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Office Hours: |
8:00am to 3:00pm
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Course Meeting Times: |
Set your own schedule
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Course Description
Need to refresh the shorthand you learned years ago? You've come to the right place.
Shorthand is a must for any secretary or administrative assistant. Despite the fact that many schools have stopped teaching it, shorthand is not a dying breed. In fact, many employers are making it a requirement that their office workers have a working knowledge of shorthand in order to gain promotions and high pay scales.
Through seven lessons, you will re-learn the Gregg Shorthand system. Starting with a refresher of the vowels and consonants, you will work your way through the brief forms, phrases and abbreviations.
Learning shorthand is like learning a foreign language. You can't expect to learn it overnight, and you have to expect to devote at least 30 minutes per day to the course in order to learn most quickly. The average student who later goes on to pass state held shorthand exams takes 6 to 8 months learning the course. In school, it was taught for a full year.
Course Requirements
You must have taken Gregg Shorthand in the past. This is not a course for beginners. There is a course called Gregg Shorthand that will help you learn the skill, email me for more information. You must have at least 30 minutes a day where you can practice your shorthand writing (taking notes at work, while watching television, or while talking on the phone) and 15 minutes per day to practice reading back what you wrote.
You need to have a good pen (the smoother then ink flow, the faster your writing) and either stenopads (stenography/shorthand notebooks) or a regular notebook whose pages have been folded in half to create a crease down the center of the page.
There are sound files (MP3) that most students will rely on for practice. I highly recommend having an MP3 Player (Realplayer can be downloaded for free at www.realplayer.com). If you do not have one, you can bypass this step. Either have a friend or family member who is willing to read letters and word lists to you, or use a tape recorder to tape yourself and then play it back.
There is no way that I can physically see your work unless you have a scanner, so most work will be done on the honor system. You have to be willing to put in the extra effort and really work at your writing.
Course Goals
Building on your memories of high school or college shorthand, I will help you refresh your shorthand skills. Key points are increasing your reading and writing speeds.
Course Materials
You will need a couple pens or pencils (pencils must be sharp and have a few of them on hand) and steno pads or notebooks where you can fold the paper in half to form to columns.
Grading Policy
I will use the standard A - F scale as listed below. Grades will be comprised from your test & assignment scores. Every lesson will include a test and assignment.
A+ ~ 100%, A ~ 99 - 95%, A - ~ 94 - 90%, B+ ~ 89%, B ~ 88 - 85%, B- ~ 84 - 80%, C+ ~ 79%, C ~ 78 - 75%, C- ~ 74 - 70%, D+ ~ 69%, D ~ 68 - 65%, D- ~ 64 - 60%, F ~ 59% or lower
Disclaimer
Refresher Shorthand is for those who already have had previous Gregg shorthand experience. If you are a beginner, this course will not help you as the pace will be much faster than in a Beginner Shorthand course. Practice will be key. If you do not have at least 30 minutes during the day to practice your writing and at least 15 minutes to practice reading, your speeds will not be as fast. Again, most work will be done on an honor system basis. If you feel you cannot practice without a teacher physically over your shoulder, you may have troubles with this online course.
