I've been thinking about starting a learning collaboration service. Those with specific knowledge would be able to create courses, for which others would pay to access. Course creators would collect a payout for each student that signs up. Attendees would receive certificates of completion and possibly an indication of hours spent on the class (still working on details). At some point, maybe we'd be able to get official support from the various State Boards.
Does any of this sound feasible or interesting for you, whether as a course creator or attendee?
It's a great idea. Those other websites offering PDHs wish they had RPLStoday's traffic and following.
Yes, please.
Not a bad idea at all.?ÿ With all the brain-power available here I'm sure something could evolve that's at least comparable to everything available...and maybe even a little more entertaining.
Extremely good idea, but some open questions, for which you may want to set up a poll.
1/ Scheduling? Weekends my first choice.
2/ Time involved? The online courses I take are typically 2 or 4 hours, but have taken from 1 to 8 hours.
3/ Cost versus Value? Cost to attendee, cost to class attendant and provider costs?
4/ Formats? A live course can give credit for attendance and interaction. A canned course typically requires, viewing and or reading the material and an exam, with a minimum passing score. Quite often you can retake a failing exam with minimum or no review. I have no idea of the many states opinions on that.
I have taken many free live seminars (1 date - 1 time) through technical engineering magazines for my PE CEUs. Every 2 year cycle when I add them up the credit exceeds 36 hours with only 24 required. Content varies from very specific areas, such as a CAD sub program with the provider including a sales pitch. Or a pipe manufacturers providing there specific products under specific applications. Once you check in to the seminar, there with be a few pop up questions or opinion polls to prove you are paying attention and a generalized certificate is provided. Typically you can submit questions during the seminar, get response from the lecturer, get a response from online moderators or get a response after the seminar. Seminars may be available after the fact for individual viewing.
For surveying it is typically a paid PDH provider with canned programs, usually download a pdf or video, read/view, then take an exam.
Cost to attendee is highest for live seminars at surveyor conventions or interim events, lower for a pay per credit course and lowest for access to a provider's in the box programs. The last choice can be less for 24 credits than a single 4 credit live course. Your market value can be very dependent on the presenter and the topic. Attending a fully live event can include much more value to an attendee than just the CEU hours, sometimes it is the topic, sometimes the chit-chat and interaction or it could even be the food and drink.?ÿ
You might schedule a Colonial based program at an earlier time for East Coast attendees and a PLSS program at a later time. It may be best to schedule an event at 2 or 3 dates, and since the 3rd time should be better than the first as input from others increases, allow for a retaking, at minimal cost to previous attendees.
Paul in PA
Folks digging in on the nuts and bolts of their are of expertise would be the most interesting to me.
From my experience finding educational options for the experience only candidate who wants to step up their learning without dropping out of the workforce has always been a challenge.
A dedicated area of the site with educational resources, free and otherwise would be groovy. Even just a repository of worthwhile PDF's and links could be really helpful to people looking to take the next test, understand their marching orders etc.
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Not sure what is meant by "...official support from the various State Boards."?ÿ I would suspect that the boards are not supposed to support (i.e recommend this course or provider) professional services.?ÿ They may, however, be open to including such a service as a link if they already have an approved CPD provider page on their website.
One issue I have witnessed in Kentucky is the dogged desire of surveyors to only take those course which have a pre-approval number from the state board - even though courses (except standards/ethics/code) do not have to be pre or post approved.?ÿ In addition, it seems some states require pre-approval.?ÿ Might be something to consider in this initail planning stage as to if you want to go through the hoops to get approval for course from the various boards.
I don't know that it necessarily needs to be 100% focused on PDH/CEU credits.?ÿ If I were a Topcon guy I would be interested in paying for some work flow/software tips and tricks type training material if Lee Green were to put it together for example.?ÿ Similarly I could see people interested in HDS and drone courses or presentations.?ÿ Just a few thoughts.?ÿ Obviously getting PDH credits for such things would be awesome but not necessarily the sole goal.
Yeah, that's pretty much what I meant. My understanding is that some Boards have to approve of specific classes, but that is just a rumor at this point. In Oregon, you are pretty much left to make the call, but if audited, you need proof that you attended the classes. I'm not sure how much scrutiny they put into those audits though.
Agreed. I'm thinking it would be great for learning almost anything surveying-related. But I do know that a lot of professionals struggle with finding time to get those PDH/CEU, so this would be a great offering for that (hopefully).
For what it's worth, although I'm not licensed (just a survey tech) I make a point to keep up with self-education.?ÿ I've personally paid for online courses (that were marketed for licensed professionals for CEU's) and regularly spend my free time reading survey texts, researching case law, and watching videos for CAD and math training.?ÿ I've been in the survey field for 20 years and feel it is not only beneficial to my career, but is personally gratifying to continually further my education and knowledge.?ÿ I would dearly love to see more professionals offering their knowledge to others like me, who aren't necessarily doing it for the PDH/CEU credits.?ÿ With the opportunities for personal mentorship in this profession decreasing, we have an even greater need for seasoned professionals to utilize technology to teach the future generations.?ÿ I am really interested to see this idea develop.
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I agree 100 percent. Too much attention is paid to Licensed Surveyors and very little to the Survey Technicians.
