Student User's Guide - Los Rios Community College …nordelr/files/BUSTEC100/...ISAK Student User's...

Student User's Guide

v.1.0 April 4, 2013

ISAK Student User's Guide

Page 2 Updated 4/4/13

Contents GETTING STARTED WITH ISAK ................................................................................................................................ 4

WEB-BASED SOFTWARE .................................................................................................................................................. 5

ISAK FEATURES THESE INNOVATIONS ................................................................................................................................. 5

ISAK TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS ...................................................................................................................................... 5

STUDENT PORTFOLIO ...................................................................................................................................................... 5

LOGGING IN TO ISAK ...................................................................................................................................................... 6

NAVIGATION ................................................................................................................................................................. 7

ISAK INSTANT HELP ........................................................................................................................................................ 9

PROGRAM STRUCTURE ........................................................................................................................................ 10

ACCURACY LESSONS ...................................................................................................................................................... 10

TECHNIQUE LESSONS .................................................................................................................................................... 11

SPEED LESSONS ............................................................................................................................................................ 12

LESSON FEATURES ............................................................................................................................................... 13

SPEED/ACCURACY GOALS .............................................................................................................................................. 13

WORD WRAP .............................................................................................................................................................. 13

ONE-SPACE/TWO-SPACE OPTION ................................................................................................................................... 13

SCORING .................................................................................................................................................................... 14

SPEED CALCULATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 15

SCORED AND UNSCORED EXERCISES ................................................................................................................................. 15

PRINTING .................................................................................................................................................................... 15

SKILLBUILDING ..................................................................................................................................................... 16

ENTRANCE TIMED WRITING ........................................................................................................................................... 16

WARMUP ................................................................................................................................................................... 16

PRETEST > PRACTICE > POSTTEST .................................................................................................................................... 17

BUSINESS SPELLING ...................................................................................................................................................... 17

DRILLS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 18

15-SECOND SPEED SPRINTS ........................................................................................................................................... 18

30-SECOND PROGRESSIVE PRACTICE ................................................................................................................................ 19

MAP+ ....................................................................................................................................................................... 20

PACED PRACTICE .......................................................................................................................................................... 20

OTHER PRACTICE .......................................................................................................................................................... 22

TEN-KEY NUMERIC KEYPAD ............................................................................................................................................ 23

EXIT TIMED WRITING .................................................................................................................................................... 24



MAP+ ................................................................................................................................................................... 25

MAP+ OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................................................ 25

COMPLETING MAP+ EXERCISE ....................................................................................................................................... 26

MAP+ SUMMARY SCREEN ............................................................................................................................................. 29

TIMED WRITING ................................................................................................................................................... 31

5-MINUTE TIMED WRITING ........................................................................................................................................... 31

OTHER TIMED WRITINGS ............................................................................................................................................... 31

MY ISAK ............................................................................................................................................................... 32

PORTFOLIO ................................................................................................................................................................. 32

RESOURCES ................................................................................................................................................................. 36

MESSAGE CENTER ........................................................................................................................................................ 37

MY INFO .................................................................................................................................................................... 38

TECHNICAL SUPPORT ........................................................................................................................................... 39



Getting Started with ISAK Improving Speed and Accuracy in Keyboarding (ISAK) has one purpose: to help you achieve the speed and

accuracy skills in keyboarding that will enable you to secure the type of employment position for which you

are trained. It is designed to upgrade your keyboarding skills through scientific copy, proven techniques, and

individualized practice. You will always be competing against your own previous best effort—not against the

class or some arbitrarily set goals.

The drills in this text have been developed based on extensive research regarding how typists learn, what

reaches cause them the most problems, and how to remediate those problems so that you become an expert

typist. If you complete these drills and follow the practice techniques included, you should see a noticeable

improvement in your skill level.

All of your work will be completed through the ISAK software, which is an online program available for use at

any computer that has Internet access. The software will either display the copy for you to type or will direct

you to the appropriate lesson and page number in the text. Through the software, you will always be able to

see which lesson sections you have completed and how you performed on them.

Figure 1: ISAK - Improving Speed & Accuracy in Keyboarding



Web-Based Software Because there is no software to install, students (and instructors) can work from any computer that has

an Internet connection. The software’s intuitive interface is easy to understand and use. All exercises in

the text are completed from within the ISAK software. The software keeps track of student progress and

provides automatic scoring for all of the lesson exercises. When students open the software, it

automatically opens where the student left off the last time. Students will continue to have access to the

ISAK software even after their course ends—for additional skill development.

ISAK features these innovations 1. Web-based software

2. Filling the documented need for keyboarding speed

3. MAP + (Misstroke Analysis and Prescription)

4. Separate practice for accuracy, technique, and speed

5. Flexibility in scheduling

ISAK Technical Requirements The software’s intuitive interface is easy to understand and use. All exercises in the text are completed from

within the ISAK software.

Minimum System Requirements for ISAK:

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP

IE7+, or Firefox 13+

512 MB RAM is required, 1GB+ is recommended

1GHz+ processor

Adobe Flash Player v10+ (Flash Player v10.1+ highly recommended)

Screen resolution of 1024px x 768px or higher

High-speed Internet access

Student Portfolio All of your scores and text are stored in a portfolio that you can access at any time other than when you

are working on an exercise. Your Student Portfolio is a summary report listing all the exercises and

exercise information for activities you have attempted. Detailed Reports display the scored text for

exercises selected from the Student Portfolio.



Logging In to ISAK All of your work will be completed through the ISAK software, which is an online program available for use at

any computer that has Internet access. Students can work in ISAK by logging in to the ISAK student portal.

To log in to the student portal:

1. Go to your school’s ISAK URL: https://account.mhisak.com (where account is your school’s ISAK account

name).

Note: All ISAK URLs use the secure https connection instead of http.

2. Log in with your username and password.

3. If you forget or do not know your username or password, click the Forgot your password? link on the

ISAK log in page to retrieve your username and/or password. The information will only be sent to the

email that is stored in the ISAK database for your account.

4. The ISAK program will open in a pop-up window. If the pop-up window does not appear, your browser

may have a pop-up blocker program, which prevents the window from opening. If the pop-up does not

open, ISAK will display instructions for allowing pop-ups from the ISAK site.

Figure 2: Logging in to ISAK



Navigation The Navigation bar includes quick links to Lessons, Skillbuilding, MAP+, Timed Writings, and My ISAK. Click

the buttons to open the menus and directly access these activities.

The Lessons navigational button opens a direct access to Lessons and the Appendix, which includes Ten

Key Numeric Keypad exercises and the Supplementary Timed Writings.

The Skillsbuilding navigational button opens a direct access to Drill and Warmups exercise for each lesson.

The Map+ button opens the MAP+ program.

The Timed Writings navigational button opens a direct access to all of the timed writings, including the 5-

minute Time Writing, Supplementary Writing, Opened Timed Writing and the Custom Timed Writing.

The My ISAK button opens the Student Portfolio.

Figure 3: Navigation Bar

Lessons The Lessons section of ISAK takes you through every exercise in the text book in order.

To navigate to an exercise using the Lessons menu:

1. Click the Lessons button on the Navigation bar.

2. Click the Lessons tab to display the Units contained in that part.

3. Click a Unit title to expand it and display the lessons contained in that unit.

4. Click a Lesson title to expand it and display the exercises for that lesson.

5. Click an Exercise title to open the exercise window.

Figure 4: Navigating the Lessons Menu



The Instructions Panel Once you select an exercise, the Instructions Panel shows any important information for completing the

exercise. On the right side of the screen is the exercise itself.

Along the bottom of the screen is the status area which displays the location of the exercise in the book

including part, unit, lesson, page, and line numbers, as well as the Previous and Next buttons.

Figure 5: Instruction Panel



ISAK Instant Help ISAK Instant Help provides information on various topics. Help can be accessed by clicking the Help menu

button. A list of Help topic will open, corresponding to information about the tab that you have currently

selected.

To access the ISAK instant help:

1. Click the Help button in the upper right corner of the ISAK window. A list of Help topics will open

corresponding to information about the tab that you have currently selected.

2. Click on the topic you need help with, or click View All Entries for the entire list of Help topics.

3. In the ISAK instant help window you can read about the topic you have chosen.

4. You can also select other topics from the Sections menu on the left side and read the resources PDF

files listed.

Figure 6: Instant Help Menu



Program Structure It is a well-proven fact that students cannot work to improve speed and accuracy simultaneously. After an

initial three lesson keyboard review, each subsequent three-lesson unit in ISAK builds skill in these three areas

in separate lessons. First, every lesson begins with the goals for that lesson— so that students always know

exactly what they’re trying to achieve in that lesson. The goals are followed by a three-line Warmup. Line 1

contains all letters of the alphabet—to improve accuracy. Line 2 contains various types of drills—to improve

technique. And Line 3 comprises a sentence made up of short, easy-to-type words—to improve speed.

Accuracy Lessons Lesson 1 of each unit provides systematic practice on these types of accuracy-improvement exercises.

Figure 7: Accuracy Lessons

MAP+ : Each accuracy lesson provides one MAP 1 exercise in improving keystroking accuracy on the alphabet

keys and one MAP 1 exercise on either the number or symbol keys—for individualized practice.

CORRESPONDING-FINGER PRACTICE: Students often type a letter using the corresponding finger of the wrong

hand. Therefore, ISAK provides practice in distinguishing between F and J reaches, D and K reaches, S and L

reaches, and A and Sem reaches. Note the Pretest-Practice-Posttest (P/P/P) format of this drill. This routine

was developed by Dr. Fred Winger of Oregon State University, based upon his extensive body of keyboarding

research. The Pretest comprises a 1-minute timed writing passage that is filled with examples of the reach

being practiced (in this case, words requiring extensive use of the F and J fingers) to help students distinguish

between the two fingers. Finally, students take a Posttest to measure improvement.



CONFUSABLE KEYS: Research shows that three types of reaches cause confusions for typists. First, reaches

using consecutive fingers are problematic—for example, typing rt or tr, both letters of which are typed with

the same finger. So ISAK systematically provides exercises designed to eliminate these confusions. The other

types of confusable reaches systematically practiced in ISAK are reaches using adjacent fingers (such as oi and

as ) and common substitution errors (such as typing g for h, and vice versa). All are practiced in ISAK.

BUSINESS SPELLING: Most keyboarding instructors agree that competent spelling skills are a critical component

of competent keyboarding skills. Dr. Scot Ober’s published spelling research has identified vocabulary words

that both (a) occur frequently in typical business writing and (b) are frequently misspelled by typical students.

Words from his list of the 1,000 most frequently occurring and most frequently misspelled words in business

writing are practiced in each accuracy lesson.

REACH DRILLS: ISAK provides systematic practice on (a) horizontal reaches, which move to a different key on

the same row, (b) vertical reaches, which move from one row to the adjacent row, and (c) jump reaches, which

move from the upper row to the lower row, or vice versa.

Technique Lessons To achieve higher speeds and accuracy, students must practice good technique, so Lesson 2 of each unit builds

proper technique, using these drills.

Figure 8: Technique Lessons

NONPRINTING KEYS: Students often waste much time when reaching for the Tab, Enter, Space Bar, Left Shift,

Right Shift, and Backspace keys. They either have to look down to find the keys or often then fail to return the

finger immediately to home-row position. ISAK exercises are designed to remedy these weaknesses.



CONCENTRATION: When students don’t concentrate, they lose their place in the copy, have to look at the

keyboard to find the keys, or make other time-wasting motions. ISAK provides three types of concentration

drills: (a) vocabulary words, (b) foreign phrases, and (c) sentences typed from right to left. All are designed to

force students to keep their eyes on the copy.

Speed Lessons Lesson 3 of each unit is designed to build student speed at the keyboard by using these drills.

Figure 9: Speed Lessons

15-SECOND SPEED SPRINTS. Students enjoy these short bursts of speed because they are motivational and

show students just how fast their fingers are capable of moving. They are also an excellent vehicle for helping

students break the habit of looking at their hands when they type. Tell your students, “You may not be able to

go for an entire minute without looking at your hands, but I’ll bet you can do it for just 15 seconds.”

COMMON LETTER COMBINATIONS. Dr. Scot Ober’s published research has identified the most frequently

occurring 2-letter, 3-letter, and 4-letter combinations in typical business writing. If students learn to type these

frequent combinations quickly (as a “word” as opposed to letter-by-letter typing), their speed will increase.



PROGRESSIVE PRACTICE. Progressive Practice is an individualized skillbuilding component of ISAK that is

designed to build speed and accuracy in short, incremental steps. Thirty-second passages are provided for

speeds ranging from 20 wpm to 100 wpm. The ISAK software automatically displays the correct passage for

each student. The student practices that passage until he or she can complete it with no uncorrected errors

and then moves to the next passage, which is 2 wpm faster. The topics of both the Progressive Practice and

Paced Practice relate to grammar and mechanics.

PACED PRACTICE. Paced Practice is an individualized skillbuilding component designed to build speed by

enabling students to speed up—just a little—and then to build accuracy by slowing down—just a little; any

gross deviation from normal typing speed is detrimental to skillbuilding. The ISAK software indicates at what

point in the timed writing students should be at each 15-second interval. If they’re typing too fast, they should

slow down a little; if they’re typing too slowly, they should speed up a little. Their goal for each timed writing

is to be within a character or two of each speed marker when it disappears. As soon as a student reaches his

or her own individualized speed goal, ISAK displays a passage that is 2 wpm slower than the speed goal, and

then the student works for accuracy—by slowing down just a little.

5-MINUTE TIMED WRITING. Each speed lesson ends with a 5-minute timed writing. All timed writings contain

all letters of the alphabet and are the same length, the same level of difficulty (as measured by syllabic

intensity), and the same format—to ensure that student differences in speed or accuracy are the result of

increased skill and not the result of changes in copy difficulty or format. The 40 Supplementary Timed Writings

in the Appendix are written to the same standards as the lesson timed writings.

Lesson Features

Speed/Accuracy Goals When you work on the Lesson exercises, your Pretest results will be used to determine whether your goal will

be for speed or accuracy for the remaining exercises in the lesson.

Word Wrap Some exercises are keyed in Word Wrap On mode, which means that you press the ENTER key at the end of

paragraphs only. Other exercises are to be done in Word Wrap Off mode, which means that you press the

ENTER key at the end of every line. The instruction panel will let you know whether Word Wrap is on or off.

One-Space/Two-Space Option ISAK offers the option of typing one space or two spaces after punctuation: periods (at ends of sentences only),

question marks, exclamation points, and colons. This option is set on a class-wide level by your instructor, and

affects all scored activities. Check with your instructor, as typing one space after punctuation when the class

setting is for two spaces (and vice-versa) will result in scoring errors.



Scoring Much of the work you complete in this program will be scored. The program will report your words per minute

(wpm) speed and the number of errors you make, as well as achievement of speed and accuracy goals.

Errors in scored copy are marked as follows:

Red all incorrect words.

<Green> all omitted words and hard returns (designated as <¶>).

{Blue} incorrectly inserted words and hard returns (designated as {¶}).

Examples:

Incorrect word You cane go.

Omitted word You <can> go.

Inserted word You {perhaps} can go.

Inserted hard return You can go.{¶}

Figure 10: Scoring

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Speed Calculation ISAK will calculate your speed on all timed writings. Your words-per-minute (wpm) speed is based on the

following formula:

The total number of 5-character words is divided by the number of minutes in the timing.

25 words ÷ 1 minute = 25 wpm

50 words ÷ 2 minutes = 25 wpm



Scored and Unscored Exercises Scored exercise speed and accuracy results along with exercise completion status are listed in the Student

Portfolio Detailed Report. Unscored exercises are marked for completion status only; no speed or accuracy

results are given. Unscored text typed by a student may be viewed by opening the Detailed Report for that

exercise.

Note: The list of scored and unscored exercises refer to ISAK scoring algorithms only, and may or may not be

factored into your grade. Your instructor chooses which exercises are graded, and may include unscored

exercises as part of your grade. In addition, there may be instances where scored exercises are not counted

towards a grade. Check with your instructor to determine which exercises are graded.

Scored Exercises Unscored Exercises

15-Second Speed Sprints

30-Second Progressive Practice

5-Minute Timed Writing

Business Spelling

Custom Timed Writing

Entry Timed Writing

Exit Timed Writing

MAP+

Open Timed Writing

Other Practice

Paced Practice

Postest

Pretest

Sups Supplementary Timed Writing

Ten-Key Numeric Keypad

Business Spelling

Drills

Number Practice

Practice

Ten-Key Numeric Keypad

Warmup

Printing You can print your scores in your Student Portfolio as well as the scored text for any exercise by clicking the

Print button at the bottom of the window. See the Printing the Portfolio section for detailed information.



Skillbuilding

Entrance Timed Writing The first time you access ISAK you will be taken through the Entrance Timed Writing. When the timing opens,

you will be given the option of selecting 3- or 5-minutes for the length of the exercise. Select the option

specified by your instructor.

The software asks if you want to take the Entrance Timed Writing again. Click the Next Attempt button to take

the timing again. Click Next to advance to the first lesson of the program.

Figure 11: Entry Timed Writing

Warmup Each Lesson begins with a Warmup activity, consisting of a drill to loosen up fingers. Warmup activities are not

timed or scored.

This is how Warmup activities work:

1. The status bar specifies which textbook page and lines to use. 2. Type copy from the textbook. When you are finished, click the Done button. 3. Click Next to advance to the next activity in the lesson.



Pretest > Practice > Posttest Prestest/Practice/Posttest exercises are accessed from either the Lessons menu. All lessons include a Pretest,

Practice, and Posttest routine that identifies speed and accuracy needs, and measures your improvement. You

must complete the Pretest before you will be allowed to attempt the associated Practices or Posttest.

For the Pretest, take a 1-minute timed writing on the Pretest, pushing moderately for speed. Your

performance will determine whether you should stress speed or accuracy on the Practice exercises that

follow. Word wrap is turned on; error correction is turned off. Begin by pressing the TAB key.

The Practice exercise provides practice in typing keys that are side by side on the same row. Try to maintain

a smooth and steady rhythm as you type. Type each individual line 2 times. Insert 1 blank line after typing

the line a second time. This exercise provides practice in typing keys that are side by side on the same row.

Try to maintain a smooth and steady rhythm as you type.

The Posttest repeats the Pretest. Your goal is to type faster than you did on the Pretest and/or to make

fewer errors than you did on the Pretest.

Business Spelling Business Spelling exercises can be accessed from either the Lessons menu or from the Skillbuilding menu

under the Drills tab.

These exercises include words that both occur frequently in typical business writing and are frequently

misspelled by typical students. Words from this list of the 1,000 most frequently occurring and most frequently

misspelled words in business writing are practiced in each accuracy lesson.

Figure 12: Business Spelling

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Drills ISAK provides systematic practice on (a) horizontal reaches, which move to a different key on the same row,

(b) vertical reaches, which move from one row to the adjacent row, and (c) jump reaches, which move from

the upper row to the lower row, or vice versa.

The Drills are accessed from either the Lessons menu or from the Skillbuilding menu, under the Drills tab.

To complete a Drill exercise, type each line in the drill 1 time. Type every line of the drill one time, and then

type every line of the drill a second time before moving to the next drill. After you have finished, click the Done

button to submit your work.

Figure 13: Drills

15-Second Speed Sprints 15-Second Speed Sprints are accessed from either the Lessons menu or from the Skillbuilding menu.

The 15-Second Speed Sprints foster speed improvement through the use of fast, repetitive typing on short,

easy sentences without an error limit. To complete the sprint you will take three 15-second timed writings on

each line. If you complete the line, press ENTER and begin again. Your goal is to type a little faster on each

timed writing.







30-Second Progressive Practice Progressive Practices can be accessed from either the Lessons menu or the Skillbuilding menu.

Progressive Practice is an individualized skillbuilding program designed to build speed and accuracy in

short, incremental steps. This section contains 30-second timed writings ranging from 20 wpm to 100

wpm. Before beginning the timed writings, take a 1-minute Placement timed writing. If you make more

than 3 uncorrected errors, repeat the Placement timed writing.

Based on your performance on this Placement timed writing, the ISAK software will display a timed

writing that is 1-2 words higher than your current speed.

1. Take up to six 30-second timed writings on this passage. You goal is to complete the passage with 0

uncorrected errors.

2. When you reach your goal, displays the next timed writing, where your goal is 2 wpm higher, and

you repeat the process. When you have completed six total timed writings, ISAK moves you to the

next exercise in the current lesson.

3. ISAK keeps track of your progress and will display the appropriate passage to type each time you

access the Progressive Practice routine.

Figure 14: 30-Second Progressive Practice



MAP+ MAP+ can be accessed through the Lessons menus or through the MAP+ button on the Navigation bar. If you

access MAP+ from a Lesson menu, the first screen you see is the MAP+ Pretest for that specific lesson. If you

go to MAP+ from the Navigation bar at the top of the screen, you will begin by selecting a Pretest from the

Pretest menu. For more information on MAP+ please see the main MAP+ section later in this document.

Figure 15: MAP +

Paced Practice Paced Practices are accessed from either the Lessons menu or the Skillbuilding menu.

Paced Practice is an individualized skillbuilding program designed to build speed by enabling you to speed

up— just a little —and then to build accuracy by slowing down— just a little. The ISAK software tells you

at what point in the timed writing you should be at each 15-second interval. If you’re typing too fast, slow

down a little; if you’re typing too slowly, speed up a little. Your goal for each timed writing is to be within

a character or two of each speed marker when it disappears.

This section contains 1-minute timed writings ranging from 20 wpm to 100 wpm. Before beginning the

timed writings, take a 1-minute Placement timed writing. If you make more than 3 uncorrected errors,

repeat the Placement timed writing.

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Based on your performance on this Placement timed writing, the ISAK software will display a timed writing

that is 1-2 words higher than your current speed. You will use a two-step process—first working to achieve

your speed goal and then working to achieve your accuracy goal.

1. Speed Goal: Take up to four 1-minute timed writings on the displayed passage. Your speed goal is to

complete the passage without regard to the number of errors made, so don’t take time to correct

typos.

2. Accuracy Goal: When you reach your speed goal, ISAK then displays a timed writing that is 2 wpm

slower than your speed goal (remember, the key to accuracy is to slow down—just a little). Your

accuracy goal is to complete the passage with no more than 1 uncorrected error. When you have met

your accuracy goal, ISAK displays a passage that is 2 wpm higher than your speed goal in Step 1, and

the process continues.

3. When you have completed a total of four 1-minute timed writings, ISAK moves you to the next

exercise in the current lesson.

4. ISAK keeps track of your progress and will display the appropriate passage to type each time you

access the Paced Practice routine.

Figure 16: Exercises Paced Practice



Other Practice These exercises include Number, Symbol and Punctuation practice.

1. Number Practice - These exercises are used to measure your skill in typing numbers before and after

completing the lessons.

2. Symbol Practice - These exercises provide practice on the most commonly used symbols.

3. Punctuation Practice - Intensive practice on all punctuation keys is provided in these lessons.

Figure 17: Other Practice



Ten-Key Numeric Keypad This section will help you build your speed and accuracy using the keypad on computers and calculators.

There are three types of exercises, Not Calculated, Calculate and Calculated & Timed. Error notification is

turned off in ISAK for numeric keypad exercises. Your digit-per-minute (DPM) speed and number of errors will

be displayed at the end of each timed writing.

Figure 18: Ten-Key Numeric Keypad Exercises



Exit Timed Writing The Course Exit Timing is the same activity as the Course Entry Timing. It measures speed and accuracy at the

end of the course. When the timing opens, you will be given the option of selecting 3 or 5 minutes for the

length of the exercise. Select the option specified by your instructor.

Figure 19: Exit Timed Writing



MAP+

MAP+ Overview MAP+, Misstroke Analysis and Prescription is a highly sophisticated, individualized error-analysis and

remediation program. MAP+ is a diagnostic component within the ISAK software that analyzes each student’s

pretest misstrokes and prescribes individualized remediation drills based on the student’s misstrokes. Each

time the student accesses a drill, all new drill lines appear—thus providing unlimited new drill lines for 80

different kinds of keystroking problems.

Figure 20: MAP+

MAP+ can be accessed through the Lessons menus or through the MAP+ button on the Navigation bar.

If you access MAP+ from a Lesson menu, the first screen you see is the MAP+ Pretest for that specific

lesson.

o Each accuracy lesson provides one MAP+ exercise in improving keystroking accuracy on the

alphabet keys and one MAP+ exercise on either the number or symbol keys—for individualized

practice. MAP+ will provide additional practice based on the keys you have learned up to and

including that lesson.

o Once you complete the Pretest you can navigate to the MAP+ Summary screen which displays a

detailed analysis of the errors you made in the Pretest and contains your individualized

Prescriptive Drills.

If you go to MAP+ from the Navigation bar at the top of the screen, you will begin by selecting a Pretest

from the Pretest menu. For detailed information see next section Completing a MAP+.



Completing MAP+ Exercise To complete a MAP+ exercise (accessed from the Navigation bar):

1. Click the MAP+ button on the Navigation bar.

2. In the right top corner click the Pretest drop-down menu and select the type of exercise, you would

like to take Alphabet, Number or Symbol.

3. Type the Pretest, following the directions in the left-hand instruction panel. Notice that during the

Pretest, you cannot correct mistakes as you type.

Figure 21: MAP+ Pretest

4. When you are finished typing the Pretest, click the Score Text button to see your errors.

MAP+ will then analyze the errors you made and assign up to three prescriptive drills, which you

must complete to receive a “completed” credit for the exercise. You can complete the

prescriptive drill(s) in any order.

5. Click Next to advance to the MAP+ Summary screen, where MAP+ will identify Prescriptive Drills

based on an analysis of your keystroking errors.



6. Click the Prescriptive Drill button and completed the drill exercise. (You can take the Prescriptive

Drills out of order.)

Notice that in the prescriptive drills when you make an error, the program will prompt you to

strike the correct key to continue.

Figure 22: MAP+ Prescriptive Drill

7. Click Next button to return to the MAP+ Summary screen when you have completed the

Prescriptive Drill.

8. Click the next Prescriptive Drill to continue with your MAP+ exercise.



9. Once you complete all the Perspective Drills, you have complete the MAP+ exercise. You will see

green check marks next to the drill names.

Figure 23: MAP+ Prescriptive Drills Finished



MAP+ Summary Screen The MAP+ Summary screen displays a detailed analysis of the errors you made in the Pretest, as well as

any instructions that are necessary to complete the exercise.

Figure 24: MAP+ Summary

In the upper part of the left side of the screen, the Error boxes list the number of errors you made by

error type.

In the lower part of the left side of the screen, the Prescriptive Drills boxes list the drills generated by

your Pretest results.

On the keyboard image, that keys where you made errors have the number of errors in the upper

right corner of the key.

Below the keyboard, the finger images show how many errors you made specific to each finger.

To the right of the keyboard, buttons for each keyboard row summarize the number of errors you

made for each row.

To see your scored Pretest, click the View Scored Text button in the bottom navigation bar.



From the MAP+ Summary screen, you can access any type of prescriptive drill, regardless of your Pretest

results. Click any key, finger, or text box for intensive practice on that element. For example, if you click

Substitution Errors in the Errors box at the left side of the screen, you will receive practice on the most

commonly occurring substitution errors. If you click the image of the D finger below the keyboard, you

will receive practice on all keys controlled by the D finger (D, E, and C).

Once you have completed the prescriptive drills, you can take (or re-take) any assigned prescriptive drills

from your Pretest results by clicking one of the drills in the box at the lower left side of the MAP+

Summary.

* For detailed instructions on how to use MAP+ click on the MAP+ Slideshow button at the left bottom of the

summary.

Figure 25: MAP+ Slideshow*



Timed Writing

5-Minute Timed Writing Timed Writings are accessed from either the Lessons menu or from the Timed Writings menu under the

5-Minute tab. Additional open, custom, and supplementary timed writings are accessible from the Timed

Writings menus only.

Timed writing exercises encourage speed and accuracy improvement by typing passages with a time limit and

with the text scored for speed and accuracy. Your timed writing results can be reviewed in your Student

Portfolio. Timed writings are 5-minute exercises in lesson exercises.

Figure 26: 5- Minute Timed Writing

Other Timed Writings Timed Writings are accessed from either the Lessons menu or from the Timed Writings menu. Additional

open, custom, and supplementary timed writings are accessible from the Timed Writings menus only.

Timed writing exercises encourage speed and accuracy improvement by typing passages under a deadline.

Your text is scored for speed and accuracy. Your timed writing results can be reviewed in your Student

Portfolio. Timed writings range from 1- to 5-minute exercises in lesson exercises.

In order to mark a timed writing as complete, you must take two attempts at the timed writing. Scored text

for timed writings can be reviewed in the Student Portfolio.



mk:@MSITStore:C:/GDP/gdp.chm::/Student_Portfolio.htm








My ISAK

Portfolio The Portfolio is opened by clicking the My ISAK button on the toolbar. The Student Portfolio is a record of

every exercise you have completed in the ISAK program.

Each exercise includes a triangle that appears next to the date. Click the triangle to display an expanded view

of the exercise, including all completed exercise attempts and further information, such as words per minute

and errors. If there is more information for the exercise, you will see a Details button. Click this button to open

a window where you can see more information about the attempt, including scored and submitted text.

Figure 27: My ISAK Portfolio



Sorting the Portfolio To refine the portfolio list, type an exercise lesson number or Progress Timing number in the Lesson box at the

top of the list, or type any part of an exercise title in the Title box at the top of the list.

One line appears for each exercise, showing the Date, Lesson, exercise Title, and amount of Total Time you

spent working on the exercise and Goal. You can sort the list by clicking any column heading.

Filtering the Portfolio You can filter the Student Portfolio by the Exercise Category and/or the Exercise Type, as well as the Lesson

Range and/or the Test Range, and Start and End Time. Click the Advanced Filter button to open the Filter

Student Portfolio options dialog. Select the individual options, or click the Select All button to clear or apply

all filter options at once.

Figure 28: Portfolio Advanced Filter



Printing the Portfolio The reports in your Student Portfolio can be printed. You can print your scores in your entire Student Portfolio

by clicking the Print button at the bottom right of the window. You can also print the scored text for any

exercise by clicking the Details button for the exercise and then clinking the Print button at the bottom of the

Details view window.

Figure 29: Student Portfolio Printing



Annotations When you open the Details view for an exercise attempt, you may see a small yellow circle in the text. This

icon indicates that your instructor has included an annotation for the exercise. Rest your mouse over the

annotation icon to display the note from your instructor. Sometimes your instructor will add one general

comment for the exercise. These are displayed directly above the scored text with the label General Comment.

Figure 30: Annotations



Resources Resources are items which your instructor provides for you. They can be links to a Web site or to a document

stored online, such as your class syllabus. To open a resource, click the Open button next to the resource you

want to display. If you select a link, ISAK will open a new browser window and navigate to that Web site. If it is

a file, ISAK will open the file in the associated program.

Figure 31: My ISAK - Resources



Message Center The Message Center section will appear if you are enrolled in a class that uses the Message Center. Use the

Message Center to send messages to and receive messages from the instructor assigned to your class.

To view a message in your Inbox, click the message’s link in the Subject column.

To Delete a message from your Inbox, click the trash can icon in the Delete column.

To view your Drafts and Sent messages, click the Inbox button arrow. You can also click the Refresh

button to refresh the list of messages in your inbox.

Creating a Message To create a message:

1. Click the Compose Message button.

2. Click the green plus icon to the right of the To: field to add recipients.

3. Enter the subject of your message in the Subject box.

4. In the Compose Message section, type your message.

5. If you want to save your message as a draft and send it later, click the Save Draft button. If not, click the

Send Message button to send your message.

Figure 32: My ISAK - Message Center



My Info The My Info section displays all the information for your account in ISAK. Here you can change information

such as your password, class, e-mail address, or your user name. Your Student ID is a permanent record within

ISAK and cannot be changed.

Click the Edit button to change the information for your account. When you are finished, click Save Settings

button to save your changes.

Figure 33: My ISAK - My Info



Technical Support McGraw-Hill Technical Support line:

1-800-331-5094 Hours:

Monday - Thursday: 8AM - 11PM Central

Friday: 8AM - 6PM Central

Sunday: 6PM - 11PM Central

McGraw-Hill Digital Products Support Center:

http://mpss.mhhe.com/products-isak1e.php



Date post:	12-Mar-2018
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Student User's Guide - Los Rios Community College …nordelr/files/BUSTEC100/...ISAK Student User's...

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