The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), the country’s leading organization representing stenographic court reporters, broadcast and CART captioners, and legal videographers, recently announced that Madison College, School of Business & Applied Arts in Madison, Wis., was recently awarded a five-year, $550,000 grant by the U.S. Department of Education. The funding is part of the Training for Realtime Writers grants under the Higher Education Act passed by Congress in 2009.
The college plans to use the grant money primarily to implement a recently redesigned curriculum honed to better align with the priorities of the Training for Realtime Writers Program. The new curriculum was also adopted to better serve the needs of Madison students, allow for new enrollments throughout the year, and increase overall student numbers. In 2002, Madison College received grant funding which was used to help expand its curriculum to include broadcast captioning as a separate career path and degree.
“We are very excited about the grant activities we have planned over the next five years,” said Lisa “Lee” Carey, RPR, CRI, a court reporting instructor at the college’s School of Business & Applied Arts and one of two instructors who spearheaded the grant process. “With the award, we will be able to fully implement our vision and ensure Madison’s court reporting program continues to grow. Some of the funds will help purchase new equipment, support technology updates, develop additional curriculum, establish community partnerships, and market the court reporting profession,” Carey added.
According to Lisa Jo Hubacher, RPR, CRI, a court reporting instructor at the college’s program who also spearheaded the grant process with Carey, years three through five of the school’s five-year plan will also include representation at the NCRA Convention & Expo with a goal to collaborate with other instructors.
“We plan to share with other attending instructors the results of data complied through our grant projects in order to establish best practices for training realtime reporters nationwide,” she said.
“We are excited about helping our currently small program grow into a national online program. Madison’s associate degree court reporting program has its roots in the stenography program first offered by the college in 1913. The modern court reporting program was established in the 1950s. We are excited to know that this grant will help the program continue to grow well into the
future.”
future.”
Key changes and new resources under the school’s new curriculum include:
• A six semester program that features no more than 12 credits per semester, no more than two weeks between semesters, and the opportunity for new students to be admitted at the beginning of the fall, spring, and summer semesters.
• Core classes offered every semester enabling up to 17 classes to be offered at one time.
• The replacement of individual classes with “competency-based education,” where students are taught the competencies required under NCRA’s Graduation Requirements and Minimum Standards.
• An online program that is somewhat self-paced based on each student’s needs and capabilities and supported by online instruction supplemented with individual coaching/mentoring either in person or via Skype and/or AdobeConnect.
• A new “virtual one-room schoolhouse” located on campus open to students, both in-person and online, between the hours of 9:00 and 4:00, Mondays through Thursdays.
• A new state-of-the-art mock courtroom that can also be used as a conference room or office for student and professional technology training.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Training for Realtime Writers grant program was, in part, approved due to a legislative campaign NCRA launched and supported throughout multiple legislative cycles. Since the Act took effect, NCRA has helped court reporting schools secure more than $16 million in Training for Realtime Writers grants. For more information, visit NCRA.org.
