EducationFor Providers

Course Reviewer’s Corner
by Royce Brown Assoc. AIA
Manager, Continuing Education Programs

Now was that for LU or LU/HSW?

Depending on what region of the world you live in winter seasons are usually colder during the month of January. It’s during this month were we witness record temperature lows. Before we step out of our homes into Mother Nature’s element we are reminded to check the weather, bundle up, and warm our cars. The right kind preparation, places us in a position to successful endure “Old Jack Frost”.

Similar to our preparation for the winter woes, as course providers, we can also prepare ourselves for submitting courses for approval. Now in no way am I’m suggesting that course submission can be horrific, but like anything we are responsible for dedicating the right amount of preparation. Some of the check items when submitting courses for approval are: Course Title, Course Description, Credit Designation and the beloved four Learning Objectives.

As new Manager of Continuing Education, a position previously held by my colleague Michael Tamara, I hope to ensure that quality education reaches our members. Within the first 30 days of getting acclimated to CES Discovery, I’ve received feedback from a number of AIA members who hadn’t received their desired learning hours or LU’s on their transcripts. Here’s how it happens, a participant who registered to attend a course for LU/HSW finds out a few days later that it actually was assigned as a LU instead. For a licensed Architect this can be a bit nerve racking, especially if they haven’t received the required number of HSW to report to their State Licensing Board at the close of that year.

This can also be incredibly frustrating for a Provider thinking they assigned the appropriate credit designation and even marketed their course for HSW credit, only to find out from an attendee a week later that the course on their transcript only counted for 8 LU’s. This might be as embarrassing as having spinach in your teeth during an 8 hour presentation. As allies in the submissions process, I want to ensure that the communication lines are clear and open.

When processing courses through CES Discovery, the title is important and should be direct and to the point. The course description is a general summary of what the course will cover, and this too should be clear and concise. The four learning objectives are basic points as to what the participants will gain after taking the course. Depending on the credit designation these learning objectives will validate if it falls into the category of LU or LU/HSW. Before a course is submitted please be sure to select the correct number of hours and credit designation.

In the next couple of months I will work on ways to assure that upon approval, each confirmation email has the credit designation it was approved for. In a few months we will be following up with a webinar titled “In the Mind of the Reviewer” which will be a detailed presentation on what types of courses are approved and resources for submitting courses that count.

As a final reminder, the course review process generally takes up to 5 business days upon date of submission. As we close the month of January let’s stay warm, prepared and continue providing quality education.