Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Comments

Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation

Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, Certified Interior Designers, and Landscape Architects

Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, Certified Interior Designers, and Landscape Architects Regulations [18 VAC 10 ‑ 20]

Action	Develop regulations for a mandatory continuing education requirement for architect, professional engineer, and land surveyor licenses.
Stage	Proposed
Comment Period	Ended on 5/2/2008

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3/11/08 9:13 am

Commenter: Scott Detienne, RA, CPP, CCS, AHC, BSCP

The Myth of Continued Education

Through ten years of legitimate continued education, I am proud of the additional letters I’ve earned beyond my architectural license. But I now find myself bogged down with the various sponsoring organizations to maintain their continuing education programs. Through my frustrating experiences, I object to mandatory continued education for the following reasons:

1. I spend as much time administering my CEU’s as I do earning them.

2. CEU’s are not clearly defined and are not “transportable” between various sponsoring organizations.

3. Continued education often appears to be nothing more than money making ventures or marketing programs.

4. Most continued education programs have poor testing methods and lack the ability to evaluate related projects, such as rebuilding one's home.

5. Many continued education programs amount to nothing more than lunch seminars and magazine cutouts.

6. There is no skill level difference between those who obtain CEU’s and those who don’t.

7. The market place will lead people to continue education, as seen with LEED AP.

8. There are too many back door methods to achieve an Architectural License. More attention should be placed on strengthening university professional programs and tightening standards for obtaining a license.

9. There are too many other issues to address with this profession. How about state mandated overtime compensation programs for professionals on public projects.

10. CEU emphasis is short term gain of numerous points, in lieu of long term study and testing programs by legitimate educational based sponsors. Try taking the CCS exam for the first time, failing, and then requesting an administrator to offer more then three CEU’s for your year long effort.

11. And, after earning all my letters, frankly, I’ve earned the right to do something else.

CommentID: 1004