In-class vs. Online Court Reporting Programs

Weigh in on the advantages and disadvantages of in-class vs. online court reporting programs.  

From my experiences in trying both programs, in-class triumphs online.

The biggest pro for taking an online class is the convenience factor. I recommend online classes if you KNOW that you are disciplined enough to study, write, and transcribe at around the same amount of time as an in-class student spends on doing the same thing (at LEAST six hours every weekday and a couple of hours on the weekends). That's pretty much all I have to say about online classes.

As for the classroom environment, I cannot praise it enough! Court reporting is a unique field, and if you're diving into this profession without a definitive idea of what you are doing or what you're about to put yourself through, you're going to need ALL the live help you can get. No matter how much you turn to the people in your life outside steno, there's no one else adequate enough to understand what you're going through other than the staff, teachers, and classmates (that you'll most likely become close friends with) on your campus. From my experience, live dictation surpasses online dictation as I find online dictation more stage-like/fake. Nothing beats live dictation. The more live dictation you receive and transcribe, the better you'll be as a writer, and the faster you'll get out of school. Also, you'll need the one-on-one support for getting to know your CAT software, to answer any academic-related questions, to network with neighborhood agencies, etc. I know there are many more pros to an in-class program, but I think I covered the general parts of it. 

Everyone is different, so I encourage everyone that's considering taking the online program to try it out for one school term. I have a friend that tried out Simply Steno for a few months and she liked it. But, like me, she went back to the classroom program. If online suits you, then go for it! 

Can't speak on online as I've been campus for my entire tenure as a student, October will mark my 1 year anniversary, but I can tell you that I absolutely love the classroom environment.  The instructors are great about making themselves available between classes to answer any questions and to be in the same class with everyone around the same speed as you provides a great support system.

I imagine the biggest pro of online is flexible schedule to where campus is strictly regimented to the school's schedule.