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GoKeys! --> Start Now!

McGoo GoKeys! is a free educational tool designed to help develop student typing and keyboard skills.

The project is a port of the desktop GoKeys! application for Windows to a web interface using the AJAX development framework.

Gokeys! uses some aspects of HTML 5, so works great on Firefox 4, IE9 and Opera 11, but works on older browsers, too.

It works on Apple computers as well. Fully checked out in Safari.

The GoKeys! project stores your results in our online database. User privacy is protected by a password system utilising confirmation via email.

All teachers faced with the problem of developing keyboard skills in their young students know that it is not as easy as it looks.

Putting the students on the nearest available typing tutor and just saying "Go", often just does not produce the desired result.

If this sounds like your problem, then GoKeys! is your solution!

  • GoKeys! approaches the problem of developing keyboard skills from the point of view of the teacher in the classroom. The outcome that we really need is happy students who can confidently and accurately type at 15 to 20 words per minute.
  • What we don't need in primary school and junior high school are high-speed copy-typists!
    Most students will never need to type fast and, anyway, it is just no good for their developing hands and wrists.
    A nice steady pace without error allows students to relax and think about the content and not the typing.
  • Students need the keyboard to get their ideas on to the page.
     Students do not need unfamiliarity with the keyboard to interfere in this process.
  • Nor do students need to be able to type much faster than they can compose a sentence.
  • GoKeys!makes learning the keyboard simple and fun.
    It has a clean, bright interface with large, easy-to-read letters.
    The lessons are short and to the point;
    just long enough to get confident on each new pair of letters
    without inducing boredom and frustration.
  • GoKeys!provides feedback at all stages.
    Typing speed and accuracy is continuously updated on screen as the student types in clear, large numbers that the teacher can easily monitor as she moves about the room.
    At the end of each lesson, the student is shown a summary of results that can be easily printed out.
    Any lesson can be repeated at any time to improve results.
  • GoKeys! has no enforced progression rate or lesson schedule!
    Students can commence any lesson at any time in any order to suit the teacher's needs.
    No longer do you have to put up with having half the class stuck on the first 45 minute exercise that they cannot hope to complete in a 35 minute computer session.
  • GoKeys! lessons are short (5-10 minutes on average) and so have students coming back for more.
    With GoKeys!expect to have your whole class confident and happy on the keyboard;
    all typing on the 12 to 15 wpm range in around 2 x 20 minute sessions, twice a week for 3 to 4 weeks.
    In all, it may only take 12 to 16 short sessions!
    Remember speed really does not count with younger students.
    They just need to be confident and accurate.
  • GoKeys! has a special feature that separates it from most other typing tutors. When students make an error they get a red light and have to wait for the green light to go again.
    This reflects the reality that a typing error will cost time in correction.
    It is much better to take it slowly and get the right key the first time round.
    It takes a very short time to instill this simple concept in your students using GoKeys!
  • Check out Gokeys! for yourself.