Continuing Education Requirements (Professional Development Hours)

Professional Engineers in the State of Texas and elsewhere must now obtain 15 Professional Development Hours (Continuing Education) each year as a requirement for license renewal. A Professional Development Hour (PDH) is defined as a contact hour (clock hour) of Continuing Education activity. The definition reads: "Course/Activity - Any qualifying course or activity with a clear purpose and objective which will maintain, improve, or expand the skills and knowledge relevant to the license holder's field of practice." Click here for their FAQ.

We have contacted the Board for a ruling on whether or not the review videos listed on the main sheet will count as PDH hours for the new engineering registration requirements, and they replied as follows:

          "Since they are on the topic of engineering, they seem to fit the requirements for CEP. If the training, class, seminar, etc. pertains to engineering in a technical, managerial, or ethics sense, then it will count for continuing education."

Also from How do you earn PDH's?: "Successful completion of correspondence, on-line, {emphasis mine} televised, videotaped and other short courses/tutorials. 1 hour of contact time = 1 PDH."

Note that although the Board restricts PDH self-study, such as reading a book, to 5 hours, these on-line modules are not self-study, and thus have no limit.

Note also that "A minimum of 1 PDH per renewal period must be in the area of professional ethics, roles and responsibilities of professional engineering, or review of the Texas Engineering Practice Act and Board Rules." This one hour requirement can be satisfied by any of the following:

• Viewing the one hour ethics presentation included in the above reviews
• Reviewing the materials at "Texas Engineering Practice Act and Board Rules."
• Reviewing materials at one of the many Engineering Ethics Case Study websites:
  • Engineering Ethics Cases at Texas A&M University
  • Murdough Center for Ethics at Texas Tech University (Apparently dead)
  • Online Ethics Center at Case Western Reserve
  • National Society of Professional Engineers Ethics
  • Engineering Ethics at University of Virginia

The obvious advantage of these modules over attending a paid seminar is that you can view them at your leisure, and their costs are covered by the original sponsor, Fort Hood Military, and the Civil Engineering Department at Texas A&M University. The materials cover basic engineering, so if you would like a refresher course in concrete design, engineering economics, ethics, or whatever, and feel that the material would indeed help you maintain or improve your existing engineering skills, then viewing those modules meets the letter and spirit of PDH requirements. We would remind you to carefully note the dates, clock times, and module names viewed on your logs in case you are audited. (See sample log below.) There are also full course presentations available on the home page which can be used for PDH. Believe me, if you learned chemistry 20 years ago, you will find that material brand new, fascinating, and likely useful. Need a steel review? Pick a topic of interest.

Additional information regarding PDH can be found at:

• General Information: http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us
• CEP Program: http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us/CEP_Info.htm
• CEP Log Sheet: http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us/downloads/TBPE_CEP_Log.pdf (A better, interactive one is shown in the next paragraph)
• CEP Self Study Worksheet: http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us/downloads/Self-Study_Worksheet.pdf

Are you a professor? The rules state:

“PDH units may be earned as follows:
(1) Successful completion or auditing of college credit courses.
(2) Successful completion of continuing education courses, either offered by a professional or trade organization, university or college, or offered in-house by a corporation, other business entity, professional or technical societies, associations, agencies, or organizations, or other group.
(3) Successful completion of correspondence, on-line, televised, videotaped, and other short courses/tutorials.
(4) Presenting or attending qualifying seminars, in-house courses, workshops, or professional or technical presentations made at meetings, conventions, or conferences sponsored by a corporation, other business entity, professional or technical societies, associations, agencies, or organizations, or other group.
(5) Teaching or instructing as listed in paragraphs (1) through (4) above.

So yes, you can use your teaching of courses as PDH hours. However, we think that somewhere else it limits you to PDF credits for any class once. I.E. if you teach the same class year after year you only can count it once. Also, don't forget that even professors have to have 1 hour of ethics.

Interactive Continuing Education Program Activity Log - Fill out this log as proof of your continuing education hours and submit it to the Board of Registration only if you are audited. If you view the above videos, you should enter the following typical information :
 

Updated 01-13-08 - Lee L. Lowery, Jr.