The Doorway Online Questionnaire
The Doorway Online Questionnaire
Doorway On line is a suite of engaging educational activities, provided by Scottish Borders Council. The emphasis is on accessibility. The clarity of presentation, the ease of configuration and variety of options make these activities accessible to the widest range of users possible.
In fact, the suite of software is being well used throught Scottish Borders, Scotland, the UK and the World.
We would appreciate feedback from schools and families using the site regarding its use; what improvements could be made; what activities you'd like to see there.
After the current cycle of development we may be seeking funding from various sources, and your feedback would be helpful
Please fill in the The Doorway Online Questionaire
Doorway Text Type
Doorway Text Type is a touch typing tutor is designed for visually impaired people. One of the priorities was to make it as clear as possible. It has been welcomed by teachers supporting learners with visual impairment. It has been praised for the clarity of the presentation, the colour options and the progression of the exercises.
It can be used by anyone wanting to learn to touch type.
There are some basic rules;
- Get into a comfortable position. with the keyboard placed centrally
- Locate the home keys. F and J have ridges on them to help you find them
- Do not look at your hands. All the information you need is on the screen. The letter to be pressed, the finger to use. If you 'cheat', and look at your hands, you are not touch typing. Do not look at your hands. If you look at your hands, you are practising a different skill. You will always need to look at your hands.
- Do not hurry. There is no advantage in going fast. It is accuracy that matters.
- Type at a steady rate. Do not speed up for the easy bits and slow down for the tricky parts. Try to type to a slow even beat.
- You need to score at least 90% on an exercise twice before going on to the next one. If you go on without mastering the previous one, it will just be too hard. Experience shows that users who go on to be touch typists usually score above 94% on each exercise.
- At the start, do not try to to type too much. A single exercise at one session is enough. Use it on a ‘little and often’ basis.
- Touch typing is a motor habit like riding abike. Once you have learnt it you can use it any time again in your life.
First Sounds up and running!
This new activity gives users practice in identifying the first sounds in words. There are over 50 words to pick from, including words beginning with vowels, consonants and the digraphs sh, ch and th. Children can work together on the interactive white board to complete this activity.
Doorway Number Table is complete!
The next Doorway application is available. It's Doorway Number Table. The learner sees a number table. There are four sizes from 1-10 to 1-100.
Several numbers are taken away. The default is five but this can be varied. The learner has to replace the numbers - on counters, into the number. A very simple concept, but a very useful tool for teaching numbers up to 100 and their place in a number table. The way in which the user places the counters has been beautifully implemented in a method called "click to move". This makes Doorway Numbertable accessible to users with motor difficulties. It is also a delight to use this software using an intertacive whiteboard.
A preview of Doorway First Words
Doorway First Words is the second piece of software in the Doorway suite to come to the site; www.doorwayonline.org.uk.
It presents pupils with the opportunity to learn how to spell, and test their spelling of over 40 Level A words. These words are all represented by quality line drawings.
The target words are CVC words, words with 'oo' ee', 'ch', 'sh' and 'th'in them. The on-screen keyboard includes 'keys' to represent these digraphs. The words are spoken by a recorded voice.