Activity Restrictions:
1. Engineers must earn a minimum of 2 hours from courses regarding engineering ethics or rules applicable to the practice of engineering. Courses listed in our Ethics category will meet this requirement
2. Credits in excess of 6 per renewal cycle should be earned using courses or webinars that are considered “timed and monitored” by the board. PDHengineer’s webinars and “Timed and Monitored” online courses are designed to fulfill this requirement.
The Ohio Board recognizes several different activities that will fulfill the CPD requirements. The Board accepts online courses and webinars, as well as technical articles found in publications, trade journals, or trade magazines.
Online Courses
For an online course to qualify for credit, it must meet the requirements specified in Ohio R.C. section 4733.151. You must be able to track hours and certify completion. The online course provider must submit to you a certificate of completion or other proof of attendance. All thirty (30) of the PDH required each biennial renewal cycle can be earned through online courses.
Technical Articles and Correspondence Courses
Technical articles found in publications, trade journals, or trade magazines require successful completion of a test. Subsequent to the start of the current renewal cycle, the Board introduced a new term called “correspondence courses.” The Board states that correspondence courses are courses that involve reading articles or other text and can be received by mail or online. Correspondence courses are typically self-paced and participation is not monitored by the provider. Only 3 hours per year (6 PDH per biennial cycle) can be earned through technical articles and correspondence courses.
Webinars
For a webinar to qualify for credit, the provider must be able to verify and confirm attendance and participation. All thirty (30) of the PDH required each biennial renewal cycle can be earned through webinars.
PDHengineer provides two categories of PDH for Ohio engineers. The “State Acceptance” tab on our course overview pages lists the category each individual course or webinar falls into.
- “Self-paced” courses allow users to view the course material at their own pace and require the user to pass a quiz at the end of the course. It is important to note that “self-paced” does not automatically relegate a course to the Board’s correspondence course category. Per the Board “correspondence courses are typically self-paced.” But, a course can be “paced” by the provider without a formal timing mechanism, and yet not be considered a correspondence course. PDHengineer has a rigid process for determining credit hours for online courses that includes, among other factors, the incorporation of well-established standards for reading comprehension rates. Based on our correspondence with the Board, we are confident that our self-paced courses will be accepted by the Board without limitation on the number of PDH credits. Nonetheless, PDHengineer strongly encourages Ohio engineers to earn any credits in excess of 6 PDH through our “timed and monitored” courses.
- “Timed and monitored” courses include live webinars and certain online courses that include an automatic timing mechanism. The automatic timer prevents the user from accessing the quiz and earning a certificate of completion until the minimum amount of study time has been met. This achieves the Board’s intent that an online course should be “paced” by the provider. Regarding webinars, the Board states that it “will not allow credit for live web seminars unless the provider is able to verify and confirm attendance and participation.” PDHengineer worked with the Board to develop a special procedure for Ohio engineers completing PDHengineer webinars. As a result, PDHengineer’s webinars are accepted by the Board where indicated on the “State Acceptance” tab on the webinar overview page.
Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about PDHengineer courses and webinars and their applicability to the Board’s requirements.
