Structural PDHs 3

[WARose]

It's (once again) that time of year where I am scrambling for PDH hours. (Along with a lot of other people.)

I was wondering: any good sources out there for PDH hours? As it stands now, I typically get mine from pdhonline.com, ASCE, and AISC. But I am always looking for new (and cheap) sources. Someone who gives live webinars would be good too.

 

[MrHershey]

We do a lot of webinars. Most not cheap though. Works out when there's several people going but for one person they'd be a bit much.

Cheapest one we've really seen is SE University, costs $800/year and gets you 12 new live webinars a month plus access to the entire catalog of recordings. We also use NCSEA which is $900/year if you're an SEA member. SE University doesn't sell individual webinars, NCSEA does for like $250 each.

The other place to check is with vendors. I know Hilti and Simpson fairly frequently offer webinars. Usually free, though don't know if they make you pay for cert or not. Would assume other vendors do the same.

 

[SlideRuleEra]

Some of the free webinars sponsored by "Informed Infrastructure Magazine" are interesting. Pass a quiz based on the video... one PDH.

ASCE members have access to five free on-demand webinars per year. Take and pass a quiz here for the PDH, too.

There are hundreds of free, sponsored webinars (which earn PDHs) at AECDaily.

I have not paid for PDH's in years.

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

http://www.VacuumTubeEra.net

 

[WARose]

Thanks SlideRuleEra. Question: aren't you registered in Illinois? I thought they had a requirement that the Webinar should be live (for at least 20 hrs)? I think New York has a similar requirement.

 

[SlideRuleEra]

WA - No, just SC... for 42 years.

Here is a live one tomorrow (December 5). I just signed up for a earlier today:
The Engineering Behind Fabric Buildings. For the live ones, just watch the video... one PDH certificate at the end of the presentation.

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

http://www.VacuumTubeEra.net

 

[rn14]

This is the least expensive place I have found

https://www.suncam.com/

 

[JoelTXCive]

Simpson has one on Wednesday.

They have new moment bases for wood columns.

Link

https://event.on24.com/eventRegistr...64E9EC466F4526B02&regTag=&sourcepage=register

 

[JoshPlumSE]

WARose -

Where do you need your PDH's? I recall putting together the training courses for RISA some years ago (3 days / 24 PDH's). There were a lot of hoops we had to jump through for New York and Florida certification. But, the other states seemed to be pretty accepting by default. So, webinars and trade shows and such can count.

Not sure if the current folks over at RISA are keeping up with the New York and Florida certification or not. You could call and ask, of course. If you are interested in RISA training already, getting PDH's for them is pretty good. And, the price isn't bad either... especially if you consider that you're increasing your RISA efficiency and getting your PDH's at the same time. There is "regional training" in New Orleans, Dallas, Boston and Chicago scheduled for 2018. Therefore, you don't have to make your way all the way out to California to take the classes.

You could even have someone fly out to your office to teach the training course as well. Even though I'm no longer a RISA employee, I would be available to do that as well.

 

[XR250]

I sadly find the cheapest ones possible that I can finish quickly. I usually go to PDHOnline.com as the OP stated. I feel I get a better education following this message board than I do anywhere else so I really just do it to satisfy the state req's. At this point in my career (self employed) I am sticking to what I know. Keeps my stress level down and gives me alot of free time.

 

[WARose]

@ SRE: Thanks again.

@ JoshPlum: NY and Ill. are the toughest ones I have to satisfy. Although NY won't be up again for quite sometime....Illinois is due in November. I typically build around satisfying those two....taking care of the rest is (then) typically no problem. I've done the ASCE (face to face) seminars in the past....but they can be a bit pricey.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

@WARose: Where are you seeing that IL requires PDH hours to be live? I looked through their rules and the only difficult one I'm finding is that any self-study courses require that a examination be completed and submitted for grading. The rule below seems to specifically allow for on-line short courses.

3) Active participation and successful completion of professional engineering programs, seminars, tutorials, workshops, short courses, on-line or in-house courses. Credit will be given for self study courses only if an examination has been completed by the licensee and graded by the sponsor;

In addition, this rule below seems to allow for some flexibility if you're also satisfying another states PDH requirements:

6) Professional development units used to satisfy the professional development requirements of another jurisdiction may be applied to fulfill the professional development requirements of the State of Illinois if they are substantially equivalent.

Professional Engineer (ME, NH, MA) Structural Engineer (IL)
American Concrete Industries

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanConcrete/

 

[WARose]

@WARose: Where are you seeing that IL requires PDH hours to be live?

Section 1480.185 Continuing Education

......

b) Activities for which CE credit may be earned are as follows:

1) Course work relevant to structural engineering completed at an accredited college or university. One semester credit hour of course work is equivalent to 15 hours of CE and one quarter credit hour of course work is equivalent to 10 hours of CE.

2) A maximum of 10 CE credit hours per prerenewal period may be earned for the completion of a self-administered course. Each self-administered course shall include an examination that will be graded by the sponsor.

3) Successful completion of continuing education courses.

4) A maximum of 10 CE credit hours per prerenewal period may be earned for attending in-house courses. Credit for in-house courses will be based on one CE credit for each hour of attendance. For courses presented in‑house by outside individuals, see subsection (b)(3).

http://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068014800001850R.html

My interpretation of that is that at least 20 Hrs must be from a live instructor and cannot be self-administered (forgetting about teaching, writing journal articles, etc for a moment).

I asked them specifically about webinars once and they said it still qualifies as live hours if there is a instructor (presenting) that you can ask questions/interact with.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

Ah thanks, I was looking under the PE rules and not the SE rules.

I also interpreted as webinars with Q&A are "live hours" and not subject to that rule good to know you got that confirmation.

Professional Engineer (ME, NH, MA) Structural Engineer (IL)
American Concrete Industries

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanConcrete/

 

[JedClampett]

On the 6th and 7th, Texas is giving a free Ethics Webinar. I'm not sure you need to be a Texas PE to register. It's not technical, but applicable. See

http://engineers.texas.gov/webinars.html

 

[bridgebuster]

Florida International University's civil engineering department webinars on accelerated bridge construction, Free.

AECDaily,mentioned by SRE is a good resource, Free.

Hilton, Skyline Steel offer free webinars on a regular basis.

 

[JStephen]

The biggest challenge I have is just finding material that is actually worthwhile to learn. What's out there is either the basics of what I've been doing for umpty years, or else stuff related to, but not the same, as what I do.
I do prefer live sit-down-in-a-room-together classes, though.
That said, I've taken courses by ASCE and ASME that were fairly good. I've used API conferences- the main drawback being that you have to track the hours yourself there. Long ago, I took short courses at the local junior college on AutoCAD and Visual Basic. I've taken the weeklong course for CWI certification in the past. I've attended a few local ASME meetings, but for the most part, the topics discussed are completely unrelated to my work, so they fall into the "killing time" category.
Texas and New Mexico both require an hour or two in Ethics, so I've taken several Ethics courses, and have yet to find one that was worthwhile. The Texas ethics webinar mentioned above, I think last year, it was "update on TX rules" type of stuff, which is somewhat informative, although the rules don't actually change that much.
I have learned that with any topic, regardless of how interesting, if it's material you don't actually use, in a year or two, you'll forget it all anyway. That's the problem with the "related to what I do" courses.
I'm registered in a number of states, and I do keep track of hours for each, and more importantly, how many hours I will need and when. That way, I know I need 12 hours by September, etc., and that lets me plan ahead for the most worthwhile item, instead of scrambling and just killing time at the last minute to get it down.

 

[NorthCivil]

Are your jurisdictions that fussy about checking for PDHs?

My jurisdiction just has a box you tick: "Declared PDH compliant" yes, no, or prefer not to say.

An old boss of mine, who's design manuals were from the 1980's, who never attended a single seminar, and who threw his hands up at seismic design methods outlined in the building codes and called it "the fancy stuff you younger guys are doing" would tick "prefer not to say", and enclose a cheque for a few hundred bucks to the benevolent fund. He never had any issues.

Not sure what happens if you tick "no" though.

 

[JStephen]

The jurisdictions all vary. Several don't require anything, the majority do. In the ones that do, the rules vary as to what is acceptable. "Self Study" or similar non-verifiable activity is an issue, acceptable some places, not others. I think all the jurisdictions that I'm registered in do spot-checks on continuing ed. Or, if you're late renewing.

It's occurred to me that "Continuing Ed" might be a good name for a Dilbert character.

 

[JStructsteel]

Anyone realizing that its a farce? How about 8 hours a year of stuff that is 'technically relevant' to what you are practicing. Not getting 2 hours credit for a rail sensor that can predict the wear on a bearing in a wheel? yea, fascinating stuff if you are a railroad wheel bearing engineer, but for a guy that designs houses, not sure how that is technically relevant, yet it works to 'check the box'

Somehow its a revenue stream, so everyone bought into it.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

It's only a farce if you make it a farce. If you try to find topics more applicable to your area of practice then it's very practical. Of course you might not be able to get all "free" PDH credits doing this but depending on the topics and cost it's likely worth it.

Professional Engineer (ME, NH, MA) Structural Engineer (IL)
American Concrete Industries

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanConcrete/