HARDWARE AND NETWORK SERVICE

LEVEL I

UC3 Develop Computer Keyboard Skill

Module code: EIS HNS1 M03 0322

August 2015/2023
Fitche Ethiopia
 UNIT 1: Use safe work practices
Adjusting workspace furniture and equipments
• Most organizations use computers to keep records,
prepare documents and Generally manage their
business.
• If you know how to use a keyboard efficiently and
correctly you will be of greater value to any
organization for which you work.
• It will also reduce your risk of injury by making you
aware of the importance of good posture,
appropriate equipment and work environment and
good work practices.
 What is Ergonomics
• Ergonomics is the scientific study of human performance
at work.
• It is the science of arranging or adjusting the work
environment to fit the employee’s body or making your
equipment work for you and not you working for it.
• It is the scientific discipline concerned with the
understanding of the interactions among humans and
other elements of a system
Why is it important?
It allows prevention and control musculoskeletal injuries
arising from repetitive or forceful movement or/and or
constrained postures.
 Ergonomic requirement.
 Avoiding radiation from computer screens
 Chair height, seat and back adjustment
 Document holder
 Footrest
 Keyboard and mouse position
 lighting
 Noise minimization
 Posture
 screen position
 workstation height and layout
 OHS Requirements for computer operation
OHS requirement may include but not limited to:
OHS guidelines related to the use of the screen equipment, computing
equipment and peripherals, ergonomic work stations, security
procedures, customization requirements
• Statutory requirements
• Working with computers can cause workers a number of problems.
These include stress, visual discomfort, as well as aches and pains in
the hands, wrists, arms or shoulders.
OHS Supervisors Responsibilities
• Implementing and maintaining ergonomic principles
• Ensuring that people in your area are properly trained in ergonomic
principles
• Ensuring that people in your area follow safe ergonomic practices
• Actively practicing and developing positive attitudes towards
ergonomic issues
 Workstation height and layout
• The area where you work is called a workstation.
It includes:
 your computer
keyboard
desk and chair.
• You need to know how to set up and maintain a
safe workstation.
• It is very important that when you use a computer
you are able to work in a posture which is
comfortable and which does not place long term
health at risk
 Chair height, seat and back adjustment
• A chair is the workstation item that contribute most to your
contort and health.
• A well-designed office chair can be adjusted to suit you and the
height so that your upper and lower legs form a 90-degree angle
and your lower back is supported by the back of the chair, in
addition, the following things should be considered on chair
adjustment:
 Adjust height range suited to the desk
 A stable, independently adjustable backrest
 Freely moveable
 If the chair height is correctly set but the desk is too high rase
the height of the chair and use a footrest to compensate.
 Armrest are not recommended as they are likely to interfere
with the ability to move the chair closed enough to the des see
the photograph below
 Keyboard and mouse position
• Keyboarding should be centered to your body opposite the
J key and lean forward slightly.
• Keep your forearms horizontal to the keyboard. you don’t
need to twist to use it.
• at the front edge of the desk so that you can reach the keys
easily
• To minimize fatigue place the mouse on the mouse pad to
restrict the area of movement for the hand and arm. Check
that the mouse is comfortable in size and shape and suits
your hand.
• The mouse pad should be placed as close as possible to the
keyboard to avoid over-reaching with impact on
shoulder/neck muscles
 Document holder
• If you regularly need to enter data from
another document, think about using a
document holder.
• Prolonged reading from a document that
is resting on the surface of the desk can
cause neck and shoulder strains.
• Document holders hold papers so that
this risk is reduced.
 Posture

• The feet are supported on the floor, or a footrest (if knees are at
greater that 900 )
• No pressure caused by the front edge of the chair
• The upper body is upright with the lower back firmly supported by the
backrest
• The shoulders are relaxed and not hunched/bent
• The elbows and upper arm are close to the body
• The head is upright or slightly inclined forward with minimum of
strain/damage on the Height adjustable desks are the preferred option.
• No sharp edges, protrusions or rough surfaces
• It is recommended that work surface be continuous due to increase
mouse
• usage, keyboard and mouse are on the same level
 Lighting
• Overhead lighting should be fitted with glare
reducing diffusers and light should fall from the
side rather than from the front to avoid reflection.
Windows should be on the side of the user if
possible, not directly behind or in front of the
screen. Monitor should not facing to the window.
• It is important that the area you work in has good
lighting.
• You may need to reposition your desk, change the
angle of your screen or block the offending light.
 Occupational health and safety
• Employers and employees are legally required
to look after the health and safety of workers.
This applies to all organizations, including
volunteer organizations.
• Employers must provide a safe working
environment.
• Employees also must not put themselves or
others at risk.
 Safe work organization
• How you organize yourself and your work also directly
affects your health and safely at work. Learning basic
typing skills is one of the best things that you can do for
yourself. Not only will you work more quickly, you will put
less strain on
Task Variety
• You should vary your activities throughout the day.
• Try to mix typing and other computer work with tasks such
as collecting the documents at the printer, reviewing,
photocopying and distributing documents. Look for
opportunities to stand or walk around as a break from
sitting at the computer. You should also try to include tasks
with different mental, as well as physical, demands.
 Breaks
• Make sure that you take regular breaks from your work. Frequent
short pauses are preferable to infrequent long pauses.
• Answering the phone or collecting a document from the printer
makes a good short break.
• Defined breaks such as lunch or morning tea are also necessary.
Avoid taking these ‘breaks’ at your desk so that you don’t keep
working. The length and frequency of breaks that you need will
depend on the work, on you and on other factors.
Exercises
• Regular exercise can reduce the effect of repetitive work such as
typing. However, you should still take the other safe-work
precautions already mentioned.
 UNIT TWO: Identify And Develop Keyboard Skills
• Identifying Keyboard functions
Keyboard is an input device that enables you to enter
information to the computer .
Some basic keyboarding skills that you are expected to know
are:
• Word process, spreadsheets and or data entry
• Speed and accuracy
TYPES OF KEYS: Though there are several input devices viz.
mouse, touch screen, character/ voice recognition etc.
 Commonly, a computer has a keyboard that looks like a
typewriter keyboard.
 computer keyboard contains additionally certain keys used
to give commands to the operating system of a computer.
Some Keyboarding functions/features are listed as follows:
 Function keys (F1 to F12) are special keys that are programmed to do specific things.
For example, if you tap the F1 key, the Help menu will appear.
 F2- Allows you to Rename a selected file or folder
 F3 – Opens a search feature for an application that is active at moment
 F4- Alt + F4 closes the active windows
 F5- Allows you to Refresh or reload
 F6- moves the cursor to the address bar in most internet browsers
 F7- Used to spell check and grammar check a document in Microsoft apps
 F8- Used to access the boot menu in windows when turning on the computer
 F9- Refresh a document in Ms-Word and sends and receives emails in outlook
 F10- Activates the menu bar of an open application. Shift + F10 is the same as
right clicking
 F11- Enters and exits full screen mode in internet browsers.
 F12- Open the save as dialog box in Ms-word
 Cursor control keys. Use the cursor control keys on the keyboard to move your cursor
(mouse pointer) around a document.
• Use the four arrow keys to move one space or one line.
• Use the Page Up and Page Down keys to move one screen (rather than a page) up or
down.
 CTRL and ALT keys. The Control and Alternate keys are
always used in combination with other keys. Holding down
one or both of the keys, while tapping another key, can
provide keyboard shortcuts – quick ways of doing things
using the keyboard.
For example: Ctrl+N brings up a new document.
 Alphanumeric keypad. Use the alphabet keys to type
words. Although the tops of the keys show the letters as
capitals they will appear as lower case letters unless you use
the shift or caps lock keys. The home keys are the alphabet
keys that your fingers will use as a ‘base’. Each finger rests
on its home key when not typing. Learn to use Numerical
key properly (touch-type) if you regularly enter numbers.
It’s quicker, and easier on your wrists, than using the
numbers above the letter keys.
 Space bar. Tap this to put a space between words.
 Shift Keys. To capitalize letters you can use shift keys (left or
right) for a single letter. For example to capitalize letter F you
should press right shift key with your right small finger and
press F with your left index finger at the same time.
 Caps Lock key. To capitalize a word or phrases at a time you
can use shift lock/cap lock. To do this, depress the shift lock
key or cap lock key and leave it down until you have typed the
combination to be capitalized.
keyboard shortcuts
 Punctuation keys: The keys used for inserting various
punctuation marks are period (full stop), comma, semicolon,
brackets, apostrophe, parenthesis etc. Also, it includes all of
the mathematical operators such as the plus sign, minus sign,
and equal sign.
 Special keys: Understanding the keyboard also means
learning the special functions of certain keys. Commonly
used special keys are explained as under:
- Ctrl Key: The full form of Ctrl is Control. This key is used in
combination with other keys. For example, Ctrl+S to save
a document
- Alt Keys: The full form of Alt is Alternate. It is used like a
control key. You depress Ctrl+Alt+Del simultaneously
when you want to get out of computer as the application
on which you are working is held up or muddled up
- Arrow Keys: There are normally four arrow keys to move
the cursor - up, down, right or left. The Arrow Keys can
also be used in conjunction with the Shift or Alt keys
 Enter Key: Also called Return Key. It is used to
move the cursor to the beginning of the next
line and give line spaces.
 Backspace Key: This key deletes the character
just left to the cursor position and hence
moves the cursor to that position.
 Delete (Del) Key: This key deletes the
character to the right at the current cursor
position or the selected objects
Cursor and monitor controls
• These are keys found between the typing keypad
and the numeric keypad. It has two groups of
keys, arranged top and bottom.
• The top keys holds Insert, Home, Page Up, Page
Down, Delete, and End keys.
Keyboard shortcuts
• There are a lot of computer shortcuts keys that
can make using a computer faster and easier
• In computer a keyboard shortcut also known as
hotkey is a series of one several keys to quickly
invoke software program
To do this Press

Cancel an action. ESC

Undo an action. CTRL+Z

Redo or repeat an action CTRL+Y

Print CTRL+P

Copy CTRL+C

Cut CTRL+X

Paste CTRL+VAllows you to Refresh or reload

Open new document CTRL+N

Indentation CTRL+M

Close opened windows Alt+F4

Make the text bold style CTRL+B

Make the text italic style CTRL+I

Underline text CTRL+U

Basic touch typing techniques
• Learn how to type accurately and increase your speed
 Touch Typing Course or Mavis Beacon is a professional typing
tutor that helps you "how to type" in order to increase your
typing speed and accuracy. It takes very little time to learn to
type, allowing you to develop a skill that will help you for a
lifetime! Save yourself hours of time and learn to touch type. This
course has also touch typing tests with goals to set and achieve.
• Keyboarding functions should be easily identified in order to
develop speed and accuracy in accordance to the workplace
requirements for the level of responsibilities. In order to perform
required tasks at required speed and accuracy touch typing
technique should be applied.
• Touch typing technique/skill can be developed by memorizing
the keyboarding functions and the keys and their corresponding
fingers.
 Home keys their corresponding fingers
A left small/little finger
S left ring finger
D left middle finger
F left index/pointer or forefinger
J right index/pointer or forefinger
K right middle finger
L right ring finger
; right small/little finger
Groups or family letters of the home keys are
the diagonal letters or letters nearer to the
home keys such as A families are Q, Z, 1
• Hence, memorization of home keys and their
corresponding fingers enables
• you develop high speed and greater accuracy
in your performance at work.
• Hence, in order to develop keyboarding skills,
application software is required
• to install in the computer which is Mavis
Beacon.
 What is Mavis?
• Mavis is application software that enables you to develop
keyboarding skills.
• When you acquired the basic keyboarding skills using this
software, you can Type Better - Email Faster - Work
Smarter! Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing has many features
that help young typists stay motivated!
• Mavis Beacon Teach Typing is a typing training program that
offers great benefits for any user, from students just starting
out, to professionals looking to squeeze a few more emails
into the work day.
• With an all-new user interface and re-designed features and
functionalities, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing may not look
familiar, but it still provides guaranteed improvements in
only 2 weeks!
 1. Practice Area
• Mavis Beacon lets you choose what you use to practice
your typing. Select from hundreds of articles and
passages covering a wide variety of topics and subjects
including literary classics, history, autobiographies and
poetry.
2. Typing Games
• There are some typing games designed to improve your
speed, accuracy.
• Progress Tracking & Reporting
• Mavis Beacon tracks your performance over time and
provides a series of reports so that you can understand
and review your progress.
Steps to use Mavis Beacon
• Point to start button
• choose all programs
• explore Mavis Beacon from the list of all programs
• Click Mavis Beacon or if the icon is on the desktop double click it
• If you are a new user click on the new button
• enter your name
• select English, standard and then adjust your typing goals in words
per minute
• then click ok
• then click ok again
• Click takes a lesson
• click first beginner lesson, if you are a beginner
• Click start
• Then type the keys using the appropriate finger as you are instructed
by the program.
 The Amharic keyboard layout
• This keyboard layout is specifically designed
for those users not familiar with conventional
Amharic Typewriter layout. Follow these steps
to activate phonetic keyboard layout,
• Click on Power Ge’ez icon located at Windows
taskbar
• The icon will change from
• Click on ኢ again go to into phonetic UNICODE
mode (ፎ) User must select power
• Ge’ez UNICODE Font to do word processor
• When Power Ge’ez is in Normal Phonetic
Mode (ኢ) users must select power Ge'ez1
Unicode 1, power Ge'ez2 Unicode 2 or power
Ge'ez3 Unicode 3 fonts. When Power Ge’ez is
in Phonetic UNICODE Mode (ፎ) users must
use Power Geez UNICODE 1, Power Geez
UNICODE 2, or Power Geez UNICODE 3 fonts
 Read from handout
• ……
 Developing speed and accuracy
• Checking Accuracy of Your Work
• When you have completed typing a document,
you need to check to make sure that it is free from
errors. Most organizations have a policy that says
all documents should be free from spelling and
punctuation errors. Errors can have practical
consequences – they can cause
misunderstandings, offend people or, in the case
of an incorrect address, result in mail not being
received. As well, when errors are left in a
document, the organization looks unprofessional.
 Checking the content
• If you are the writer, it is essential that you check the content.
Think about the purpose of the document and consider
whether what you have written will achieve this. Ask yourself:
• Have all the relevant points been covered?
• Who will be reading the document?
• Are the style and ‘feel’ appropriate?
• How will the reader feel when he or she reads it? (Imagine
that you are the reader)
• This is particularly important when writing a letter or a
document that you want someone to respond to. If you have
typed a document written by someone else, it is still sensible
to be aware of the content. You might notice something
important that the writer overlooked. What you do about
content issues will depend on your role in the organization and
your relationship with the writer.
 Checking the spelling
You can use the computer’s Spelling and Grammar check to help you identify spelling
errors. It is a good tool but can’t be relied on as it has limitations:
• • Any word that is not in its dictionary is identified as a possible error
• • It will only tell you if a word has been spelt wrongly.
• Hence, the following subtopics enable you to check errors and amend the errors.
• To keep a check on your speed and accuracy, set your targets for every day and for
every week. Measure your performance regularly in the form of a chart till you
achieve your set goal.
• Example, speed and accuracy . Count the words above (6)
• Tips for improving speed and accuracy
• Use your developing touch-typing skills whenever you use the keyboard.
• Record your progress. Many programs record the speed and accuracy with which you
do the exercises or provide speed and accuracy results after you have completed a
set piece of text.
• When you finish the course, consider redoing it at a higher level. Set
• higher speed and accuracy goals first.
• If you have been touch-typing regularly your speed and accuracy will
• have improved significantly.
 Typing positions
• Know how about the typing position is important
and typical typing positions are hereunder:
• Eyes on copy
• Fingers curved and upright
• Forearms parallel to slant of keyboarding
• Sit back in chair, body erect
• Text book or material you copied from which
should be at the right side of a machine and
elevated for easy reading
• Table free of unneeded books or materials
 Typical finger positions
• Let your hands hang loosely at your sides. Your
fingers will relax in curved position.
• With fingers curved in this relaxed position, lightly
place fingertips of your hands on home keys ( left
home keys are A,S,D and F and right home keys are
J, K, L and ;).
• Reach techniques for keys other than home keys.
You can reach other keys by moving up and down
with your corresponding fingers. Example, you can
reach down letter Z with left small finger and you
can also reach up letter U with right first finger.
 UNIT THREE: Checking Accuracy
Identifying and correcting Document errors carefully
• Proofreading Document To Carefully Identify Errors
Check Accuracy of Your Work
• When you have completed typing a document, you need
to check to make sure that it is free from errors. Most
organizations have a policy that says all documents
should be free from spelling and punctuation errors.
Errors can have practical consequences – they can cause
misunderstandings, offend people or, in the case of an
incorrect address, result in mail not being received. As
well, when errors are left in a document, the
organization looks unprofessional.
 Checking the content
• If you are the writer, it is essential that you check the content. Think about
the purpose of the document and consider whether what you have
written will achieve this. Ask yourself:
• Have all the relevant points been covered?
• Who will be reading the document?
• Are the style and ‘feel’ appropriate?
• How will the reader feel when he or she reads it? (Imagine that you are
the reader).
Checking the spelling
• You can use the computer’s Spelling and Grammar check to help you
identify spelling errors. It is a good tool but can’t be relied on as it has
limitations:
• Any word that is not in its dictionary is identified as a possible error
• It will only tell you if a word has been spelt wrongly.
 Proof reading
• Checking your work is called proofreading. You should check it on
the computer screen first. This saves time and paper. Then print
the document and check the printed (hard) copy. To proofread
your work you should check the:
• Spell check
• Checking for grammatical errors
• Checking for punctuation errors
• Checking documents for general accuracy
• Conscientious typists always checks carefully what they have
typed. Paragraphs are proofread; that is, they read for meaning, as
if they had not been read before. Figures, proper names, and
uncertain spellings are double checked against the original or some
other sources. In addition, completeness should be also checked.
• Some proofreader marks/symbols are listed hereunder:
 Checking final document accuracy
• Amending Document, and Correcting Errors
• When errors are found, correct or amend them carefully. Errors may be spelling, punctuations,
space, figures, capital or small letters, incompleteness and grammars etc.
• Follow these steps.
• 1. Look at your printed document to make sure that it is set out correctly.
• 2. Read it through quickly to check for any obvious errors. Circle any errors in red pen.
• 3. Place the original document and the printed document beside each other on the desk.
• 4. Place the original on your left and the printed document on your right. Reverse this if you
are left-handed.
• 5. Use a ruler to move down, line by line, on the original.
• 6. Keep your place on the printed document with the point of your biro.
• 7. Pay particular attention to names and addresses, checking them carefully against the
original.
• 8. Mark any corrections on the printed document as you go.
• 9. As a final check, read the document aloud.
• 10. Make the corrections on the computer copy and print out a final copy.
• Four Steps to Ensure Accuracy in Your Written Communications
• Think of written materials like a shop window—the transparency a well-
put-together document affords a company is most likely the best
advertisement they can get. However, any mistakes that are not caught
and get into print or published online reflect badly on not only the writer,
but on the entire organization or publication as well. When a document
has inaccuracies, readers tend to distrust everything, including the
statistics, opinions, and facts.
But the term “accuracy” implies several things. Not only is accuracy
about checking that the text is factually and grammatically correct, but
also that all the style guidelines have been adhered to. As a writer, one of
the most important ways to communicate your expertise in writing is to
ensure accuracy. Consider the following four ways to ensure accuracy in
your written documents.
1. Check Your Facts
As you might expect, one of the most important things that you'll need to
consider in whatever you write or edit is the factual accuracy. You can
have eloquent, grammatically correct prose, but if you've got the facts
wrong, then your reputation and professionalism will suffer. Double-check
any statistics, numbers, dates, names—especially spellings—and other
facts with a reliable source or two.
• . Use Spell-check, but Don’t Rely Solely on It
Many, if not all, people who work with text would be unhappy if they
didn’t have their onscreen spell-checker to refer to. Spell-check can
indicate and even automatically correct typos and other misspellings
that would be time-consuming to find otherwise. Running spell-check
when you’re done writing is an important step to ensure accuracy.
Still, relying completely on the spell-checker that you've got built into
your software can be risky.
3. Use a Style Guide
A style guide is a reference that you can use to ensure style
consistency in every document you produce. These books cover
everything from how to reference states (for example, using the
postal abbreviations, spelling out the whole name, or another
abbreviation) and other proper nouns, to whether or not to use the
serial comma. These are the often-overlooked details that give your
documents a professional edge. The key to using a style guide
effectively is to simply choose one and stick to it—using it to check
everything you write, every time.
4. Find an Objective Reader
The fourth way to ensure accuracy is to have
someone else—an objective outsider—check
over your work. As the writer, it can be hard to
detect ambiguous statements because you
know what your intended meaning was.
Adding someone else to read your text is the
best way of ensuring your intended meaning is
clearly communicated to your readers. The
ideal objective reader will also know proper
grammar, punctuation, and style.