ASHA CE Policies: Course Planning

Course Content and Review

Course Registration Period

Related Standard(s): Standard 2, Standard 4, Standard 5

• Courses are automatically registered for 5 years—based on the starting date of the first offering. This course registration period is the date range during which a course may have offerings added without it being re-submitted as a new course.
• If the course content changes during the 5-year registration period, it must be submitted as a new course.

Content Review

Related Standard(s): Standard 2, Standard 4

• Course content must explore one subject or a group of closely related subjects. If the course involves multiple components, such as a lecture series, all segments should be devoted to integrally related subjects.
• New Providers must review course quality, content, and effectiveness regularly. Any course registered for ASHA CEUs for the full 5-year registration period must undergo routine review during the 5 years and a thorough content review before it is re-registered.
• The Continuing Education Administrator and CE Content Consultant should use available ASHA resources, when appropriate, as a part of course development.

Activities and Content Not Appropriate for ASHA CEUs

Related Standard(s): Standard 2, Standard 3, Standard 4, Standard 5

• Course content must align with ASHA position statements on Auditory Integration Therapy, Facilitated Communication, and the Rapid Prompting Method. Providers must not submit, and ASHA CE will not register, courses that promote, encourage, or demonstrate how to practice in these areas.
• The following activities do not qualify for ASHA CEUs:
  • Breaks, meals, and social events. However, a presentation germane to the course during the meal function may be counted if the presentation meets the Standards for ASHA CE Providers and ASHA CE Policies. Only that portion of the meal during which time the presentation is taking place can be counted toward ASHA CEUs.
  • Meeting time devoted to business or committee activities, announcements, introductions, welcoming speeches, reports, and so forth.
  • Association membership and leadership activities. Holding membership or serving in some leadership capacity in an association or society does not qualify for ASHA CEUs.
  • Exhibits, sales, tours of commercial facilities, and/or time used to promote products or services.
  • Time for study, travel, assigned reading, or related activities outside the classroom or course’s schedule—unless the learning is monitored and/or assessed, and the learner receives feedback.
  • On-the-job training and other work experience—unless it is structured as part of a planned and supervised continuing education experience that meets the Standards for ASHA CE Providers and ASHA CE Policies.
  • Personal, self-paced study or other forms of independent-learning experience that are not planned, directed, and supervised by an ASHA Approved CE Provider.

Creating Learning Outcomes

• Learning outcomes must be written in measurable and/or observable terms.

ASHA Continuing Education Units (CEUs)

Calculating ASHA CEUs

Related Standard(s): Standard 7

• Providers must use the internationally recognized quantitative measure, the Continuing Education Unit (CEU), to calculate ASHA CEUs
• Sixty minutes or 1 clock hour is equal to 0.1 ASHA CEU. Ten clock hours equal one (1.0) ASHA CEU. Increments of less than an hour are rounded down to the nearest half-hour or hour when computing the total number of ASHA CEUs for a course.
• ASHA CE reserves the right to evaluate and determine the appropriateness of the number of ASHA CEUs offered, based on the final information submitted (syllabus, course agenda, etc.).
• New For courses offered in multiple languages, the ASHA CEU amount must be calculated for each language. When the ASHA CEU amount differs because of the language, the course must be registered as a unique course noting the language in the title (e.g., Dysphagia Assessment and Treatment (Spanish language)).

Offering ASHA CEUs

Related Standard(s): Standard 7

• New ASHA CEUs can only be offered for planned, formal educational content planned and conducted in accordance with Standards for ASHA CE Providers and ASHA CE Policies and registered within established deadlines [PDF].
• New Any course advertised as being offered for ASHA CEUs that is not planned in accordance with the Standards for ASHA CE Providers and ASHA CE Policies and submitted to ASHA CE within deadlines may need to be addressed through the consultation workflow.
• New ASHA CE reserves the right to refuse to register a course that was not planned in accordance with the Standards for ASHA CE Providers and ASHA CE Policies and/or not submitted within established deadlines. In these cases, the Provider will be responsible for communicating to learners that they will not be awarded ASHA CEUs. The Provider will need to consult with ASHA CE to determine what steps must be taken to avoid recurrence of this issue and to maintain active provider status.

Partial Credit

Related Standard(s): Standard 7

• Courses may be registered for partial credit.
• Providers must have a system to track, calculate, and offer partial credit to participants.
• Providers must have a clear justification to offer partial credit.
• Changed Providers must inform learners of the availability of partial credit.

Special Circumstances for Partial Credit

Related Standard(s): Standard 2, Standard 6, Standard 7

• There may be times when a participant cannot attend the entire course and partial credit may be awarded, if the Provider allows. Among the issues to consider when determining whether to offer partial credit is whether the participant can meet all the outcomes established for the course without attending the entire course. Providers who allow this must have a system to track, calculate, and offer partial credit for extenuating circumstances.