Continuing Education (CPD) for Your Vectorworks Training

Many professional organisations require you to carry on Continuing Education, or Continuing Professional Development, to maintain your skill level. Clients often ask if the Vectorworks training they do through this website or through face-to-face training can be used for these Continuing Education (CPD) credits. The short answer is yes. The purpose of CPD is to make sure the professionals keep up-to-date with construction changes, skill levels and what are known as core competencies. Many organisations like RIBA, NZIA, AIA, etc. offer a structured CPD (CE) program. The RIBA website says that “any relevant learning activity can count towards your requirements: from reading at one end of the spectrum, to additional qualifications at the other end, with countless activities in between. Your CPD activities can often be self-directed and informal as well.” Most professional organisations have two sorts of CPD, formal CPD and informal CPD. Formal CPD which would be an organised program of events, a series of training sessions from a CPD provider or from the organisation itself. Examples of formal CPD include:

• accredited courses
• activities that include assessment
• activities presented by accredited CPD providers

Informal CPD would be an activity that relates to the practice of your profession and is in addition to activities already undertaken through formal CPD. Examples of informal CPD include:

• self-directed study of technical magazines and practice notes
• talks and presentations by peers
• structured visits to projects and exhibitions
• design workshops, lectures and seminars

The sessions I provide on my website fall into the area of Informal CPD. Informal CPD would allow you to record the time spent on the sessions is going towards your final CPD credits. In most cases individuals can apply for CPD credits based on an activity that they attended which would keep the user up-to-date with construction changes, skill levels or a core competency. In order to make a good use of these sessions, record the following from each session into a logbook:

• date
• time
• duration
• topics covered
• learning outcomes from the session

With this information you can usually apply for the CPD credits using an online form from your professional organisation. for more information try these links: https://www.nzrab.org.nz/Editable/Assets/Policies/NZRAB_CPD_Points_Allocations_Policy_July_2014.pdf http://www.architecture.com.au/docs/default-source/qld-cpd/boaq_info_sheet_1_practising_architects_and_cpd.pdf?sfvrsn=0 http://www.arbv.vic.gov.au/?page=CPD http://www.architects.nsw.gov.au/architects/cpd http://www.adnz.org.nz/members/activities/ (Please note, however, that only ADNZ members will be able to access this link)