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Ohio Administrative Code (Last Updated: January 12, 2021) |
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4757 Counselor, Social Worker, and Marriage and Family Therapist Board |
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Chapter4757-9. Continuing Education |
4757-9-06. Sources of continuing professional education
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(A) Sources of continuing professional education shall be formally organized learning experiences with education as their explicit principal intent and which are oriented toward the enhancement of counselor, social worker, and marriage and family therapy practice. The following are examples of appropriate formats for such learning experiences:
(1) "Institute" means a formal offering, usually in a series of meetings, for instruction and information in a particular area of counselor, social worker and/or marriage and family practice;
(2) "Seminar" means a small group of counselors, social workers, or marriage and family therapists who meet under expert leadership or resource persons. Participants prepare reports on some aspect of a problem, which is discussed and analyzed;
(3) "Conference" means sessions of one or more days duration designed to serve a varying number of persons to hear different points of view on a central theme;
(4) "Staff development" means an educational program planned by an agency to assist its employees in becoming increasingly knowledgeable and competent in fulfilling role expectations within that agency. Although often used interchangeably with in service education, staff development frequently includes out-of-agency educational activities;
(5) "Symposium" means two or more specialists presenting information on a particular subject. A moderator introduces the subject and each speaker then summarizes and presides during a question and answer period;
(6) "Workshop" means a program designed to bring together individuals with a common interest and background to solve similar problems and to gain new knowledge, skills, and attitudes;
(7) "Plenary session" means an assembly designed for all participants;
(8) "Course" means a series of learning experiences with a specific content and offered for credit, non-credit, or audit by a regionally accredited educational institution;
(9) "Short-term course" means an intensive sequence of learning activities offered regularly over a short period of time.
(10) "Teleconference" means the transmission of video information where there is an on-site moderator to lead a post-conference discussion and question and answer session.
(11) "Distance learning" means a formal education process, in which instruction occurs when the students and instructor(s) are not located in the same place. Distance learning adds technology to the learning environment by a variety of means. As this form of education has evolved with technology, it may be referred to as cyber learning, electronic learning, distance learning. For the purposes of agency 4757 of the Administrative Code, the term distance learning refers to all non-traditional methods of presentation except video-conferencing.
(12) "Video conferencing" means conducting a conference between two or more participants at different sites using computer networks to transmit audio and video data. For example, a video conferencing system works much like a video telephone. Each location has a video camera, microphone, and speakers with which to interact. As the two or more participants speak to each other, their voices are carried over the network and delivered to the other's speakers, and whatever images appear in front of the video camera appear on the other participants' monitor. Video conferencing allows two or more locations to sit in a virtual conference room and communicate as if they were sitting right next to each other.
(B) The board shall grant continuing professional education credit to licensees who author journal articles or books on subjects related to counseling, social work, or marriage and family therapy, and which meet the following requirements:
(1) Journal articles shall be published in refereed journals.
(2) Chapters authored by licensees in books acceptable under this rule shall be treated as journal articles.
(3) Reprints or republications of previously published materials either in name or substantive content are not acceptable as continuing professional education.
(4) Continuing professional education for publications having joint authorship shall be divided equally among the authors.
(5) Licensees wishing to use a journal article or book shall submit a post program approval per paragraph (F) of rule 4757-9-05 of the Administrative Code.
(C) The board shall grant continuing education credit to individuals who conduct presentations on subjects related to counseling, social work, or marriage and family therapy. Credit shall be granted for first time preparation and presentation of an in-service training workshop, a seminar or a conference presentation which is related to the enhancement of counseling, social work, or marriage and family therapy practice, values, skills, or knowledge. Licensees wishing to use a presentation shall submit a post program approval per paragraph (F) of rule 4757-9-05 of the Administrative Code.
(D) The board may grant continuing education credit for approved home study programs when the distance learning program's sponsor can demonstrate to the board that:
(1) The program meets all of the requirements established in rule 4757-9-05 of the Administrative Code for approved programs and providers.
(2) The program sponsors shall have adequate security in place to assure that the individual who receives credit for the course is the individual who completed the program.
(3) The program sponsor shall include post tests of at least five questions per hour of continuing education for home-study courses.
(4) Licensees wishing to use a home study or distance learning program not having board approval for continuing education hours shall submit a post program approval per paragraph (F) of rule 4757-9-05 of the Administrative Code.
(E) The board may grant continuing education credit for appropriate college courses from regionally accredited educational institutions that are documented by passing grades ; audited courses require documentation by official or unofficial transcript.
(1) Appropriate college courses are those that are at the level of the license for which CEUs are sought. Graduate level licensees shall generally be approved for graduate level courses directly related to their license type. Bachelor level licensees shall generally be approved for bachelor or graduate level courses directly related to their license type. Associate level registrants shall generally be approved for associate, bachelor or graduate level courses directly related to their license type. College courses taken at a lower level than qualifying degree may be submitted for post program approval per paragraph (C) of rule 4757-9-05 of the Administrative Code; applicants shall delineate how that course work is relevant to their practice.
(2) Appropriate courses are ones not previously taken unless updated due to passage of five years or more.
(3) Licensees wishing to use a college course for continuing education hours shall submit a post program approval per paragraph (F) of rule 4757-9-05 of the Administrative Code.
(F) Volunteer service:
In accordance with division (B) of section 4745.04 of the Revised Code, licensed professional clinical counselors, independent marriage and family therapists, and licensed independent social workers may claim up to six hours of volunteer service toward the thirty hour continuing education requirement.To qualify under this rule, volunteer services shall:
(1) Be provided at a free clinic or other non-profit organization that offers health care services based on eligibility screenings identifying the client as an "indigent and uninsured person" as that term is defined in section 2305.234 of the Revised Code;
(2) Not be credited for license holders in a paid position at the organization at which the services are rendered;
(3) Be counseling, social work, or marriage and therapy services provided in compliance with the professional conduct requirements specified agency 4757 of the Administrative Code;
(4) Be credited as one hour of CE for each sixty minutes spent providing services as a volunteer, not to exceed six hours of the total biennial CE requirement;
(5) Not count toward the requirement to complete three hours of continuing education in ethics continuing education.