What do students need to learn first in keyboarding?

When teaching touch typing, begin by teaching students finger positions. Each finger has assigned letters based on the positioning of the hand over the keyboard. The middle row on a QWERTY keyboard will serve as the home row, the starting position for each finger. Students should first learn to become comfortable with this starting position which is made easier on many keyboards with a raised ridge on the F and J keys. These markers indicate where the index fingers should be placed on the home row, so students can feel their way back to home row rather than needing to look at the keyboard directly.