StarTran Online in the Classroom
Court reporting teachers, save time, money, and energy while giving your students the strongest realtime reporting foundation!
Court reporting teachers have higher morale and perform better when they are supported by excellent materials.
StarTran’s “Practice Habits” at the beginning of every lesson back up everything you say and include topics such as classroom manners, getting the most out of your teacher, the importance of reading and looking up words, and many more, which promote serious educational pursuit and esprit de corps in the classroom. And StarTran’s unique Lesson Audios give students the feeling of having a second teacher who goes over many important aspects of technique and motivation along with theory concepts, and even pats them on the back once in a while! Court reporting teachers know that when they are backed up by another expert source, their wisdom is taken more seriously by students.
When skills introduced in one class are reinforced in other classes, students have a more lasting and integrated learning experience.
StarTran Realtime Theory was written by an English and court reporting teacher. All punctuation shown in the textbooks or dictated on audios serves to foster the knowledge and automatic writing of correct punctuation essential to realtime writing. Previews of selected words that come up in the lessons and their definitions are available to theory instructors and students to use as vocabulary building tools to make machine practice more meaningful and to get students focused on words right away. Likewise, students will learn a great deal about the job of a court reporter in the pages and audios of StarTran Advanced Theory. All styles and formats shown are appropriate for court reporting transcripts. Transcript Production and Court Reporting Procedures teachers will find StarTran students advanced in their understanding of court structure, trials and depos.
What does a classroom theory teacher do if StarTran Online teaches theory?
StarTran’s comprehensive, well-thought-out, instructive student materials save court reporting teachers an enormous amount of time usually spent spoon-feeding, explaining lessons, and reiterating explanations for those who missed them. With StarTran Online essentially teaching the course, you will have time to take attendance, help students with technique and motivation, correct and give feedback on tests, and conduct live readback and counseling. You can learn the theory along with the students and won’t need to create any material of your own. Students can continue their studies even when you need to be away. And they will never need to miss a thing due to absences.
What materials will a school get with Startran Online?
Since StarTran Online was created with the at-home independent court reporting student in mind, all audio dictation and correction keys, reinforcement material, and tests previously found in the StarTran Teacher’s Manual are incorporated into the 40 StarTran Online schedules. Resource materials, such as Basic and Advanced Textbooks, Reference Manual, vocabulary-building previews, etc., are provided as downloads. The 93,000-entry StarTran CAT dictionary is free to schools and students. Court reporting teachers are given Test Keys for the 80-plus tests provided throughout the course. The teacher will have access to each student’s progress report.
I love teaching this theory. It is very different from the one I learned years ago, but the way the material is presented makes it very easy to teach and easy for the students to learn. The backup lessons on the tapes and the lab gives them ample opportunity to practice and learn without having to spend hours in a classroom setting… All in all it is a wonderful program with fabulous tools to help me, as the teacher, help my students. Thanks for your help.
As a new theory teacher, I’m very pleased to be teaching StarTran court reporting theory. Everything is pretty much set up for you, and in my opinion it is a state-of-the-art realtime theory that I know will enable my students to compete with the best in the field.
What do classroom students need to get started?
Students will need Internet access, computers, and steno machines and must be able to access their steno notes for readback. Students may use CAT systems to learn with StarTran Online, but the program itself does not interface with CAT translation. Grammar and punctuation manuals are recommended. Once students receive their log-in information from StarTran Online, they are good to go.
Does StarTran Online fit your program?
There are 40 schedules (32 Basic Theory Lessons, 8 Advanced Theory Lessons) that each take approximately 10 to 15 hours to complete, following the Seven Steps to Success. It is recommended that students learn one Lesson a week. Students can progress at their own pace or be required to meet a progress schedule set out by the classroom instructor. Likewise, students can attend scheduled readback sessions as they qualify for them, or the entire class can stay together and participate in readback at the court reporting teacher’s discretion. Some teachers may prefer to read back and work with each student individually if the class is small.
StarTran Online sets the stage for success in school and beyond.
Although STO may take a bit longer than other theories, the savings for students and schools on the back end and the satisfaction of StarTran learners more than justify its comprehensive approach. There is no need to schedule a separate conflict resolution or realtime class or multistroke word class or court and depo writing class. You can be assured that students will be true realtime writers with virtually 100% translation upon completion of StarTran Online. Because StarTran is a complete realtime writing system, students won’t be languishing in speedbuilding while they struggle to plug the holes in their theory. There will be no need to later spend inumerable hours editing their transcripts and tweaking their writing for realtime.
It is easy for a school to get going with StarTran Online.
Integrating StarTran Online into your court reporting curriculum couldn’t be easier.
First, in order to use StarTran Online, a recognized court reporting school must offer a theory course with an instructor assigned to conduct the class, as well as a full reporting curriculum.
The school will sign an agreement and supply StarTran Online with 1) a schedule of start dates for each academic year and 2) the names and email addresses of each student beginning theory so that StarTran Online can issue a user name and password for each student.
Each student is given one year’s access to the StarTran Online program, unless the court reporting instructor requests extra time on an individual basis. If a student drops out of school before a year has elapsed and their program has been paid for in full, their access will continue until the year is up.
Your author is part of the teaching team.
Whenever you have a question or comment, you can exchange ideas directly with the author, who supervises independent StarTran Online students herself and also writes with StarTran Realtime Theory every day in her own business. We promise: no unanswered calls, no uninformed customer representatives, nobody trying to get you to buy more.
Cost of StarTran Online for Schools
There is a discounted school price. Please contact Marlene Struss at 805-967-7179 for details.
The following video is a detailed video presentation of StarTran Online for schools and instructors.
Recognized schools may also request a limited-time access to the program itself for a closer look.
StarTran Realtime Theory Highlights
Written by a Certified Reporting Instructor.
“Seven Steps to Success” method explains how to study theory.
Note reading immersion.
A uniform lesson format for easy learning.
Unique and varied practice exercises.
Clarifying illustrations with boldly boxed theory principles.
Outlines displayed for all practice.
Many briefs — and their derivatives.
Alternate outlines for “writing out.”
Many phrases, all underlined in practice material.
Consistent phonetics.
Simplified conflict resolution taught from start to finish.
Emphasis on economy of stroking.
Briefs that fit the theory – not shoe-horned in.
Simple number system that translates perfectly.
Unique and easy “Compound Elements.”
All major punctuation marks are incorporated into practice.
CAT and career information.
All punctuation and computer control strokes end in RBGS.
Textbooks are mistake-free.
Students are realtime ready right out of theory.
I love the startran theory! [It] is so easily understood. So much of it just clicks with me and makes it so easy to excel in this work. There are some hard words and briefs that stump me from time to time, but all in all, it’s a beautifully made theory and I can’t wait to become an official reporter and put all these words to use!!
I’m really enjoying your work, Marlene, as I go through the lessons to prep for class. Very thorough and logical. I like that…
Marlene, thanks again for all your hard work. Wish I’d had this theory from the get-go.
Compare Theories
StarTran Realtime Theory strikes a healthy balance that many theories lack. It’s logical. It’s short. It’s consistent. It’s a proven winner.
If you’re familiar with court reporting theory and would like to see the different theories in action, we’ve created a chart that compares StarTran Realtime Theory, StenEd Theory, Phoenix Theory and Stenomaster Theory.
Are You a Returning Reporter?
StarTran Online can help you!
Ordinarily I would not recommend that someone relearn a theory different than the one they already know. We all know how confusing that could get. A working reporter who did not learn a realtime theory generally does better to focus on changing a few words or concepts at a time and watch her translation rate go up gradually.
On the other hand, if you have been out of the field for many years and are hoping to return to reporting, rather than rebuild speed with the one that won’t serve you well in today’s court reporting world, it may be wiser to leave that ancient theory in the brain’s archive where it lies forgotten and learn a new realtime theory.
StarTran Online promises you the most logical, consistent, and comprehensive theory available that will make you a realtime writer by the time you finish. We cover all aspects of writing, including speaker identification, blurbs, verbatim punctuation, all number usages, interpreter, and setups. With StarTran you won’t be surprised by conflicts that have slipped through the cracks. It’s a fast, tight system of writing that you can use with confidence from day one of your new old career!
Marlene, thank you for being so supportive and enthusiastic! I am so impressed with your program. I like how organized it is, and I just have to follow the steps and it all makes sense!
I know I would not be prepared for speedbuilding now if I had not gone through your program. The way you have set up and organized StarTran Online is fantastic. I cannot thank you enough for all the work that you did to create such a wonderful online theory program.
I am enrolling in SimplySteno and starting August 20th, after treating myself and my family to a vacation!
I went to a VA Court Reporters realtime convention today. I was surprised to find I was familiar with most of it because it was already what I’d learned from your theory.
I’d love to be a reference for StarTran after all the years. It’s a standing offer. You can toss my email address out as often as you wish.