have you used open source typing tutors in a classroom setting?

[Jeffrey LePage]

Regarding typing tutors...

First, I notice that many people are fond of ktouch, and so I will take a second look at it.

As for the usual suspects, I have instructed the teachers to look at TypingFaster, Tuxtype, Ktouch, and a few others I've forgotten.  They're also looking at TenThumbs, which is not open source but does run on Linux.  I personally have not looked at any of the packages in much detail; I've left that up to the teachers.

My teachers have requested these features, in no particular order.

1) cross-platform (Linux/Windows/Mac)
2) interactive fingering charts
3) built-in instructional videos
4) lots of lessons
5) built-in games (like fish cascade in TuxType)
6) the ability to keep track of individual students automatically.  Ideally the student would login and statistics would be saved to a central data repository.

I get the general impression that what they really want is something that looks exactly like what they're familiar with.  Usually that means some deluxe version of Mavis Beacon, or some similar proprietary windows product.

-- 

Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments.

See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

--- On Thu, 1/29/09, Onatawahtaw <onatawahtaw at yahoo.ca> wrote:
From: Onatawahtaw <onatawahtaw at yahoo.ca>
Subject: Re: have you used open source typing tutors in a classroom setting?
To: ubuntu-education at lists.ubuntu.com, "Jeffrey LePage" <jeffrey_lepage at yahoo.com>
Date: Thursday, January 29, 2009, 9:04 AM

--- On Tue, 1/27/09, Jeffrey LePage <jeffrey_lepage at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Yes, I've looked at all the usual suspects (tuxtype,
> etc.), and they all fail to impress my teachers.  
> 
Can you be more specific as to what you mean by "usual suspects"? Not
sure if that includes KTouch, but I've used KTouch and it works fairly well.
It is included in the Edubuntu package by default. Also, what fails to impress
the teachers? Is there something in particular that they are looking for?

-Kevin






      
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