3. THE PROGRAM

APEGGA recognizes the vast diversity of members' activities; the continuing professional development program is designed to accommodate these differences. It is your privilege and responsibility to decide what to learn and which methods best suit your specific continuing professional development program. It is an individual exercise, to be tailored to each person's needs. The decision-making process is straightforward.
 

 
Identify where you are What combination of professional responsibilities, knowledge, skills and abilities do you currently have?

 
Decide where you want or need to be What knowledge, skills and abilities do you need or want for your current career or a future one? Your plan could include not only what you do now, but what you would like to do in the future.

 
Plan your program What are the knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as ongoing changes in knowledge bases, work environments and technology that should be addressed by your professional development program?

 
 
 
 


3.2 Individual Scope of Practice

To build an effective professional development program, begin by gathering information that you will need
  • your current job description
  • your recent performance evaluation
  • your existing development plan
  • APEGGA Value of Professional Services booklet
  • APEGGA listing of courses and seminars available to you (either in paper form or on the APEGGA website)
  • educational institution calendars (available from the institution or linked to the APEGGA website)
  • APEGGA list of technical and management societies
  • list of skills or skill sets required
  • suggested forms (Appendix IV, APEGGA website or on disc in Excel format)

Describe your current position, anticipated career, and the skills that you will need to develop or build on. Many members will have completed this exercise already for their employer. If not, follow the order on the suggested forms.

3.2.1 Job Title

3.2.2 Industry of Practice
Appendix II provides the industry categories from which to choose to be consistent with the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers (CCPE) and Statistics Canada.

3.2.3 Professional Specialization & Duties
Appendix III provides the specialization categories from which to choose to be consistent with the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers (CCPE) and Statistics Canada.

3.2.4 Duties
List as many of your current job duties as are necessary to fully describe your job. Your own job description and APEGGA's Value of Professional Services booklet will be helpful.

3.2.5 Level of Responsibility and Impact
Identify the number of professional and technical people who work under your direct supervision and describe your work's impact on the public, the environment, your employer, other clients, and stakeholders.

3.2.6 Knowledge, Skills and Judgment Requirements
Finally, review your specific knowledge, skill and judgement requirements. You might use your job description, employer core competency analysis, or the Value of Professional Services, published by APEGGA, to help determine these requirements. Elements to consider include, but are not restricted to
 
  • technical
  • legal
  • managerial
  • financial
  • safety
  • project management
  • mentoring/developmental
  • supervisory
  • administrative
  • ethical behaviour
  • environmental
  • training
  • advisory
  • teaching
  We recommend that you allow for some flexibility within your individual scope of practice. A narrowly defined or restrictive scope will actually hamper an effective professional development program. In the event you assume a new position, or take on significant new responsibilities within your existing role, you may need to review and modify your program.


3.3 Program Plan and Content

Once you have identified your scope of practice, the next step is to develop a program to address any required knowledge or skill maintenance or improvement, or the acquisition of new abilities. In effect, this requires developing a personalized training program. The most important principle to remember is that your professional development activities must be related to your scope of practice.
The following section provides categories of activity and levels of effort suitable for a continuing professional development program. The activities listed are not inclusive; rather, they are intended to give general guidance for the selection of activities. These lists also identify activities that comprise lifelong learning. Given the diversity of member practice, some activities may be more appropriate for you than others. Use your own judgment in selecting activities that relate to your individual scope of practice and that work best for your continued learning.
Continuing professional development activities will relate to your individual scope of practice. They may also embody some or all of the following concepts
  • application or development of technical theory
  • learning of new concepts
  • practical experience
  • management of engineering, geological or geophysical practice
  • communication and interpersonal skills
  • public, community and professional service
 

3.4 Activity Categories and Levels of Effort

A credible continuing professional development program must define minimum levels of effort. The unit of measure for this effort is time: a Professional Development Hour (PDH). APEGGA recognizes six general activity categories as contributing to continuing professional development. These are listed below with corresponding PDHs.
To encourage planning over a few years, the program has a three-year rolling time period. Here are some guidelines for ensuring that you have met the program requirements

  • You must accumulate at least 240 PDHs over three years. You are strongly encouraged to accumulate at least 80 PDHs per year .
  • You must be active in at least three of the six categories.
  • Note the maximum allowed PDHs in each category when developing your plan.
  • Be careful not to count the same effort in more than one activity.
  • Once you are in the third or subsequent year of the program, you must maintain a rolling average of a minimum of 240 PDHs over three years.


3.4.1 Professional Practice
Active professional practice is known to be a significant factor contributing to maintaining and improving skills. As such, it earns PDHs as follows

One PDH is earned for each 15 hours of professional work within your scope of practice. A maximum of 50 PDHs per year may be claimed.


3.4.2 Formal Activity
Formal activities are those provided as a structured course or program, often for credit, occasionally with an evaluation process. Although formal activity is not specifically required, all members should strive to include some formal activities within their continuing professional development program. Delivery methods might include traditional classroom settings, and remote techniques such as written correspondence, video, or interactive electronic exchange. Formal activities could include

  • courses provided through universities, technical institutes and colleges
  • industry sponsored courses, programs and seminars
  • employer training programs and structured on-the-job training
  • short courses provided by technical societies, industry or educational institutions

Every hour spent in attendance at the course (contact hour) earns one PDH. For courses offering Continuing Education Units (CEUs), each CEU will equate to 10 PDHs. A maximum of 30 PDHs per year may be claimed.


3.4.3 Informal Activity
These are activities not normally offered by an educational institution or other non-structured course, but which nevertheless expand your knowledge, skills or judgment. They include

  • self-directed study
  • attendance at conferences, technical sessions, talks, seminars, workshops and industry trade shows
  • attendance at meetings of technical, professional or managerial associations or societies
  • structured discussion of technical or professional issues with one's peers

Each hour of informal activity earns one PDH. A maximum of 30 PDHs per year may be claimed.


3.4.4 Participation
Activities that promote peer interaction and provide exposure to new ideas and technologies both enhance the profession and serve the public interest. These activities include

  • acting as a mentor to a Member-in-Training or other less experienced professional member or technologist
  • service on public bodies that draw on your professional expertise (i.e., planning board, development appeal board, investigative commissions, review panels or community building committees)
  • activities that contribute to the community which require professional and ethical behaviour, but not necessarily the application of technical knowledge, including active service for professional, service, charitable, community or church organizations, coaching league sports teams, or elected public service on municipal, provincial or federal levels or school boards
    1 PDH per hour of service, a maximum of 10 PDHs per year may be claimed.
  • service on standing or ad-hoc committees of technical, professional or managerial associations, or societies

A maximum of 20 PDHs per year may be claimed for the participation category.


3.4.5 Presentations
These are technical or professional presentations that you make outside your normal job functions. Both preparation and presentation of material would be expected. Presentations might occur at

  • a conference or meeting
  • a course, workshop or seminar
  • either within your company, or at an event sponsored by a technical or professional organization

Each hour of preparation and delivery earns one PDH. A maximum of 20 PDHs per year may be claimed.


3.4.6 Contributions to Knowledge
The Association acknowledges that activities which expand or develop the technical knowledge base in the three disciplines of engineering, geology and geophysics must be recognized. It also realizes that not every member is able to make such a contribution outside their normal job functions. Contributions could include

  • development of published Codes and Standards
    one PDH per hour of committee work
  • patents
    15 PDHs per patent registered
  • publication of papers in a peer-reviewed technical journal
    15 PDHs per paper published
  • publication of articles in non-reviewed journals
    10 PDHs per article, maximum of 10 PDHs per year may be claimed
  • reviewing articles for publication
    1 PDH per hour of review, a maximum of 10 PDHs per year may be claimed
  • editing papers for publication
    1 PDH per hour of editing

A maximum of 30 PDHs per year may be claimed.


3.5 Carry Over

PDH credits accumulated in excess of the annual maximums in any category may be carried forward for a maximum of two years from the date of completing the activity (see examples in Appendix V).


3.6 Special Considerations

Members who are unemployed, full-time students, or members on medical or parental leave have the option of declaring themselves to be practicing or non-practicing. If declared to be practicing, members will generally be expected to accumulate at least 30 PDHs per year. If declared to be non-practicing, there will be no expectations of earning PDHs during this period. However, upon returning to practicing status, members will be subject to the requirements outlined in Section 2.1.

[ INTRODUCTION ]...[MEMBER STATUS]...[THE PROGRAM]

[KEEPING RECORDS & REPORTING]...[ROLE OF THE EMPLOYER]

[AUDITING OF PROGRAMS]...[APPENDICES: 1, 2, 3]...[WORKSHEETS AND EXAMPLES]

[CONTENTS]