Online Education options for Degrees in Corrections
Online degrees in court reporting typically involve specific career training courses. Students will learn to develop exceptional listening skills through various listening exercises that they will be able to use throughout their career. They will also learn about the criminal justice system, courtroom procedures, and legal terminology. In addition, students will become familiar with the computer systems, stenography equipment, and voice-recognition equipment used in court reporting. Depending on the type of reporting they will be doing, they may be required to learn typing skills with emphasis on shorthand techniques, correct spelling, grammar, vocabulary, usage, and punctuation. Court reporters using voice-recognition equipment will be required to learn to speak clearly and use proper diction in order to operate their equipment.
A student learning voice recording may only need to take one year of courses, while stenography students will typically find their coursework lasting two years. Stenography students will be required to develop very fast typing skills and may be required to take daily typing tests, advancing only as their typing speed improves.
Online options for court reporting exist at the following levels:
- Online Associates Degree in Court Reporting and related fields
- Online Bachelor Degree in Court Reporting and related fields
- Online Master Degree in Court Reporting and related fields
Degrees in Court Reporting Career and Salary Information
Graduates from court reporting programs will find a variety of opportunities available for court reporters. Court reporters are responsible for making sure that the official record of court proceedings is complete, accurate, and secure. They are solely responsible for the preparation and protection of a document assigned to them. Court reporters can work independently as freelance court reporters or they could work for a specific court. Some court reporters work for attorneys, recording meetings and courtroom proceedings. The hours court reporters will work vary widely. Many court reporters work long hours, seated in the courtroom. Some court reporters work on-call or as needed. Court reporters can work from home as well, transcribing audio or video recordings of court proceedings.
Court reporters may assist individuals such as the judge or an attorney with locating specific information in a transcription. Court reporters can serve a vital role as archive manager for transcriptions. The archive manager would file the transcriptions into the archive and then retrieve archived transcriptions as requested. Outside of courtroom or legal work, court reporters are increasingly finding work in closed captioning and translation services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the outlook for jobs in court reporting is very good in the coming years. Mostly due to increasing opportunity in the area of translation, jobs in court reporting continue to outnumber job seekers in most regions. Earnings for court reporters vary depending on the number of hours worked. Some court reporters working as needed or on call may only work a few hours a month, while full-time court reporters may work long hours of overtime. The median earnings for court reporters is $45,000. The highest paid ten percent of court reporters earned over $77,000.