called the HOME KEYS.

4. If you see more letters than the GH on the line between your hands, something is wrong. If you can only see GH this stands for ‘Good Hands’ you are nearly ready to go! Try taking your hands on and off the keyboard, until you can find your way to the home keys without looking. The two keys

under your index fingers usually have a bump on them and will help you to locate your hands correctly.

5. Put your hands in a position that is comfortable making sure that all the HOME KEYS are covered with GH uncovered in the middle.

Level 1 Module 1

1. This first module introduces the vowels, a, e, i, o, u. The main purpose is to gain familiarity with these keys and to identify the correct fingers to use.

2. Make sure that your fingers are lightly resting on the HOME KEYS with GH visible between your hands. You may be able to feel a raised bump on the F and the J

3. Decide which thumb you will use for the space bar (usually the right one) and rest the other one out of the way.

4. Press ENTER to get your first module.

5. You will see the letter aaa aaa aaa on the screen and hear the voice speaking them. Use the little finger of your left hand to depress the key underneath it, following the moving fingers on the screen.

6. Just do the first three a’s, and then, following the thumb sign on the screen, depress the space bar. Continue in the same way until the end of the line.

7. When the second line of the eee eee appears, change to using the middle finger of the left hand but move it up to the top row of keys as shown by the moving hand. Try to do this whilst looking at the screen rather than down at the keys.

8. If you make a mistake use your right little finger to depress the delete arrow key at the top right-hand corner of the keyboard. You can get a helper to do this for you to begin with. Correct all errors immediately as that teaches you the correct fingering fastest.

9. Now you will get a row of iii iii. Can you see from the moving hands prompt how to find the ‘i’ with the middle finger of your right hand? Don’t look … just feel for it and try to see if you are right. You will then get rows of ooo and uuu. See if you can find them without looking at your hands but just by looking at the screen.

10. Continue through the module until the score and graph appear. You can now

touch-type the vowels and know how to find a key from the moving hands.

11. If your score is 80% that is good. If your score is 90% that is very good. If your

score is 95% or above that is excellent. If you score 100% - well that is perfection! If you do score 100% please do not be disappointed if you never do so again; 95% or above is really excellent and this is recorded on your history as well as the 100% gained.

Level 1 Module 2

When you are ready press the Enter key or click on Continue, to go onto Module 2. In this module, you will be typing your first word. It is important that your fingers are lightly touching the HOME KEYS, only leaving them to go to letters on the other rows and then returning to their own home key. When the word RED appears make sure you use the index finger of your left hand for the ‘r’, and then the middle finger for the ‘e’ and the ‘d’. Never use the wrong finger for a key because it will stop this program from working as well as it should for you.

Teaching and Learning Points

1. It is important that your fingers are lightly touching the HOME KEYS, only leaving them to go to letters on the other rows and then returning to their own home key.

2. When the word RED appears make sure you use the index finger of your left hand for the R coming back to the F before sending the middle finger up for the E and then bringing it back to type the D. Never use the wrong finger for a key because it will stop this program working as well as it should for you.

3. Use one finger at a time. Return from the R to the HOME KEY before sending out the middle finger for the E, then return the middle finger to its home key, which is D.

Level 1 Modules 3 and 4

Teaching and Learning Points

1. Use one finger at a time. Return to the HOME KEY before sending out the next finger.

2. If too many errors are being made, make sure you are using the correct fingers.

3. Correct all errors as soon as you make them. Watch the screen all the time so that you can see them as soon as they occur. You can use the options to set the program to show which letter you are pressing when you make a mistake, this may help if you are pressing the letter next to the one you want because you are resting on the HOME KEYS too hard.

4. Follow the screen fingers if you are not sure which finger to use, do not look down at your hands.

5. If you want to stop now in order to have a look at your history, do so. Instructions for how to do this are given on page 16 of this manual.

Level 1 Module 5

Teaching and Learning Points

1. Every fifth module is a dictation module.

2. This is your first dictation and no words appear on the screen. You hear the words being spoken and you type them without looking down at your fingers. You will find that you are pretty good at knowing how to type the words as long as you have not looked down when doing the other modules.

3. You will now be hearing, spelling and typing the words.

4. If you don’t hear a word you can press the F2 key to hear it again.

Level 1 Modules 6 and 7

The changing letters in this module require more care to see what to type.

Accuracy is more important than speed.

Teaching and Learning Points

1. Always use one finger at a time, returning one finger ‘home’ before sending out another.

2. Always use the correct fingers as shown on the screen so that fingers become ‘linked’ to letters. If this is difficult just keep practising and it will become easier as you progress.

3. Accuracy is more important than speed. Go for the highest accuracy score you can get as shown by the indicator on the right of the screen. Do not worry about the Words Per Minute (WPM) indicator on the left which should be turned off for now. Your speed will improve as your accuracy improves, so it is the accuracy that is important for now.

4. If you keep looking up at the fingers on the screen your confidence will increase as you realise that you know how to find the keys without looking, just by feeling.

Level 1 Module 8

Halfway through this module, TWO fingers will be coloured on the moving hands because you are going to type capital letters. One finger will be used to type the letter and the other will be the finger that depresses the Shift Key. The little finger holds down the SHIFT KEY whilst the other finger depresses the key you want to be a capital (R in the example below).

Teaching and Learning Points

1. Capital letters. Hold down the Shift Key firmly before typing the letter. Use the little finger of the opposite hand, to the one typing the letter key, for the Shift key. Avoid the temptation to use the CAPS LOCK when typing a row of capitals, as it is the constant repetition in using the Shift Key that makes perfect.

2. The last line of module 8 shows a line of FULL STOPS, you need to drop the finger next to your little finger down onto the bottom row to the key left of the ? mark. You may have to drop the whole of your hand slightly but always return to your home keys.

3. Use the correct finger for the full stop even if it feels unnatural, to begin with, it will soon feel normal!

Level 1 Module 30

Make sure you have completed every module by checking your history. There is a module 31 at the end of each level, but we suggest that you come back to that at the end of the level above every time (in this case at the end of level 2).

Select the Options Tab

Screen Layout Tab

Here you can choose how to customise your typing screen. Select the one you want from the middle drop-down (on-screen aids) list. Further options are on the bottom drop-down list.

These are designed to teach you where to place your fingers so that you can learn to touch-type, but they are only intended for use in the early levels. We suggest that you do not use options 1 to 3 (see below) after level 3, but this will vary from person to person. You can choose the colour of the hands and the fingertips from the options menu.

1. Moving hands and letters option. This is the default option and the one used by beginners. The bottom half of the screen shows a keyboard and the moving hands show you where to place your fingers and which finger to use to type a particular letter.

2. Moving hands but no letters option. Here you have the moving hands to show you where to place your fingers on the keyboard, but there are no letters on the keyboard.

3. Just still hands or ‘Traffic light’ option. Here there is no keyboard visible, just hands. The fingers light up with a different colour according to the row they have to be placed on to get the correct letter. Some people find this option easier than option

4. Just a keyboard. We suggest that most students should use this option for all dictations right from the beginning. It allows you to check that you are really touch-typing and spelling from memory and builds up your confidence.

5. Blank, half and Blank, full. You should aim to be using one of these two options as soon as possible after the end of level 3 or 4. As long as you watch the screen all the time and do not look down at the keyboard, these two options ensure that you are truly touch-typing.

When a wrong key is pressed the error is shown in red.

1. Display ‘*’ for the error. Here a red asterisk appears instead of the wrongly typed letter. Use the backspace key to go back and type the correct letter.

2. Display the error. Here the letter which was pressed incorrectly is displayed. Use the backspace key to go back and type the correct letter.

There are two different layouts for the words on the screen that you are typing. For both options, you can choose the colours of both the original letters and the letters you are typing, as well as the ‘page’ colour from the Options menu.

1. Copy typing ‘on’. Here is a line of words on the screen and you type your words underneath. This is the usual layout for typing programs.

aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aa_

2. Copy typing ‘off’. Here there is a line of type which changes colour as you type. This option is sometimes known as ‘shadowing’. With this option you have the advantage of looking just at the word you are working on, and do not have to shift your eyes from one word to another, thus reinforcing the spelling image.

1. Font Face. You can use any suitable fonts which are installed on your computer. For school-age students the recommended font, to begin with, is ‘Sassoon’, but other easy to read fonts are suitable (Arial, Comic Sans), especially those with the ‘a’ in the form found in children’s reading books.

2. Font Size. You can choose between two different font sizes. Many younger students or those who are visually impaired may find the larger font size the easiest to use.

1. Off. Here the word to be typed is shown and then typed, and the program moves straight on to the next word.

2. On. Here the word to be typed is shown and then typed. It then disappears and has to be typed from memory. This is similar to the ‘look, cover, spell and check’ method used when learning spellings in the traditional manner. It is suggested that this option be used when you begin to reach words that you find difficult to spell. If you cannot remember what the next letter is press F5 to view the word, then press the SPACE BAR to get back to the typing screen and backspace once to realign the typing point.

1. The Default Colour. This is blue

2. Selecting Another Colour. You can select another one by clicking on Page Colour and selecting a different colour and then clicking on OK. We recommend that you try different colours to see which is easiest for you to see when combined with different text colours.

Copy Text Colour

1. The Default Colour. This is white.

2. Selecting Another Colour. You can select another colour by clicking on Copy Text Colour and then click on the colour that you want and then click on OK. We recommend that you try out different combinations of page and text colour to find the one that is easiest to use.

Hand Colour

1. The default colour. This is yellow.

2. Selecting another colour. You can select another colour by clicking on Hand Colour and then click on the colour you want and then click on OK. We suggest that you try out different colours.

Fingertip Colour

1. The default colour. This is red. It is the colour of the top of the tip of the finger which should be used for the next keystroke.

2. Selecting another colour. You can select another colour by clicking on Finger Tip Colour and then click on the colour you wish for and then clicking on OK. We suggest that you try out different colours.

Old Hands & Keyboard

1. New. (default) Shows the new hands and keyboard, designed for higher resolution screens.

2. Old . Switches to hands and keyboards used in previous versions, designed for lower resolution screens.

The ‘Other’ Tab

Select Options at the top of the page and then select the ‘Other’ tab.

Sound Settings

Beep on Error

We suggest that you set the beep on your machine to a ‘friendly’ sound if you are going to set this option ‘on’, since the default ‘beep’ is rather aggressive and off-putting, particularly for younger students.

• Not Ticked (Default): There is no beep to tell you that you have made an error

• Ticked. The computer indicates that you have made an error by beeping.

Praise

• Not Ticked (Default): No sound when achieving a high score

• Ticked. Crowd cheers for 90-94%, 95-99 and 100% scores at the end of each completed module.

Speech Settings

Speech On

• Ticked (Default): The program speaks the word to be typed. In the early modules, it says the letters when the fingering for them is being learned.

• Not Ticked: There is no speech. Some people prefer to have the speech off during the early modules, especially with younger children

Speak Space / Speak Backspace

• The program will speak the word ‘Space’ (between words) and ‘Backspace’ (if there is a mistake) respectively. These are not ticked by default.

Setting

When the program speaks the words to be typed it can do this with one word or more at a time. This option allows you to select the way the program does this.

• Speak One Word : The default option speaks one word at a time.

• Speak three Words: Here the next three words to be typed are spoken.

• Speak whole line: Here the words to the end of the line are spoken.

Gender

For the USA version currently, there is only a male option available.

Words Per Minute or WPM Scale. Go to Options, and then the Other tab:

• Not Ticked (Default) : The WPM scale is not shown. We recommend that the WPM scale is not shown until the student has accurate fingering, since accuracy is more important than speed in this work.

• Ticked: The WPM scale is shown.

WPM Scale Setting. The scale on the left-hand side shows Words Per Minute. It can be set to show different ranges as your speed increases (ie. Up to 30 wpm, 50 wpm or 70 wpm). It is, however, unlikely that you will need to increase it as you will be learning new words all through the course, and that will inevitably slow you down. Only when you are typing sentences is your speed likely to increase.

Membership card login : (ticked by default) – Un-tick this box to show the older login screen from previous versions of TTRS. Note: This will change the login screen for all the users on the same computer or network.

Levels

1. Changing Levels. You can change levels by clicking on the Levels button on the top of the screen. There are 24 levels and you can either select the one you want with the mouse, or select it with the arrow keys and press the Enter key.

2. Linking with Alpha to Omega. Beside the levels you will see some page numbers. These are the pages in Alpha to Omega (fourth edition) where you will find the words being used in the modules for that level.

Training

Training: The automatic training allows each student to learn at his or her own pace. We recommend leaving this on. Click on the ‘Training off’ button to turn the training off.

Every fifth module is a ‘dictation’ module, where there are no words showing on the screen, and you hear the word and then type it. The four previous modules are the ‘learning’ modules where you learn how to type the words in that section.

1. Dictation and Learning Modules. On the modules screen, you will see an icon of a speaking man beside each ‘dictation’ module. There is no icon beside the ‘learning’ modules.

2. Changing from a Learning to Dictation Module. You can change any ‘learning’ module into a dictation module by clicking on the Dictation button at the top of the screen and the speaking man icon will appear beside it.

3. Changing from a Dictation to a Learning Module. You can turn a ‘dictation’ module into a ‘learning’ or typing module by clicking on the Dictation button at the top of the modules screen button and the ‘speaking man’ icon will disappear.

1. Looking at the words in a module. If you wish to see the words in a module go to the modules screen and highlight the module you wish to examine by clicking on it once, or by using the arrow keys. Now click on the View Lines button at the top of the screen.

3. Hearing the words in a module. At the bottom right of this screen, you will see that you can select to hear the words in the module spoken.

1. Viewing your History. To see your history go to the modules screen and click on the History button at the top of the screen.

2. The History Screen. You will see your name at the top of the history screen.

# Statistics tab. Here you will see a screen with the following information on it for each module you have completed.

Graphs Tab

Here you will see a bar graph of your progress in the level you are looking at.

• You can also see the same information for your WPM, though we do suggest that you don’t worry about that until you’ve been using the program for some time. You need to concentrate on accuracy whilst not looking down at your hands, and using the correct fingering.

You can print out the bar-graph by selecting the Print button at the bottom right of the screen and selecting half a page or full-page printing.

3. Viewing your history for other levels. The history shown will be for the current

level that you are working on. To see other levels select them at the top left-hand side of the screen, or use the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ keys to move through them.

4. Excellent and Perfect Scores. At the top of the screen, you will see the number of ‘excellent’ scores you have obtained (those between 95 and 99%) and the number of 100% you have obtained (if any).

Click here to view the membership card, which shows the last module taken, your highest score for the day, total excellents (95-99% score) and total 100%. N.H is ticked when no hands are displayed.

1. Printing out the dictations for a level. On the Modules screen select the Print button at the top of the screen and the words of all the dictation modules will be printed out.

Using the F-Keys and other Shortcuts Instead of the Mouse

1. Speech F2, F3 and F4 keys. In both learning and dictation modules you use the F keys to read or repeat words for you. F2 for one word at a time, F3 for three words at a time, F4 for a line at a time and F5 to view the word in a dictation module.

2. Returning to main or modules screen using escape key. When you have used any of the buttons at the top of the screen to take you away from the main or modules screen you can go back there quickly by pressing the escape key (Esc).

3. Options. Type ‘O’ on the main or modules screen to bring up the options menu.

4. Other shortcuts. Wherever a letter on a button at the top of the screen is underlined you can just type that letter instead of clicking on the button with the mouse. For example on the modules screen:-

• Typing ‘L’ will give you the Levels screen

• Typing ‘D’ will turn a selected module from a learning module into a Dictation

module or vice versa.

• Typing ‘O’ will give you the Options screen.

• Typing ‘V’ will let you View the contents of the selected module

• Typing ‘H’ will give you the History screen

• Typing ‘Q’ will Quit your session and allow someone else to log on

• Typing ‘+’ or ‘-‘ on the History screen will take you up and down through the

levels

Quitting the Program

To exit the program completely click Quit on the menu bar and then press Esc twice to return to the desktop.

TTRS Maintenance is a separate program where you can add, edit or remove students. You can also see the average percentage (%) and words per minute (wpm) score FOR each student, and also the class averages.

To view the history of any student, click on a student once, then click on “students” in the menu, then “history”. Alternatively, type ‘H’ when the name is highlighted.

To add or edit a student, please refer to the manual ‘How to add students’ under the Manuals menu in Maintenance.

To export/backup your history, click ‘students’ and then ‘export’ – and choose a location to save the file. To import the data into TTRS Online, follow the instructions here

To import data into TTRS Classic, click ‘students’ and then ‘import’ – locate the file named ‘ttrs history back up <date and time>’. This will replace any users on the system.