Continuing Education
Requirements:
Plan Ahead to Avoid the
Last Minute Rush!
by Mary G. White
Have you completed
your continuing education requirements yet this year? If you have,
congratulations on planning ahead! If not, now is the time to start looking
for classes so that you don’t find yourself scrambling for hours at the last
minute. Waiting until the last minute to take care of mandatory CE can be
very stressful and counterproductive.
If you work in a field
that requires continuing education credits in order to maintain licensure,
you know how important it is to complete mandatory
training in a timely
manner. When you find yourself having to complete most, or even all, of
your continuing education hours in a short period of time, you often end up
having to sign up for expensive classes that cover subjects that don’t
interest you at all. This defeats the purpose of continuing education, and
causes you to spend valuable time taking classes that aren’t likely to
benefit you.
How to Avoid the Last
Minute Crunch for CE
The best way to make
sure that you don’t find yourself short on CE hours when it is time to
reapply for your professional license is to develop a plan for working the
training you need into your schedule throughout the year.
For example, Alabama
nurses have to earn 24 hours of continuing education credit every two
years. It makes sense for nurses in Alabama to plan on taking 12 hours each
year. Depending on work
schedules and class availability, it is a good
idea, if this is your requirement, to take an average of three hours of
continuing education credit every quarter.
It is much easier to
find three hours of approved continuing education training in a three month
period than it is to find up to 24 hours in the last month or two before
your license renewal application is due.
The best way of
scheduling your continuing education classes depends partially on the ebb
and flow of your work schedule. Most nurses have similar schedules year
round, so it is logical for them to try to spread their classes out evenly
each quarter.
Accountants, however,
deal with the huge rush of tax season in the winter and spring, so it makes
more sense for them to concentrate on completing continuing education
requirements during the summer and fall months.
Heating Venting and
Air Conditioning (HVAC) contractors tend to be the busiest during the
warmest and coldest months of the year, so it makes sense for them to
schedule their HVAC CE classes during the mildest months, when their
workloads aren’t likely to be as hectic as the rest of the year.
Whatever your
profession, and regardless of the number of
continuing education credits you
must complete to renew your license, it is not in your best interest to put
off taking your classes until the last minute. If you can spread your CE
requirements out evenly through the year, or plan to take classes during
times when your workload is at its lightest, you will be much stressed out
when it is time to renew your license.
About the Author:
Mary
Gormandy White is Director of Continuing Education and Corporate Training at
Mobile Technical Institute
http://www.mobiletechwebsite.com.
MTI provides instructor-led and online continuing education options for many
licensed professionals in Alabama and many other states, as well as career training, certification testing,
and consulting services. Stop by
http://www.dailycareerconnection.com
regularly for
useful professional development tips and career advice. See
http://www.dailybizsolutions.com
for business development tips for entrepreneurs, managers, and other
professionals.
*This article may be reprinted provided the
author bio and website links are included. |
