EducationFor Providers

September 27, 2012 –

IN THIS ISSUE

1. Provider Spotlight!

2. What’s New in AIA CES

3. Provider Training Resources

4. Course Reviewer’s Corner

5. Monthly Provider Tips and Reminders

6. CES Calendar of Events

7. Call for Speakers

8. Media Scan

Provider Spotlight!

Developing Distance Education: An Interview with the National Institute of Building Sciences

By Jean Feroldi, Assoc. AIA
Specialist, Continuing Education Review

Here at AIA National, our staff on the Continuing Education team works diligently to fulfill the needs of AIA CES Providers and prepare tutorials and resources that will help Providers create quality courses for AIA members. Often, we receive questions about how to develop distance or online education courses and presentations as Providers try to meet AIA members’ growing need for on-demand education. Distance education can be presented in a variety of formats and is a convenient method for adult learners to pick up new skills or knowledge. The success of distance education is attributed to its accessibility and varying course formats are important in maintaining the attention of course attendees. In this month’s Provider Connection, we’ve focused on distance education, providing best practices and new ideas for tackling this method of continuing education.

This month’s Provider Spotlight features Richard Paradis, Program Director at the National Institute of Building Sciences. In an interview, he shared his experience as an AIA CES Provider and NIBS’ work with distance education. Richard Paradis has extensive knowledge of integrated building design, acoustics, sustainable design, security, and many other design topics. He is co-developer of the Whole Building Design Guide and has worked as Manager of Federal Buildings for the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council.

Listen to the Podcast

What’s New in AIA CES?

A Welcome from the New Manager of Provider Training

Welcome to September’s Provider Connection! I would like to take the opportunity, through this forum, to introduce myself as the new Manager of CES Provider Training. My name is William Murillo and most of you have seen my name at one time or another on an email in different capacities. I am a graduate of Syracuse University, School of Architecture and moved to Washington DC last year for professional pursuits, working previously in several museums. I have been at the AIA since the end of March as a consultant and have helped with various projects such as Virtual Convention and the daunting task of updating contact data for all of our 2500+ providers.

Going forward, I will be working with all of you in order to provide high quality training related to our policies, software, and best practices on subjects like course development and marketing. There are still plenty of webinars and workshops left in the year and I encourage you to attend as many as you can. Your development and continued success as a provider will be my priority and is a mutual benefit that together will allow us to uphold a higher level of education and training.

I believe that our industry including the profession of architecture, despite its present disarray, will always be in a constant shift, especially with recent surges in building technologies and social technologies. I also believe that as a trainer, and subsequently as a provider, it is crucial to be multi-dimensional. In the months to come I will be working closely with you all to move forward and provide you with new resources and instructional models that will allow you to thrive in this ever changing professional landscape.

Once again, Welcome! I am excited to be in this new position and look forward to working with you all.

Series: Online Presentation Techniques

Part 1: Preparation and Content

By William Murillo, Assoc. AIA
Manager, CES Provider Training

For the average professional offering educational services in the post internet age, it is becoming increasingly apparent that social networking and online media formats are shaping what will be the future of education. Currently, the challenge for educators and professional trainers has become how to stay relevant in a technologically driven world with outdated presentation techniques, technological illiteracy, and misconceptions on educational paradigms that we have subscribed to since the inception of post-industrial education.

For the next couple of months, the subject of this Provider Training mini-series will be online presentation skills for the various and changing online educational formats such as webinars or ‘hybrid events.’ Webinars are widely common in the realm of professional development and such instructional models are popular because they mirror our current standards for ease of accessibility.

Learn More

Recognizing Andrée Iffrig from Dirtt - Environmental Solutions

By Ramiro Solórzano, Assoc. AIA
Manager, CES Audits

Over the past few months I’ve had the pleasure of working with Andrée Iffrig. She oversees the AIA Continuing Education System for her company Dirtt – Environmental Solutions. One of the fun parts about my job is managing our Provider Recognition program, highlighting exceptional Provider's best practices in continuing education. Over several months I have been getting “kudos” from our AIA CES Feedback. I personally review course feedback submitted by AIA members and I was happy to hear really positive feedback on Dirtt – Environmental Solutions. I followed up with Andrée Iffrig and to ask her about her best practices.

Andrée Iffrig explains Dirtt – Environmental Solutions’ unique approach to continuing education by using course sessions as forums where participants challenge sustainability standards.

“We built a curriculum around our message of environmental sustainability. Our approach was to be a bit of a fly in the ointment and push back on the viewpoint that Recycling and Recycled Materials should be the focus in building a sustainable space. We kept a close watch on the responses we were getting to our program and continually tweaked our script to ensure participants were getting the most out of the session. We’ve learned that being provocative – getting people to question accepted wisdom – doesn’t make everyone happy but most people leave with a new perspective on the meaning of sustainability.”

Learn More

Component Call for Speakers

AIA Chapters can use this space to post conference information.

2012 Practice + Design Conference Exhibit Floor
November 2-3, 2012
Keystone, CO
Call for Exhibitors and Sponsors 
Deadline: October 5, 2012
Contact: Nicolle Thompson nicolle@aiacolorado.org or 303.446.2266, ext. 111

2013 OAA Conference
May 8-10, 2012
Toronto, Ontario Canada
Call for Presenters
Deadline: October 26, 2012

Contact: Marcia Cooper marciac@oaa.on.ca or 416-449-6898

Please email jeanferoldi@aia.org to add your 2012 events to this list and include AIA Chapter Speakers and Sponsors in the Subject line.

Media Scan

Architect
Simply SIPs

Chief Learning Officer
How to Make Learning Stick

The Rapid E-Learning Blog
How to Create an Interactive PowerPoint Elearning Module

Course Reviewer’s Corner

By Michael F. Tamara, Assoc. AIA

What If I Want to View My Course Submission Again Once It’s Been Approved?

A fairly common question I receive from Providers, especially during our busy fall submission season, is as follows: “Thank you for approving my course. Now how do I find out if it received HSW?” When I read or hear this question, it tells me there is need for clarification on two different points—how to find a course submission already in the system, and who is responsible for assigning credit designations to courses.

Regarding the first point, did you know that as a Provider, you can look up your course submissions, no matter what their current status is, whenever you want? It seems that there are more than a few Providers who may not be aware of this.

Simply log into Discovery and go to the Course Management page—just as you would if you were entering a new course—but instead of clicking “Add New Course” on the left-hand side, click “Approval Search” right below it (this should already be highlighted as the default selection). You can then click the grey search button at the bottom of the screen to see a list of all your courses, or you can search directly for a specific course by entering the number and/or title.

Learn More

Monthly Provider Tips and Reminders

•The Electronic Course and Conference Attendance form will be retired effective June 3, 2013. If you have specific questions or concerns regarding conference attendance submission, please contact the AIA CES team for suggestions and guidance.

•The AIA Continuing Education team deactivated courses from the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 on September 25. Please read the following instructions on how to run the Course Deactivation Report in Discovery.

•The AIA Energy Modeling Practice Guide serves to not only demystify energy modeling in general but also to provide tips and information that will help architects to better discuss energy modeling; the assumptions, the process, the tools and what the output means to potential design decisions - with their engineers, energy modelers, consultants, contractors, code officials and clients.

•2013 Provider Renewal Deadline: December 31, 2012.

2013 Provider invoices were sent out in early September. You may pay your invoice, per the instructions found on the renewal invoice, by mail or by calling us at 1-800-242-3837, option 3.

CES Calendar of Events

Upcoming Workshops and Webinars

As a Provider, we welcome you to join us for one of our upcoming face-to-face trainings or online webinars. The workshops are an excellent one-stop shop for provider related information. These workshops will cover an overview of CES policies and procedures, CES Discovery Training, tips for developing learning objectives and effective PowerPoints. The webinars will also review resources to continue to educate yourself and your presenters on using the CES Discovery system.

Workshops:

October 23 – AIA Arizona
November 29 – AIA Columbus

Webinars:

October 18, 2 p.m. Eastern – How to Pull Reports in CES Discovery

November 7, 2 p.m. Eastern - What is an Audit? The Purposes and Procedures of Quality Assurance

December 4, 2 p.m. Eastern - AIA CES for New Providers: A Beginner's Tutorial