Online Course Approvals for Training Units
During 2020, due to COVID restrictions, opportunities for in-person classroom training have all but disappeared. Therefore, many operators, by necessity, have looked to online courses for the training units (TUs) they need to renew their certificates. Colorado is indeed fortunate to have over 500 hundred online courses approved for training unit credit. Nevertheless, the Colorado Certified Water Professionals (CCWP) program has received a number of questions about training events that have not been pre-approved and are not included in the course catalog.
Regulation 100.16 establishes the continuing education requirement for certificate renewal and links training unit awards with the length of the training. Instructors issue training units based on actual contact hours, not necessarily the maximum TU values possible. For example, course instructors only award 50% of the TUs available for a course to a participant who only attends half of the training. Therefore, to accurately and appropriately award TUs, course providers must be able to verify participation and attendance.
As part of the process to approve courses for training units, the CCWP Portal asks course providers how they will verify participation. Traditionally, in-person courses have used registrations, sign-in sheets and stamped attendance sheets to document attendance. Classroom instructors managed participation through eye contact and dialog with attendees. Now, for live online training events, course providers may use electronic registrations and roll calls to confirm attendance; they may pause during a course to poll students or question them directly to check understanding and engagement. Courses provided without a live instructor confirm attendance through a registration process, and ensure participation with quizzes or other positive interaction elements that require student responses in order to proceed through the training.
The Colorado Certified Water Professionals office staff review requests for training unit approval in accordance with regulation 100 and Water and Wastewater Facility Operators Certification Board policies. The office has developed written guidance for course providers, including discussion of the verification of participation element. All of the courses included in the course catalog have a mechanism for confirming attendance and engagement, and have been approved for training units.
Outside the course catalog, there are numerous online training opportunities. Operators have the option to request approval of their non-catalog courses for a $25.00 fee. However, when non-catalog courses lack any mechanisms to verify participation, such requests are denied. In general, online courses that self-complete without positive interaction elements, such as videos or pre-recorded webinars (without a live instructor), will most likely be denied. This does not mean the course content is not valuable. It just means there is no way to verify that the participant actually sat down and engaged with the material for the entirety of the course.
As noted already, training unit credit is awarded based on instruction contact time. One hour of training yields 0.1 training unit. If an online course allows participants to skip through portions of the course, or advance from slide to slide without requiring a reasonable amount of time to view and listen to all of the presentation, it will not be approved for training units.
The Water and Wastewater Facility Operators Certification Board considers continuing education vitally important. To accomplish the intended purpose of the training requirement in Regulation 100, courses approved for training unit credit must be engaging and demonstrate effectiveness in transmitting the course objectives to the participants.
➽ Nancy Horan, Facility and Operator Outreach and Certification Board Liaison
