Online Options for Ohio PDH (Timed & Monitored? LEED?)

[KootK]

So... I don't even want to admit to how much trouble I'm in on the PDH front as the year comes to a close.

Ohio is my bottle neck jurisdiction because I'm stuck up in Canada and really have no realistic short term options other than non-live webinar type stuff. For Ohio, online courses:

1) have to be tracked and timed to verify attendance.

2) can be LEED stuff apparently.

Complicating factors:

3) I have to do 30 HRS of LEED this month anyhow which I'll do through the USGBC online curriculum: Link

4) Ohio will not pre-approve any particular vendor. And they're good at sticking to that on the phone.

5) Other than the "PDH Factory" places, the vendors and OH seem to be pretty unaware of one another and bad at answering questions about whether or not they are tracked and timed in a compliant manner. I do have calls into everybody that I'll mention below.

So my questions are these:

Q1) Has anybody successfully used the LEED online coursework through USGBC as timed and tracked PDH content for Ohio? If I could use the 30 HRS LEED for Ohio as well, that would be a huge win.

Q2) Does anybody know if anything from HILTI, Simpson, ASCE, AISC, or AWC comes in a format satisfying Ohio's timed and tracked requirement?

Q3) Is there such a thing as a "timed and monitored" course that takes the form of some reference material that you download and read, followed by a quiz? Some of the PDH vendors seem to suggest this although, to me, it would seem as though this would be the opposite of "timed and monitored" and would very much fall into the "correspondence" category.

Q4) Does anybody know of a good "PDH factory" option for this? I've found some but, within that space, meaningful structural offerings are sparse. And some seem kind of sketchy. Some places that I've discovered, partially through searching past Eng-Tips threads:

a) [link ]ez-pdh.com[/url]
b) [link ]pdhengineer.com[/url]
c) [link ]discountpdh.com[/url]
d) [link ]pdh-pro.com[/url]
e) [link ]pdhonline.com[/url]
f) [link ]titance.com[/url]
g) [link ]pdhstar.com[/url]
h) [link ]www.pdhdirect.com[/url]

So yeah, there are plenty of options. I guess my real struggle here is in somehow separating the wheat from the chaff in this space. I greatly fear neglecting my family and my business over the next three weeks to get this done only to find out that what I've done doesn't count or, to a lesser degree, that there was a much better route than the one that I chose. If someone were to chime in and tell me "this is what I did, OH accepted it, and it wasn't too aweful", that would hold a lot of water with me.

 

[Celt83]

we use these guys a lot in my office:
[URL unfurl="true"]https://learnwithseu.com/[/url]

Open Source Structural Applications:

https://github.com/buddyd16/Structural-Engineering

 

[Celt83]

Recently found out Texas does free webinars for Ethics: Link

Open Source Structural Applications:

https://github.com/buddyd16/Structural-Engineering

 

[XR250]

Can't help with OH, but will own that I use the PDH factories and try to get 15 PDH's done in about 3 hours.
I feel like I get my "real" PDH's on this site!

 

[WARose]

I use pdhonline a lot. The SE university option is pretty good. Not sure how it compare (in terms of price) to just biting the bullet and going to a 2-3 day ASCE seminar (which I have done a couple of times).

 

[JoshH726]

Try redvector.com which is what I use (I don't work for them, or have any ties to them outside of getting my pdhs). Full disclosure: I'm still in my first registration period for OH, so I haven't really got into it. And I typically do at least one live 8- or 16-hr seminar a year anyway.

Here's what they offer in terms of OH requirements:

Completion Requirements
30 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours due biennially by December 31st odd years.

Of the 30 hours required, (all may be taken online):
-2 hours must be related to ethics
-28 hours must be related to engineer topics

NOTE: Effective 1/1/19 all active licensees will be required to complete 2 hours of ethics for all renewals ending in December 2019.

The Ohio State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors requires all courses to be pre-approved. The courses offered by RedVector have been reviewed to meet requirements for an engineer.

Dual license: If the licensee holds an engineers and land surveyors license, the professional development hours must include at least: 10 hours in courses related to professional engineering and 10 hours related to professional land surveying.

 

[dauwerda]

I have used pdhonline, asce recorded webinars (up to 15 free hours with membership), hilti, Risa, in person seminars, and a college course. I have only had 1 state audit me and as far as I could tell they glanced at my log and called it good. I don't think most states get too caught up in the weeds as long as you have certificates from a reputable source (basically everything you mentioned). Ohio has the following in their FAQ

Based on this I think they will accept most stuff you have listed.

 

[skeletron]

Do the ACI courses or webinars fit your criteria?

Usually it is a timed webinar with a quiz at the end and a certificate that equates to 1PDH.

 

[KootK]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm actually not terribly far of building a 24 HR live seminar schedule before the end of the year. Many places, such as Simpson, Hilti, and ASCE are done for 2019 (not surprised). If anybody knows of anything else that might available for live webinars in 2019, do tell.

The PDH thing has been a nightmare for me ever since ceased being on somebody else's payroll. Clearly, a long term solution is needed. I'm thinking that I like to spend a little money and have access to a steady stream of relevant, high quality continuing education opportunities. My research, including this thread, has turned up the following as the best candidates:

1) SE University @ $800/yr

2) NCSEA Annual Subscription @ $1000/yr

Anyone feel strongly about one versus the other? Any other contenders I ought to consider?

I'm a pretty frugal guy but I really do need a consistent, low stress, non-garbage, long term solution to the PDH thing. I figure if I can't afford $1000/yr as a pre-tax business expense, I should probably just hang it up. The course lineups for both vendors do look pretty great. At first glance, I'm leaning towards the NCSEA package. Very appealing content and about two per month as opposed to one per month with SE University. Both of them could be shared with a colleague to

 

[Rabbit12]

https://steel.newmill.com/acton/med...rce=Act-On&utm_medium=Email&sid=TV2:M2Y6zaG2z

Got an email on this the other day.

 

[KootK]

Thanks Rabbit. Those are pre-recoreded though aren't they? I needs 'em live and in December...

 

[dauwerda]

Those are pre-recoreded though aren't they? I needs 'em live and in December...

Why do you need them live? That is not a requirement for Ohio.

 

[KootK]

As I understand it, a webinar either has to be:

1) Live or;

2) Timed and monitored.

Are you understanding things differently? I was seeing that as how "record of attendance" was to be interpreted. When I talked to OH on the phone, they mentioned that some webinars have a green light / red light thing on the webinar window tracking if you're really there or stepping out for some ice cream.

 

[dauwerda]

I guess I interpret it differently - at the end of the day it matters how Ohio interprets it though.
I don't understand how a vendor can "verify and confirm attendance and participation" for a live webinar anymore than they can for a recorded webinar (I've also been present at a few in person lectures and absorbed absolutely 0 from them). It is my understanding that this is the purpose of the quiz - if you can pass the quiz you must have watched the live or recorded webinar. I believe the timed and monitored thing is only required if there is no type of quiz at the end that must be passed in order to get the certificate (you can't claim to have watched 30 hours of youtube videos and be done).

Or, lets stop calling it a webinar, and instead classify it as: "Successful completion of continuing education courses offered by a professional or trade organization, university or college, or offered in-house by a corporation relevant to the practice of engineering or surveying." of which the course consists of watching a recorded lecture and then completing a quiz on the material.

 

[dauwerda]

At the end of the day, the intent of the continuing education requirement(s) is to make sure practicing engineers are keeping up with current codes, practices, etc. I feel that as long as you can demonstrate that you are doing this you won't have to much of a problem getting *most* states to accept whatever you show them. That is why so many states are so hesitant to give a cut and dry answer on what is or isn't acceptable - its more about what you get from a course or seminar or whatever than the course itself.

 

[KootK]

I with you with respect to the spirit of the thing. Part of the problem might just be a version of fear mongering. You go to some of the PDH factory places and they make a point of saying "our unique system times and monitors attendance in compliance with OH state regulation blah-bity-schmack". Which kind of suggests that not all systems are in compliance. As you can imagine, I'm none too thrilled about spending a solid week on PDH this month. If it turned out to be time wasted, I'm not sure that I could bare it.

 

[IRstuff]

I don't have this specific problem, but we do have compliance training that's due every year. They're usually videos with tests, but you can get a timed Powerpoint that you have to step through, which is usually faster than the embedded videos, but the program refuses to advance the slides until you've spent a LONG time staring at the words.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm

 

[JLNJ]

SEU webinars have "quizzes" during the presentation, presumably to prove that they are legit in terms of time and participation. And maybe to keep you engaged.

Once you know the answer to the final quiz, you can print yourself a PDF, whether you attended the seminar or not. Or if you fall asleep during.

The State-mandated PDH requirement is tough to argue against, but the whole thing is dangerously close to being a farce. I have many PDHs worth, in real terms, zero.

I get a heck of a lot more out of reading through this site. Maybe Alberta will give me credit!

 

[KootK]

but the program refuses to advance the slides until you've spent a LONG time staring at the words.

Yeah, that's one way I suppose to try and prevent this...

but will own that I use the PDH factories and try to get 15 PDH's done in about 3 hours.

One year the green building folks gave me a special "badge" and wanted to feature me in an article as I was apparently the new record holder for obtaining a full complement of 30 LEED PDH in the least amount of time. As you might imagine, I declined the opportunity to be publicly celebrated for that particular achievement. The more palatable implications of my achievement would have been time travel or heavy cocaine use.

 

[KootK]

I get a heck of a lot more out of reading through this site. Maybe Alberta will give me credit!

Speaking of, I'm trying to figure out if Alberta will count quizzed webinars as "formal education" per their system. It's less than 4 HRS but, loosely speaking, there is an evaluation process. I'd be a happy camper if I could drop $1K on some interesting SEU or NCSEA content and be covered for both Canada and the fuss budget states.