AIA CES

Point of Contact, Secondary Point of Contact, Users/Speakers Rights and Responsibilities

Continuing Education Services at the American Institute of Architects continually strives to offer comprehensive, professional and quality support to our over 2000 providers. Verifying that your primary and secondary points of contact (POC) are up-to-date in our database, and that your delegation of POC follows our guidelines, is a simple, yet essential procedure to increase the AIA’s ability to better serve you. Some Providers currently have multiple employees designated as primary and secondary POC; this obfuscates our ability to know who to contact regarding important CES matters. Delegating only one primary and one secondary POC is mandatory because it guarantees greater efficiency and service from AIA/CES.

The Primary Point of Contact has exclusive rights and responsibilities to:

• Edit the Provider profile
• Receive and pay annual invoice online
• Manage user accounts (add and delete Secondary POC and users, contact information, etc.)
• Ensure that the responsibilities and job functions of the POC are appropriately and effectively handed off in the event of a replacement or personnel change

Primary and Secondary POC have the rights and responsibilities to:

• Access the CES Provider Manual, certificate template, and tools and resources
• Call or email CES Call Center
• Manage and implement quality assurance measures
• Advertise a course
• View and report course attendance
• Maintain registration and reporting forms on file for a minimum of six (6) years
• Download CES logo
• View your Discovery reports

Users/speakers have the rights and responsibilities to:

• Teach courses
• Update their personal profile
• View your Discovery reports
• View and report course attendance
• Sign speaker agreement (mandatory for speakers only)
• Comply with QA measures for presentations (include QA slides, provider numbers, course number)
• Issue certificates
• Send copies of files to the POC for record keeping
• Deliver the course, as approved by AIA/CES, without endorsement, bias, or marketing or sales orientation
• Ensure that company logos, product name, and branding are limited to the first and last slides of any presentation and to the CES quality assurance copyright slide
• Ensure that any information and handouts distributed reinforce the learning objectives
• Confine product and proprietary specific questions for discussion to either before or after the course has concluded
• Deliver the course as it relates to the learning objectives
• Strive to make presentation and materials as accurate, appropriate, and interesting as possible
• Ensure that the quality assurance slides are included and reviewed with participants during all PowerPoint presentations. If the class is not a PowerPoint-based course, slides must still be reviewed with participants verbally

If you currently have multiple primary and/or secondary POC’s, please update your account via Manage CES Provider Subscription Users. The primary POC can add one secondary POC and add only up to 10 additional users to the account. Those additional users have the same rights and access to CES Discovery software as the POC, but they do not receive official AIA Approved Provider communications. Furthermore, we understand that primary and secondary POC’s often change. The person serving as the POC may leave your company, or another employee may assume the responsibilities of the POC. If this occurs, please update your account. It ensures that our records are up- to-date and notifies us of potential transitional procedures that may need to happen when a new POC is added, such as creating new passwords and setting up account access. (Please note that the CES Discovery Homepage is password protected, based on the email address the user has registered with AIA CES and a user created password. If you are a point of contact for your provider number (POC or user), you have access to the online CES Discovery Homepage for your organization.)

Provider point of contact is responsible for carrying out the AIA/CES administrative responsibilities within your organization. POC acts as a liaison between AIA/CES National and the Provider Organization and are the first line of communication for the Provider’s representatives and must be aware of, and address questions and concerns that arise from their organization’s representatives. The primary POC is the manager of the Provider’s account and will receive all e-mail messages related to annual Provider renewal, Provider assessments or other administrative matters. Moreover, CES support via 800-242-3837 option 3 and aiamembercareces@aia.org are resources available to Primary and Secondary POCs exclusively. We greatly value all the hard work that POC’s do, and appreciate your help in ensuring that our records are as up-to-date as possible so that AIA/CES can continue to strengthen the services we offer our Providers.

 

When designing a course for adult learners, an instructor may consider a number of different delivery methods to best meet the challenges and circumstances of their audience. One approach to education which appeals to a wider range of learning styles is to use a method which integrates both face-to-face instruction and online or digital learning platforms. “Blended learning” is primarily recognized as a comprehensive method of education integrating traditional classroom and technology-based training as a more inclusive approach to education. Yet, blended learning can also be observed in a broader sense as embracing both formal and informal frameworks for instruction to allow flexibility and accessibility to education for the adult learner.

Blended learning can be an advantageous and effective method of education when both formal and informal modes of learning are employed to strengthen the course concepts. Formal learning is when a learner is solely focused on the information being provided, concentrating on comprehension of the material administered in an explicit and informative way. While formal learning engages the adult learner to absorb and study the known processes or content, informal learning perpetuates understanding and innovative thinking. When used in conjunction with one another, formal and informal learning lend to growth of individuals, allowing them to receive skills and information and subsequently apply concepts to their own efforts and ideas. Executed properly, blended learning can be a progressive means of delivering education, providing a platform where adult learners can design and individualize their own curriculum.

Addressing blended learning as a combination of formal and informal education allows the process to develop and evolve with new technology and research. Traditional face-to-face learning can be supplemented with hands-on activities, field tests, on-job instruction, webinars, podcasts, or engagement with social media tools. Employing a variety of modalities for instruction lends itself to different types of learners, enforces participant accountability, and offers review opportunities. Additionally, many elements of education are available 24/7 and can accommodate different knowledge levels.

For example, AIA CES has offered on-site, face-to-face workshops for Providers to present material about best practices in continuing education. Following the workshops, we posted comments to our blog to encourage interaction among participants and help with learning retention. The incorporation of online communication tools with direct education techniques will provide a forum for peers to share and discuss content from the course.

While blended learning can be challenging to those intimidated by technology and time-consuming to manage, embracing blended learning in continuing education programs can encourage adult learners to commit to lifelong learning. Accessibility to learning often prevents adults from participating in and seeking out emerging industry topics and technology, yet blended learning programs are an effective way to design engaging and convenient education.

On December 9, the AIA Board of Directors voted to modify the AIA’s calendar year continuing education requirement. Per year, AIA members will be required to complete 12 hours of health, safety, and welfare (HSW) education, an increase from the previous requirement of 8 HSW. The AIA Board will re-evaluate the sustainable design (SD) requirement in 2012. The new HSW requirement goes into effect in January 2012 and AIA members should fulfill their total 18 hours of continuing education during the calendar year.

Increasing the HSW requirement per year sets a higher standard for AIA members and will enable them to fulfill state licensing requirements for most states. Additionally, increasing the required number of HSW credits will raise the level and quality of our continuing education and professional development of architects.

Additional information and list of topics on health, safety, and welfare (HSW).

Additionally, in calendar year 2012, aligning closer with state licensing boards’ practice, AIA members will no longer be able to self-report HSW courses for credit. Members will need to complete HSW credits by taking qualifying courses from registered AIA CES Providers and Providers will need to report HSW courses for members to receive HSW credits. Members can continue to self-report learning unit (LU) credit hours for non-provider courses and programs.

In the past, AIA members were able to attend courses outside of the AIA CES Provider network and submit a self-report online to be reviewed for HSW or SD credit. AIA CES is implementing this new HSW and SD credit policy to ensure quality education and establish an educational standard for the courses that AIA members attend.