Website review by Jenny Bristol, Common Sense Education | Updated April 2019
Typesy EDU
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Typesy EDU

Full typing curriculum has quality lessons; extras are a bit lacking

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Editorial review by Common Sense Education
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Grades
3–12 This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.
Subjects & Skills
English Language Arts, Critical Thinking
Price:  Free to try, Paid A free trial of the full version is available for up to 30 students. Prices vary for larger licenses.
Platforms:  Website
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Take a look inside

9 images
Lessons are accompanied by videos with an explanation and real-life hand placement demonstration.
Levels are clearly defined and can be locked or unlocked for each class.
The guiding hands and keyboard at the bottom of the screen help students learn key location and hand placement.
Typing speed is displayed on the gauge as students type through their lessons.
Typing tests draw from notable texts but are very short and not customizable.
Games borrow themes liberally from other types of games, and the graphics quality doesn't match that in the regular lessons.
Some of the games ask students to type nonsensical phrases.
Students can see their own typing competency improve over time, and see which keys they need more practice with.
There are only about a dozen very short typing tests to choose from, and they aren't customizable.

Pros: Typing lessons gradually increase in difficulty, lesson pages include a helpful keyboard/hand guide, teachers have a few options on the dashboard.

Cons: No content specifically focused on very young students, games are unpolished and some are confusing, tests are short and teachers can't create their own.

Bottom Line: A decent typing curriculum that could be improved by polishing the games and adding more teacher options.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Teachers can try out Typesy EDU for free for classes of 30 students or fewer, and accounts can be accessed through Google Classroom, Clever, and other applications if desired. The teacher dashboard is basic and easy to use for setting up students, classes, and teachers. Many settings are customizable only at the class level (not the individual student level), however. Teachers can run reports based on progress over time, study individual stats, and see where students are struggling. School- or district-wide reports need to be requested and may take up to two business days to receive. Paid subscriptions include unlimited support.

Typesy EDU is quite user-friendly. Just start your students on the initial lessons, or unlock all of them for more experienced students. Since the lessons include videos, students will need a quiet room or a pair of headphones to get the most out of the experience. Encourage them to practice at home as well. Have students try out some of the games to see which ones help them improve. Teachers can customize the text that the games are based on. The site also includes tests that can be assigned to classes, but they're short and not customizable, so teachers might want to have some separate tests that can be administered if desired.

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Standards:

Typesy EDU is a comprehensive typing curriculum for classrooms, schools, or entire districts that's quick to set up and has a teacher dashboard with report options. Beginning lessons cover specific keys and combinations, while later ones include full words and sentences. Some lessons include video explanations with real hands demonstrating how to type the letters on the keyboard. In all, there are over 100 levels to complete, each with multiple exercises within them. As students complete lessons and levels, they earn status points. Teachers can assign specific typing tests for classes as well.

The lessons take students systematically through the keyboard, including the home row, top row, bottom row, shift keys, punctuation, numbers, and symbols, teaching with repetition and building on what students have already learned. After each lesson, the site displays the student's speed and accuracy for that exercise, but it disappears quite quickly. Students can see their own progress on a dashboard that graphs their typing progress over time and displays a heat map of the keyboard displaying their problem keys. Typesy EDU also includes various games that focus on accuracy, speed, and fun.

If students complete the curriculum, Typesy EDU will help them learn how to touch-type on a computer keyboard. If students make too many mistakes on a lesson, not meeting the speed and/or accuracy thresholds, adaptive learning prompts will appear. If students have done very poorly on the lesson, it will ask them to complete it again. If they were close but didn't quite make it, it will ask if they want to repeat the lesson.

Some of the games are quite repetitive, teaching the same couple of dozen words over and over again, and many have uninspiring graphics, unintuitive rules, and uneven quality, which may lose students' interest quickly. Some games also have students type words in an unusual order or with incorrect capitalization.

Typesy EDU would be improved if teachers were able to create their own tests from scratch. Tests could be made to support other lessons students are learning in their classes, and students could be tested on longer chunks of text.

Overall Rating
Engagement Would it motivate students and hold their interest? Is it visually appealing? Would it inspire teachers to try something new or change their instruction?

The typing lesson screens are clear and uncluttered with a nice graphical keyboard and hands at the bottom of the screen. The included games are basic and unsophisticated, though, and aren't likely to hold students' interest.

Pedagogy Does the tool help teachers promote a more student-centered experience? Will students gain conceptual understanding or think critically? Does it deepen teachers’ pedagogical thinking?

Repetition is key here, and the set of lessons included covers all the basics, plus punctuation, numbers, and symbols. But real-life applications are mostly absent, given the short, scant tests and inability to customize them.

Support Can students and teachers get assistance when they need it? Is it created with people of different abilities and backgrounds in mind? Is learning reinforced and extended beyond the digital experience?

Teachers have a useful dashboard but can't assign lessons to certain students and can only change goals and settings by class. Paid subscriptions come with unlimited support, however.

Common Sense reviewer
Jenny Bristol Other
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Key Standards Supported

Writing

  • W.3.6

    With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

  • W.4.6

    With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.

  • W.5.6

    With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.

  • W.6.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.

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