Shorthand is a very niche and very difficult skill, and it’s used by journalists and reporters to speed up their work processes. With shorthand journalists can write down copy at over 100 words per minute, and they’re then able to read their shorthand back to create news stories.
Obviously shorthand is produced by hand, so it can’t be adapted online, yet the skills can be taught online through a series of walkthrough videos and guides. Practice makes perfect with shorthand, and the more time you spend with a pen and paper the better you’ll be. Some people learn from books rather than DVDs and online courses but there are skills that can be learnt online, and over the last few years there’s been an influx of online shorthand courses. The only problem with these is that they’re not often certified by NCTJ (National Council for the Training of Journalists), so they may not help you when you start a job search.