HOW are Continuing Education Units (CEU's) earned?
Continuing education and public service programs may be divided into three categories: professional education, community education, and community service. Continuing Education Units (CEU's) are awarded for those programs which advance a participant's education. CEU's also may be awarded for programs in community education, if the program meets certain standards. Programs of a community service nature do not qualify for CEU award.
The Continuing Education Unit originated with a national task force which was formed (1968) to determine the feasibility of a uniform unit of measurement of noncredit continuing education programs. In 1971, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools adopted a revised Standard Nine on Special Activities (now contained in the new Criterion 4.3) which incorporated the concept of the continuing education unit. Old Dominion University's noncredit continuing education programs meet the criteria set by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools regarding the award of university CEU's. In accordance with these criteria the CEU is used as the basic instrument of measurement for an individual's participation in an institution's offering of noncredit classes, courses or programs. The CEU records serve as a part of the students reporting system for the institution. One Continuing Education Unit is officially defined as:
"Ten contact hours of participation in an organized continuing education experience under responsible sponsorship, capable direction, and qualified instruction." A decimal fraction of a unit may be awarded for an offering of shorter duration.
HOW does a program qualify to award CEU's?
Continuing Education Units may be awarded when the activity meets at least the following criteria:
1. Need - The noncredit activity is planned in response to an assessment of educational needs for a specific target population.
2. Objectives - There is a statement of objectives and rationale.
3. Content - Content is selected and organized in a sequential manner
4. Planning - There is evidence of planning which should include the opportunity for input by the target group to be served, the faculty area having content expertise, and continuing education personnel.
5. Instruction - The activity is instructional and is approved by an academic or administrative unit of the institution best qualified to affect the quality of the program content and to approve the resource personnel utilized.
6. Records - There is provision for registration for individual participants.
7. Evaluation - Evaluation procedures are utilized and criteria are established for awarding CEUs to individual students prior to the beginning of the activity. The continuing education activities which are approved to award continuing education units must meet at least one of the following evaluation standards:
a. an overall program evaluation (usually written) is completed by each participant It is designed to assess program content, instruction, administration and quality.
b. an individual evaluation in the form of a pre and/or post-test is administered to evaluate student performance.
c. when a skill/s is to be learned, participants are evaluated individually by demonstration, written or other response.
For approved CEU activities which require only a program evaluation and not an individual evaluation for the award of CEU's, attendance will be the sole criterion for the successful completion of the activity.
In accordance with national guidelines the following activities DO NOT qualify for continuing education unit award:
- staff orientation meetings
- academic credit programs, either secondary or collegiate
- committee meetings
- meetings and conventions of professional societies and associations, excepting independent educational programs held concurrently with meetings that meet CEU criteria.
- work experience, including on-the-job training and apprenticeships
- individual, self-directed learning experiences not subject to later verification by testing
- individual scholarship, including writing of articles research reports.
Programs sponsored by other agencies and taught by faculty outside of ODU, but for which CEU's have been requested from ODU, will be expected to comply with the same procedures devised to assure that criteria for awarding CEU's and handling of records are done in accordance with criteria set by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the accrediting body for ODU. Unit directors are responsible for complying with these procedures.