By Michelle Kirkpatrick
NCRA’s grassroots project, Taking Realtime Awareness and Innovation Nationwide, has been ever-evolving over the last few years but with the same goals from its inception: To create an influx of realtime reporters to meet marketplace demand and to allow court reporters to differentiate themselves from other methods of making the record.
The TRAIN program was designed for delivery in small group settings at the local level, and that continues to be the case. The TRAIN program relies on state associations and individual members to carry the message to reporters, which is the ideal way for court reporters to make the transition to realtime.
The new layout of the TRAIN pages on NCRA’s website offers several advantages:
- Explanations and visual cues help users find specific content; e.g., information in the TurboTRAIN section helps individuals fast-track their personal learning experience regarding realtime, still divided into the original four strategic categories of Hardware Tips, Software Tips, Writing Tips, and Fighting Fears Tips, but with more structure and embedded hyperlinks for easier navigation.
Two of our newer sections lay out references and guidance for State Association Leaders interested in starting their own state realtime committees, and information and PowerPoint presentations for TRAINers and those creating small local TRAIN groups.
Clicking on either of these two folders will lead the user to step-by-step suggestions on how to start small TRAIN groups, including the original TRAIN videos, as well as a few other added gems for our state leaders.
The original TRAIN Dropbox folder has been phased out. Instead, all TRAIN materials are now accessible from the TRAIN home page through these folders mentioned above.
- All content beyond the home page is now laid out in PDF documents, which makes it possible to save, share, and/or print those pages with ease.
- The PDF pages have active hyperlinks embedded within them, making access to references still available to users even after downloading to their own computer.
- All of the inner pages now have a “revised” date in the lower right-hand corner. This will aid users in being able to compare a document they may have printed or saved to their hard drive with the most current one on the NCRA website.
The TRAIN app for phones and tablets is still available for download from the NCRA TRAIN page with the credit going where credit is definitely due for that incredible piece of work. Thank you, Sue Terry!
And finally, in addition to hyperlinked lists of other useful outside realtime resources, there is a link to NCRA’s Realtime TRAIN Facebook page. If you are not a current member of the group, the TRAIN Task Force encourages you to join for some very worthwhile realtime-related discussions!
The TRAIN Task Force is currently hard at work revamping the content of the TurboTRAIN pages. It is a labor-intensive project, and we appreciate your patience! Realtime awareness is alive and well at NCRA.org/TRAIN. Come check it out!
Michelle Kirkpatrick, RDR, CRR, CBC, CCP, is a member of the NCRA TRAIN Task Force and an independent realtime reporter based out of Denver, Colo.
