A court reporting home study program must provide training in such areas as legal terminology, English, medical terminology and the court systems. A student must complete these courses before he learns court reporting software and speedbuilding techniques.
Students enrolled in a home-study course will learn about various types of court reporting software. These programs are often the same as those used in broadcast captioning. This aspect of training uses a stenographer machine or a laptop computer.
As a student progresses in her studies, she must increase her transcription speed. Initially, students must be able to type around 40 words per minute. Before graduation, students must be able to type closer to 225 words per minute using a stenographer machine or legal transcription software.
The amount of time needed to complete a home-study program varies from course to course. Some programs take just five months to complete, while others can take up to three years.