Board Rule 9.3.1: Temporary Changes on Continuing Education Requirements
*The Board voted to temporarily adjust continuing education requirements effective in April 2019 due to COVID-19 concerns, reducing the required number of CE hours and the limit on restricted online, non-live CE activities in regards to Rule 9.3.1, for architects and engineers whose license expires on December 31, 2020, and December 31, 2021. Please refer to this to the Continuing Education-Architects and Continuing Education-Engineers and page for more details.*
Web-based course offerings provided by the following types of providers may constitute the entire biennial requirement:
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International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) approved providers,
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institutions of higher education that have an accredited program in architecture or engineering,
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professional engineering or architectural societies,
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technical societies and associations recognized at a national level, or
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governmental agencies.
Web-based course offerings provided by other types of providers may constitute no more than one-fourth of the biennial education requirement that is six ACE hours or seven and one-half ECE hours.
Rule 9.3.1.1 clarifies that web-based course offerings led by an instructor that enables both the instructor and attendees to give, receive, and discuss information in real time is not restricted under Rule 9.3.1.
Over the past several years, the Board and Staff had noticed an increase in continuing education credits fulfilled through online courses. Technology has made it easier for many professionals to complete courses from the comfort and convenience of their desk, minimizing scheduling conflicts and travel costs. It is also certain that courses using this type of delivery system will increase in the years to come.
The dilemma our Board faced through the course of continuing education audits was the questionable quality of many of these courses, the time it actually took to complete the course as compared to the hours or credit claimed and their benefits to the professional practice. Though many courses evaluated were just as valuable as those attending in person, it was clear that this was not the case for a number of units being submitted.
The Board’s conclusion was to limit the amount of certain web-based credits allowed toward the required 24 actual hours of architecture- or 30 actual hours of engineering-related learning. Simply put, they will be considered under the self-reporting guidelines defined in the handbook and limited to 25% of the total required hours for an architect (six hours) or professional engineer (seven and one-half hours) in a two-year-biennial renewal period.
Rule 9.3.1 (formerly 9.2.3) became law on April 30, 2016.
The complete continuing education requirements can be found in Chapter 9 of the E&A Regulation Handbook. You can also find more Frequently Asked Questions here.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have any questions about temporary changes in continuing education requirements, please contact us.