Introduction:  This program in voicewriting training operates under the name Verbatim Careers Institute, a state licensed facility.  VCI developed a distance learning program when inquiries were received from all parts of the United States indicating the difficulty in finding training facilities in their geographic area using speech recognition technology..  The program is a little over three years old.  The director owned and operated a steno training school for 16 years, and now chooses to focus on what is believed to be the technology of the future.   The first step is to purchase the software. It is our experience that the student voice writer must train from the beginning using the speech recognition software.  VCI has no official affiliation with a software vendor; the program will work with any speech recognition software. Check the Vendor Information page for more details.  

Software: VCI has skillfully designed this program to minimize the student's total financial commitment.  Voicewriting students are encouraged to initially purchase Dragon Naturaly Speaking 10 Preferred at an estimated to cost about $189.  It can be purchased online or at some electronic stores.  This basic software is the foundation of more sophisticated and expensive software programs used by court reporters and captioners, but VCI prefers to help the student master good translation accuracy at the higher speed levels with this basic software first. Even with just Dragon software alone, there are employment opportunities providing classroom captioning, offline captioning. webcasting, and other specialized transcription services.  At the time when someone decides to take the next step to court reporting and/or captioning careers, the more sophisticated software needs to be purchased.  VCI can help with that decision-making process.

Equipment  Student voicewriters will also need a computer on which to load the software.  A notebook computer allows the most flexibility in the use of your skill once you are ready for employment.  The computer can have Windows XP or Windows VISTA and a processing speed of at least 2 GHz.  RAM of 1 GB is acceptable; 2 GB is ideal. The Gateway brand computer is not recommended, nor is the Celeron processor. Before starting to train, it will be necessary to purchase either a headset/microphone or speech silencer mask. The headset/microphones can be purchased at any computer store ranging from $40 to $70.  It is suggested that it be equipped with a noise cancellation microphone and inline volume and mute controls and USB adapter.. Since captioning, webcasting, and CART providing can be done from home, you could train for that career on the open microphone.  The mask (with dual microphones, volume sensitivity, and USB adapter) can be ordered directly from www.talk-tech.net at an approximate cost of $270.  Speech silencer masks are needed for the court reporting environments.  Training with both the mask and headset can be done, but in that case the software must be trained under two different usernames. 

Training Materials  Once enrolled in the training program, the voicewriter will be mailed a CD with training materials in both text and audio format.  The training material is dictated in 5-minute segments beginning at 140 words per minute and progresses in 10-word increments up to 180 words per minute literary with one speed level per CD. Each disk contains from 12-15 selections.  The voice writer will be given a study guide with instructions on how to proceed through the material and email graded tests to the instructor for evaluation. Three tests graded to 95% are required in each speed level. When reaching the final speed level, unfamiliar testing material will be emailed to the student in mp3 format and the student will be expected to voicewrite the material and immediately email the unedited, uncorrected test to the instructor for grading.  Students will also email weekly assignments in vocabulary building and current events. Students will be encouraged to get additional information on voice writing methods by purchasing a book authored by Bettye Keyesavailable through www.nvra.org.  Students wishing to train further for court reporting careers, will be given additional jury charge and testimony material, plus assistance preparing for the state CSR exam, if required.

Broadcast Captioning.  It must be understood that this is a field most difficult to enter as a graduate of the program without experience in these other careers; however, the exceptional voice writer may be accepted.  Advanced students may prepare for this career by practicing material from actual broadcasts or archived audio from various websites. VCI will provide additional information on other skills needed in addition to accuracy in translation.  Upon demonstrating voicewriting proficiency of 180 wpm and above on unfamiliar literary material, the instructor will assist in arranging intern work with a captioning company. 

CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) Providers.  Voicewriting students interested in providing this service to deaf/HOH students in college classrooms will be expected to demonstrate a literary skill of 180 wpm.  Recorded classroom lecture material will be offered to familiarize the student with this environment.  CART Guidelines will also be studied.  Employment opportunities may require the student to be on-site, but remote work allowing the graduate to work from home may also be available.

Webcasting:  The nature of this work is to provide services for the business and corporate community that chooses to stream audio and video to their clients over the Internet and needs also to stream the text to be ADA compliant.  Voice writers interested in this field must possess literary skills of at least 180 wpm with at least 95% accuracy.

Offline Captioning:  Usually this type of work entails captioning pre-recorded material.  Most work in this area must be done at the offices of the company providing the service due to extensive amount of equipment needed to produce the final product.

Court Reporting: If court reporting is the goal, student voicewriters will practice additional jury charge material up to 200 wpm and testimony up to 225 wpm. Academic courses will be added in English, Medical Terminology, Legal Terminology, and Deposition Procedures.  These courses are available online for a cost of $50 per course in addition to the cost of the textbooks.  Arrangements can be made with the instructor to attempt to test out of a course at a cost of only $20.  College transcripts demonstrating a passing grade in any of these academic courses will be accepted. Students will be asked to arrange to intern with local court reporters. VCI may assist in arranging this. Some students may live in states that require testing to become certified to practice. 

Cost of Program: The cost of the program is based on monthly payments of $345, plus a one-time $100 registration fee.  Since this is a skill-based program, the length of the training is difficult to predict.  It is estimated to be 10 to 12 months, depending upon the amount of time the voice writer student can devote to practice.   Upon completion, a Certificate of Completion will be awarded.