Exploration of Passive Haptics Based Learning Support Method for Touch Typing

Abstract

Touch typing is a keyboard input method whereby the user types without looking at the keyboard. Because by touch typing users can keep looking at the screen, they can concentrate on what the screen shows and edit text. However, learning touch typing is difficult because it requires the memorization of all key placements. In this paper, we propose a passive haptics based learning support method for touch typing. Because the user is given a stimulus to the finger to be used for the next keystroke, our method encourages users to keep looking at the screen, helping them memorize all key placements. To investigate the effect of using our method, we conducted a pilot study with the users typing English phrases. As a result, our method has a possibility that the users can take less time to acquire touch typing.