Ten terrific tips for typing on a tablet

One of the biggest concerns expressed by teachers about using the iPad is how difficult it is to enter text on the device*. For those accustomed to a full sized, mechanical keyboard and skilled in touch typing, the smaller touch-sensitive screen on the glass is quite a change. 

While I still use a regular keyboard for any longer writing projects, I am increasingly using the iPad** for responding to e-mail, taking notes, updating my calendar, and other shorter writing tasks. Here are a few things I've learned that makes the job a little easier for old dogs learning these new tricks***...

1. Select your orientation. For those of us who like to try to emulate the keyboarding skills we were taught as youngsters (using all 10 fingers - or most of them), the landscape orientation of the table results in larger, more easily struck keys. If you are a thumber, using primarily your thumbs to enter text, the portrait mode will result in a smaller keyboard and easier reach. (I've heard this to be a reason people like the iPad mini rather than the full-sized iPad, too.)
2. Split the keyboard. By putting one finger or thumb on each side of the on-screen keyboard, you can pull it into two sections with a gap in the center. For those who like to thumb or are accustomed to ergonomically correct physical keyboards, you might find this easier to use.
3. Put the tablet on a surface and prop it up. I find inputting text improves 100% when I simply put the iPad on a table or desk and use the cover to prop it up at a slight angle.
4. Don't worry about apostrophes. It took this old English teacher a long time to rely on the AI in the keyboarding software to put the apostrophe in "dont' and "Id" and "wouldnt". Most common contractions are supported this way. Oh, the personal pronoun "i" is automatically capitalized as well.
5. Don't worry about periods and capital letters at the beginning of sentences. Again, the AI saves time at the end of sentence. Hit the space bar twice after the last word and you will get a period, a space, and a capital of the next letter you type. Very cool.
6. Hold down a letter key and see what happens. For those of you who type in a language that uses diacritical marks (tildes, accents, dots, etc.), you will find all vowels and some consonants offer a choice of letter style when you hold the key down. Just slide your finger over to select the right style. Try holding down the comma key - it lets you select an apostrophe. You can also enable alternate language keyboards and emoticons in the settings. Actually, it's worth a couple minutes looking over the keyboard settings to check what other features you want enabled.
7. Use auto complete and auto correct, but carefully. Type "Johnso" and the option for "Johnson" magically appears. Hit the space bar and that guess is inserted. Watch your screen when the word you are looking for appears, touch space. Oh, this can result in some rather stupid substitutions, so be careful. If I am not mistaken, the device learns proper nouns to speed this process up. If you don't like the suggested word, tap the red X next to it.
8. There is a caps lock on some keyboards. Some. but not all, programs put the keyboard into a CAPS LOCK mode when the shift key is pressed twice. Handy when you need to yell at somebody using e-mail, I guess, but I like using all caps when filling out forms. You may need to enable this in the settings of the device.
9. Use speech to text. If you have an Internet connection, you can dictate your message instead of keying it in. Look for the microphone icon to the left of the space bar on the keyboard in some programs. Remember to "speak" your punctuation marks. Period.
10. Get an external keyboard - with arrows. For those who really, really don't like adjusting to the on-screen keyboard, there are many external physical keyboards available for sale. The most popular seem to be the ones built into a case. I've never found the external keyboard to be worth the extra weight or drain on battery life caused by the Bluetooth connection. I'd just say that you should try borrowing one first and giving it a try before plunking down your hard earned money on something you may not use in the future. The one I personally like the best is the Apple Wireless Keyboard - not a case-based keyboard.

Any hints might you have for efficient text input into a tablet?

* Do read Edudemic's 5 Myths About Writing With Mobile Devices. 

** I use an iPad and iPhone and our teachers are using iPads. YMMV on an Android or other tablet. Sorry. 

*** This list has been created for my district's beginning users - not old pros like you probably are.

BFTP: Ruminating

A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past. Original post May 27, 2008. Happy end of the school year for many of us in Minnesota. I hope all teachers take some time to ruminate when not working second jobs, teaching summer school, writing curriculum, engaging in professional development, taking classes, chaffering children, or doing the 101 other things that teachers who "have the summer off" do.

ruminate: 1 : to go over in the mind repeatedly and often casually or slowly 2 : to chew repeatedly for an extended period (M-W.com)

Susan Sedro at Adventures in Educational Blogging shares her frustration at having little time for "deep thinking" and asks her readers:

... how do you make space for deeper thinking? Are you able to ponder deeper thoughts in the midst of business or do you need a clear mental space for it? What strategies have been working for you? Frenetic minds want to know!

It's a great question and  this was my response to her:

My sanity (what little remains) demands quiet time to think. I find this by:

• Walking every day for at least an hour (well, almost every day) with no headphones or other distractions.
• Driving with the radio/CD player off. Leaving the radio/TV/music off while in the house.
• "Scheduling" at least two hours of writing time each Sat and Sun morning.
• Taking one week away from home, by myself to do nothing but write. 

Not much, but it is what I can eke out. I refuse to get an iPod because I am afraid it would steal even these brief moments of quiet for me. [Doesn't anyone else remember the short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut?]

Too often we are so hell-bent on obtaining information, keeping up, we don't take the time to really ponder what we've taken in.

One of my favorite words is "ruminate." I am not sure which meaning came first - chewing on ideas and information metaphorically or chewing grasses and cud literally. But I like the image of bringing something back up and extracting more nutrient from it a second or third time around.

Do Web 2.0 tools encourage or discourage rumination, or as Susan terms it, deep thinking? As I write this or anything I know others will be reading, I am forced to take at least minimal care to consider, organize, and articulate my experiences and readings. To think a little harder and longer about stuff than I might normally do. On the other hand, RSS feeds, e-mail newsletters, blog posts, Twitter, and other tools are bringing me more information faster than ever. Without the gift of added hours in the day. Can't one say that he is not finished thinking about a thing without being labeled "indecisive" anymore?

I worry that in our haste to know the facts about the new, we refuse to take the time to consider the implications of the new. The wisdom of the new. 

And if we as educators don't slow down and reflect, analyse, consider, doubt, challenge, and dissect, who will be the model of these behaviors for our students?

When and where do you find the time to ruminate? 

A ruminating cow... 

Head for the Edge columns, 2012-13

Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully. Boswell

Although this sentiment does not hold when I am two days from deadline without a frickin' idea of what to write about, I really like writing columns. The 800-900 word limit is a nice constraint and opinion is an expectation of the format. Like a public hanging, a public expression of opinion tends to focus the mind wonderfully.

I've written columns for several magazines and websites over the years (you can find a complete list here), but my favorite remains "Head for the Edge" in Library Media Connection. Who knew back in 1995 when I pitched the idea to Marlene Woo-Lun for a column for her then new, now defunct magazine, Technology Connection, that I would still be writing it nearly 20 years later.

Anyway, here are the columns from this year's issues:

• Bring Your Own Device to the Library, August/September 2012
• 10 Ways to Encourage Creativity in Your Library, October 2012
• 21 Dangerous Statements Librarians Make, November 2012
• The Entrepreneurial Librarian, January/February 2013
• The Neglected Side of Intellectual Freedom, March/April 2013
• The Swiss Army Knife Approach, May/June 2013 

And from the shameless self-promotion department...

A collection of Head for the Edge columns, updated and organized, can be found in my book School Libraries Head for the Edge. Buy it and I might one day be able to afford a nursing home where my drool bucket will be changed on a regular basis. Thank you.