I use to get all the PDHs (we call them CEUs around here) that I needed for my license renewal from our annual convention.?ÿ After about twenty-five of those in a row I bored with the same old hum-drum (and the chow).?ÿ For a few years I attempted to speak on certain subjects at the convention...(you get double hours) but I didn't like that either.?ÿ If you're sitting in the audience you can at least sneak out early.?ÿ That's harder to do if you're the one making noise at the podium.?ÿ So some years back, 6 or 7, I started getting my hours with what was available on-line.?ÿ The on-line continuing education industry has really made leaps and bounds over the years.?ÿ
Now I've seen some crummy ones.?ÿ I remember one that wouldn't load correctly and constantly locked up my CPU.?ÿ I called the guy so many times he finally just emailed me my certificates and never really got it to work right.?ÿ Which is what I was really after, but I hate to just 'buy' numbers.
And I've seen a few that were labelled for surveyors but fell short of really teaching me anything.?ÿ While I am not on fire for mandatory studying I would like to get something out spending my money without it seeming like a racket.
This year I found McKissock Learning?ÿhad a package that was a few bucks cheaper than some so I tried it out.?ÿ I am surprised at the info provided in their courses.?ÿ I have completed 2 this afternoon;?ÿ Seized Lands: Eminent Domain & Adverse Possession and Prescriptive Easements.?ÿ In my opinion these folks have put together a stable, friendly and informative platform with which to get your hours leisurely at home.?ÿ They're in depth enough to keep your interest and the multiple choice graded quizzes will keep you paying attention.
I believe I actually found an on-line way to enjoy learning something new.?ÿ And that's something for an old dog like myself.?ÿ If anybody is in need of a few PDHs I would recommend them.?ÿ I was not disappointed in the least.
Why didn't you post this yesterday? I just ordered two sessions from an online provider yesterday. I looked at McKissock and almost pulled the trigger but went with another provider. I have briefly opened them but no serious studying. The information is just PDF and a PDF of a powerpoint. No videos and no interactive quizzes. I will probably go with McKissock next time and see what they are like.?ÿ?ÿ
N10,000, E7,000, Z100.00
PLS - IL, MO, AR, KS, MN, KY
This week I finished the last of my credits that I needed for my CFedS renewal. They are typically ?ÿa downloaded pdf of the slides from a presentation made somewhere, but have no audio. Then you take an online quiz. I learned a few things but it would definitely have been a better experience to HEAR the presentation along with the slides. ?ÿ ?ÿ
?ÿ ?ÿState conference is in Great Falls in 11 days and I??ll be going to that to finish out everything I need for my state renewal this summer. Lucas will be presenting, and I haven??t heard him before. I laid out on vacation last year and didn??t attend so I have a lot of catching up to do.
Lucas is good and he always ruffles some feathers in the crowd.
N10,000, E7,000, Z100.00
PLS - IL, MO, AR, KS, MN, KY
Lucas was in Oregon a couple years ago. I??m surprised you couldn??t hear him in Montana. He is that loud.
Let me summarize the law of boundaries for you:
Thou shalt honor thy Deed with all thy heart and mind, this is the first and great commandment and the second is like unto it:
Thou shalt honor those boundaries already established upon the ground.
on these two commandments hang all the law of boundaries.
We had Lucas Thursday and Friday this past week. He is loud. Being a lawyer and a surveyor he has a different approach on land surveying. I'm not sure on his following meandering fence lines as being the boundary. If they were built as the boundary that's one thing. But if built as a fence of convince that's another thing. Made me wonder that following some surveyors if they haven't read Lucas, were just lazy, or didn't know better. The DOT pays for the hours, so it's just fine with me. For the most part he'll keep you awake.
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My state has a habit of cutting some courses in half. Meaning a 4 credit class on line becomes 2. So 500 dollars turns into 1000.
If you go through the society and pay 1000, you get the 4 credits per class.
Funny how that works out
For mineral surveys, the order is switched per Congressional Act of April 28, 1904. ????
Has anyone used these people?
https://ez-pdh.com/product-category/package-deals/land-surveying-packages/
They offer complete CE course requirements for $90 or less depending on your state.
It's $80 for FL and $60 for GA. Or is this one of those "too good to be true" deals? ?????ÿ
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I like McKissock.?ÿ PDH Academy and Survey PDU have come in handy too.
Deeds vs boundaries.
True professionals look intensively at both, and build a synthesized product.
Lazy and unprofessional surveyors only look at one. Or the other. Thus, they don't know both sides of the equation.
True professionals always look at, and consider both sides of everything.
If you will apply what I said, every time, you will LEARN stuff from every survey.
If you learn from every survey, you will become more professional with each job.
If you don't, you will become less and less professional, until you are blindly attacking and fighting with stuff you failed to consider, in your decision process.
You can quote this. In my words, or yours.
N
I liked his presentation, but he was weak when it came to western states. He said to throw out the manual, but when your state is 77% "owned" by the feds that isn't a real option.
So........learn what you will, but always look at the imperial involvement when you set a corner and understand they don't recognize, or seldom recognize monuments set outside of math solutions (unless they set them).
I have also used McKissock the last 2 times.?ÿ Looks like about the best value for the money at the time.
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WIll look at the https://ez-pdh.com/ next time too.
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I like their renewal packages for specific states that they have put together. I use that for two of the states I don't reside in but they don't have anything for my home state so that's when I go fishing around in the other sites andor attend conferences.
A long time ago, I took one of the correspondence type CPD courses because I had left my hours until the very end of the year and no professional society courses were scheduled that late.?ÿ I was mailed a booklet that was poorly edited and even had a large chunk (10+ pages out of about 60 pages) of the material just duplicated verbatim.?ÿ In a couple of hours I had read the material and completed the quiz.?ÿ I was disappointed enough as to have never gone back to online/mail order options.?ÿ With newer online learning management systems available, it should be much easier to move away from just reading a PDF onscreen.
I agree with the sentiment of not wanting to attend the same courses over and over.?ÿ For the past several years, I've worked on the KAPS conference committee and we have been fortunate to be able to get some new material every year, but it is an uphill battle to get new material as it is a great deal of work for anyone looking to present a topic (at least to do it half way well).
I've developed both a 4 and an 8 hour standards/ethics/code of conduct course for in-person presentation through KAPS. Each one of them could easily run over time with just a little bit of discussion and interaction from attendees (which makes them more engaging). Recently, I got a 4 hour version approved for online offering. It took a good bit more information included on the online version to fill the regulatory 50 minutes per CPD hour when the content was just me. I don't think it was quite in half, but I know I was bringing in new material to cover at least 1 of the four hours.
When presenting, it is a difficult balancing act to encourage audience input versus allowing "war" stories of "I remember when". But that audience input, when focused on the topic, is a great learning tool for everyone and fills in some of the time for the claimed hours.
Sorry to be a pooper but prior to and early in my licensure I was an avid attendant at seminars, national ACSM meetings at my own expense, membership in State societies, the BLM Cadastral Survey course at a college 100 miles distant (slept in my car after the evening courses), knew and jawboned with the national players (Robillard, Joe Bell, Madson, various NGS & BLM officials and equipment vendors).?ÿ What an amazing learning experience and I continued as a scholar with a considerable library which was assiduously consulted & updated.
After being licensed time passed and I became confident I was authoritative in my profession.?ÿ Still kept up with my education through journals, etc., and when *mandatory* CEUs were implemented I played the game for a few years 'till it became clear to me they're rehashing obvious stuff for $600 a pop plus hotel bills.?ÿ Finally said screw them and faked it (in house training ??? ) and haven't accumulated a commercial reportable CEU for a decade. Yep, that's right; the Board doesn't challenge your CEU record unless you're on the carpet for other transgressions.?ÿ So I've gotten away with criminal behavior and am proud of it.?ÿ
The mandatory CEU laws have created a profitable fake industry which purports to improve the profession, but only pockets cash.?ÿ If you need to attend them to gain knowledge you should never have obtained your license or be practicing.
They can be funny though. Last year I went to a full-day seismic design seminar, presented by two guys who are A-lister's in the field. They shared a powerpoint presentation throughout, taking turns to talk about their specialist sub-subjects. Guy-A knew his stuff and new the slides and had prepared and was slick. Guy-B knew his stuff but hadn't prepared and obviously had never seen the slides before, so he read them out aloud then tried to work out WTF was going on. Most of his explanations were wrong and he had to keep backtracking and correcting, or rabbited on with a random collection of unfinished sentences that were seismic but had nothing to do with the slides. They got thunderous applause and a standing-O when it was all over, so all good.
Yes.?ÿ Very much a scam to fund societies and force a false sense of membership to exist.?ÿ Signing up to be a member plus member-rate CE fees is less than paying non-member CE fees.?ÿ What a joke?!?!?!??ÿ Being a member means participating and improving the group but not when 90 percent of those listed as members have done nothing but pay a fee so they could save money somewhere else.?ÿ A dozen or so people run everything while the others merely claim allegiance (in the name of reduced expenses).
It is sad that those aspiring to be professionals get charged double or more to attend these CE sessions than what it will cost them once they are able join the "club".