Typing Pal Features — School Edition

With its many training activities and management tools developed especially for teachers and school administrators, Typing Pal’s School Edition is the ultimate tool for teaching students to type. Discover all the features that have made this program a favourite of schools worldwide!

More than 700 Training Activities

Close to 100 exercises to learn how to type using all your fingers.
A smart algorithm that creates customized activities by targeting the keys or fingers that need improvement in terms of speed or accuracy.
Thirty exercises to develop reflexes by typing frequent character sequences such as -ness, -ing, or -ion that form the endings of many words.
Three collections of over 200 practice texts offering content adapted to age groups 6–11 years, 12–16 years, and 17+, including texts focused specifically on number pad use.
The option to create collections of training texts to add original customized content.
Activities to enrich vocabulary and practice spelling and typing by ear in Word Waves.
A video providing advice on ergonomics and information on acquiring good work habits.
An initial test that serves as a benchmark for evaluating progress.
Formative assessment tests to help improve speed and accuracy.
Final tests, often timed, for summative assessment of speed and accuracy.
French-language program available by subscription to Tap’Touche – Édition scolaire.

Educational Games

Three educational games to have fun while learning to type faster. Each offers a progressively more complex level of keyboard use than the one before: Cosmik Ball for individual characters; Monkeys in Jeopardy for character sequences and words; and Magical Duel for words and phrases.
The option to set the difficulty level for Cosmik Ball and Monkeys in Jeopardy, for those who want a challenge, and automatic difficulty settings that match the student’s age group in Magical Duel.
The option to target specific keys (the top row, numbers, etc.) in Cosmik Ball and Monkeys in Jeopardy.
Rankings for all games and the different game modes that encourage students to outdo themselves.

Various Stimulating Sources of Motivation

More than 100 badges to encourage students to persevere and explore all the application’s features, including 18 mystery badges with clues on how to earn them.
Additional limited-edition badges that can only be unlocked by completing challenges within a specific timeframe, to help maintain students’ interest all year long.
A notification system that announces when a badge has been obtained.
Achievement level, represented as a percentage, based on the number of completed activities and the scores achieved.
Personal best indicator.
Gold medals awarded when the student beats their personal best in either speed or accuracy for an activity.
Personal rankings for each activity that allow the student to view their results history when the activity is completed.
Gold stars added to the icon for an activity when it has been completed with a perfect score.
Visual feedback during the activity to indicate whether the student’s speed and accuracy are below targets.
Optional audio feedback to indicate whether a student has successfully completed or failed an activity.
Virtual coaches to guide students in their training by offering targeted recommendations and personalized encouragement.
A certificate of achievement attesting that the student has completed the training program.

Simple and Powerful Management Tools

Three types of administrator roles to make managing a school subscription easier: the super administrator manages the subscription and the schools linked to it, the school administrators manage their own schools and the teachers manage the groups of students.
A feature to email administrators and teachers their login information and the link to create their password.
The option for the super administrator to create school files when a subscription includes all of a school board’s institutions.
The option for the super administrator to delegate a school’s local management to multiple school administrators.
The option for administrators to change a teacher’s permissions so that they can access all the groups in a school.
The option to restrict the management privileges granted to all users with the teacher role in a school.
The option to add multiple teachers to a single group.
Powerful management tools to bulk create, update, edit and move accounts.
A tool to move student accounts from one group to another or from one school to another within a single subscription.
An import and export system for account lists in Excel or CSV.
Search, filter and sort functions to find or classify accounts.
The option to link an official ID, such as a student code, to each student account to improve the interoperability of account lists.
A feature to export login information to students, including temporary passwords.
The option to write a personalized message to welcome students or to give instructions on their home screen.
The option to set speed and accuracy targets for individual student accounts or for the group as a whole.
A dashboard that displays a student’s current activity.
The option to sort students based on the number of completed activities.
The option to block access to certain activities, especially games, to direct students’ work.
The option to block the use of avatars.
Generator for letters to parents that include the student’s name, the name of the class leader, the school’s personalized URL and the login instructions.
The option to bulk export students’ certificates of achievement.
The option to automatically delete student accounts that have been inactive for more than a year.
The option for the super administrator to specify the amount of time account data will be retained following subscription expiry.
The option for the administrators of an expired subscription to erase or export student data using the management tools.
The option for administrators and teachers to log in as students without having to close their session.
The option to test custom texts directly from the management interface.
An integrated assistance form to facilitate account verification and access to customer service.

Complete Statistics

Complete statistical reports to assess a student’s performance and the time dedicated to training.
A customizable grading system based on the needs of the teacher or the requirement of the report card.
The choice between two units of measure for speed: words per minute or characters per minute.
A tool to export a student’s average or their detailed results in Excel or CSV.
Reports on the accuracy and speed of each finger.
Reports on speed and accuracy for keys with the best and worst typing performance.
A student list that displays the last exercise successfully completed.
An activity calendar that shows a student’s diligence over the past 12 months.
An overview of results that can be accessed from the student’s Achievements panel with a single click on their avatar.
Video replay for every completed activity.
Reset options to delete results for all activities or for certain categories of activity: exercises, tests, texts, games or partially completed activities.
Options to display the accuracy percentage, the number of mistakes and the speed in real time to the right of the typing area.

A Clear and Intuitive Interface

A modern and intuitive interface that can be mastered in a few minutes.
A home screen that reflects the student’s progress and suggests activities to undertake.
The choice between 109 avatars from three collections: fun creatures, neutral photos or colourful portraits.
The choice between light or dark mode based on your preferences or your system settings.
A tool to help students choose the keyboard configuration that corresponds to their keyboard.
The choice of four fonts to help students who have trouble distinguishing between characters, such as those with dyslexia.
Diagrams in the system settings that display recommended typing speed and accuracy targets for each age group and skill level to help you set goals suited to your students’ abilities.
Icons that clearly convey the nature and status of training activities.
The option to navigate using the keys and not the mouse, thus maintaining the position of the hands.
The option to briefly display the mistyped character when a mistake is made along with an indicator showing the correct character to type.
The option to keep track of mistakes in the text with an underscore.
A choice of location for the typing area: directly within the displayed text or below it.
An animation zone under the typing area that encourages students to look at the screen instead of the keyboard when typing.
Options to mask the animation zone or to customize it with entertaining animations or a keyboard viewer.
A keyboard viewer that includes animated hands to guide the fingers when hesitation is detected during an exercise.
Options to display the elapsed time and progress in real time to the right of the typing area.

Easy Online Access

An online application that can be accessed from a compatible device (PC, Mac, Chromebook, iPad) that is connected to the Internet. (See Recommended Configuration.)
A custom URL for each school, providing direct access to the login page.
Three of the most popular sign-on methods: Google, Microsoft and Clever.

Strong Security Measures

A privacy policy and practices that meet the highest standards for personal information security. (See Privacy Policy.)
Data storage on firewall-protected servers located in a secure environment to prevent unauthorized access.
Use of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol to set up an encrypted connection that ensures privacy and the protection of transferred data.
Secure methods for password sharing, setup and reset.
An indicator that shows the strength of the password chosen by the student.
The option to log out of Typing Pal and Google or Microsoft at the same time to avoid leaving a session open.
The option for administrators to force all of a school’s users to log out of Typing Pal and Google or Microsoft at the same time to avoid leaving a session open.
A function that allows students who cannot reset their password (if the school blocks emails from external domains) to contact their teacher so that the teacher can send them a temporary password.

Rich and Varied Documentation

Online user guide with clear and detailed information.
Start-up guide to help teachers master Typing Pal quickly.
Recommendations for training planning.
Pedagogical worksheets with accompanying lesson plans for introductory and training activities.
Full list of new features highlighting the latest improvements made to the school edition.
FAQ page for quick answers to the most common questions.
Blog with regular tips and Typing Pal news, as well as interesting articles relating to keyboards and typing.
Resource page explaining the correct typing method in detail.
Resource page explaining the importance of accuracy, and why it is prioritized over speed in our typing training program.
Resource page to help guide target-setting for speed.
Resource page detailing options for customizing the learning program.
Useful support materials: a letter template explaining Typing Pal to parents, a legend describing the activity icons in the student environment and self-evaluation forms for enriching and documenting student assessments.
Scientific literature review on the best time to start training and the benefits of a proper typing technique.

Features