Continuing Professional
Development -- An Update
By Christine Smith
The Continuing Professional Development Guideline was mailed to all professional members July 24.
When members next receive their annual dues invoice, they also will
receive the Continuing Professional Development Questionnaire. Members
are asked to complete the form and submit it with their dues payment by
their invoice due date. The questionnaire asks members to report:
- Member Status (i.e. practicing or non-practicing status);
- Industry of Practice;
- Area of Specialization.
One may also report, on a voluntary basis, the Professional Development Hours claimed for the previous 36 months.
In subsequent years, members will be required to report the number
of Professional Development Hours for the previous 12 months in each of
the six professional development categories outlined in the guideline.
How do you know if you are "practicing" or "non-practicing"?
If you accept responsibility for any work as defined in The Engineering, Geological and Geophysical Professions Act, you are considered to be practicing in that area. If you hire and direct those who are practicing the profession in accordance with the definition, or are involved in activities that are part of the definition, you are practicing. Further, if you feel that you are influencing the practice of the professions in any fashion, you are encouraged to declare yourself to be practicing.
In August, APEGGA conducted two volunteer training sessions: one in
Calgary and the other in Edmonton. The objective of the sessions was to
train volunteers on making presentations on the Continuing Professional
Development Program. The volunteers are available to respond to industry
requests for in-house presentations. In addition, APEGGA will be scheduling
public presentations to be held throughout Alberta in the fall.
Resources
The APEGGA website is under development to include:
- the Continuing Professional Development Guideline
- an electronic version of the Continuing Professional Development Record and Activity Record;
- 5institutions that offer professional development courses and seminars.
Those who do not have access to the World Wide Web, please contact the closest APEGGA office to have a hard copy of the material (upon availability) mailed.
SkillScape
APEGGA is conducting a pilot of this Internet-based skills database
for 50 members in Calgary during the last quarter of 1997. The pilot test
will provide volunteers with the opportunity to build their own personal
skills profile and identify specific skills that they may need or want
to develop. Since SkillScape already has developed skills pertinent to
mechanical engineering, APEGGA is targeting this discipline to assist us
in the evaluation of this tool. Evaluation results from this pilot project
will assist APEGGA in determining whether APEGGA should offer this tool
to all members. It is not the intent of APEGGA to offer this skill assessment
tool to the membership at large until a thorough investigation of the software
capabilities, costs and alternatives has been conducted.