PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Buyer Beware Applies to the Professional Development Marketplace BY TIMM STEIN, P.ENG., AND AARON GEREIN (P.ENG.-SK)
Continuing professional development (CPD) is critical to the success and self-regulation of APEGA professional members. It enhances our knowledge and expertise in a variety of fields, and it provides us the opportunity to deepen our understanding in areas we feel are our weakest. When members buy the services of CPD providers not affiliated with APEGA, are we getting what we seek? Or are we spending our hard-earned dollars on courses and seminars that add little to our knowledge and understanding, and therefore undermine not only our needs but also our service to the public interest? From professional practice to structured courses, from presentations to self-study—there are numerous ways for members to accumulate CPD hours. APEGA has excellent materials available that explain what your options are and how to run your personalized CPD program. APEGA and its sister associations across Canada are responsible for licensing and regulating professional engineering and geoscience practices in their respective provinces and territories. For most of them, this includes mandatory CPD for professional members. APEGA was, in fact, the first engineering and geoscience regulator in the country to require mandatory CPD, which it launched in 1997. Mandatory CPD is included in the General Regulation , under APEGA’s enabling legislation, the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act. Annual reporting plays a key role in the accumulation of CPD hours. In most cases in Canada, annual reporting is mandatory but based on the honour system. This means that the professional association does not monitor or validate the hours that a professional member claims, unless the member’s program is chosen for specific review.
Moreover, professional associations do not monitor or verify the accuracy or the quality of courses offered by providers they’re not affiliated with. It’s up to association members to do their own research on whether third-party providers are offering quality content—or subpar content. Third-party providers can have high-quality offerings, but there are some providers that offer subpar courses and content. Subpar content not only negatively affects members, their CPD, and their future professional practice, but it also affects the professional associations they belong to. Associations such as APEGA use a vetting process to select third-parties for their own professional development offerings. See related story . However, there is no designated entity to regulate, endorse, or preapprove the quality of CPD courses outside of APEGA’s offerings. CPD courses not affiliated with APEGA are often taught by fellow professional engineers and geoscientists. They are experts in their respective fields, so this is a great way to promote CPD, mentor other professionals, and to promote the practices of engineering and geoscience. However, the potential for issues from these CPD courses is apparent as there is no one verifying them for accuracy, consistency, or quality. For instance, third-party providers may promote a technical course in a way that makes it come across as attractive and valuable, but then conduct the course in a way that is simply not as advertised. Even more problematic, professional members can report the CPD hours from a subpar CPD course, and the professional association in charge of regulating the members is, in
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14 | PEG FALL 2018
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