In order for me and Husband to maintain our licenses to practice psychology in ND, we need to complete 40 hours of approved continuing education every two years. At least twenty of the hours must be from live presentations (which can be accessed either in-person or on-line). At least three must be on ethics. This is pretty standard for most licensed mental health professions.
We needed to have our 40 hours completed by this October 31. I started out September with only 12 hours, so I had to scramble to get the rest completed. It wouldn’t look too good if the president of the licensing board didn’t have her hours done on time. I spent time doing some on-line trainings, and spent most of last week in Bismarck at a conference that got me to a whopping 51 hours for the biennium. Husband was ahead of me in terms of hours, and completed his final three hours in an ethics workshop last week.
This is probably the last time we need to complete the continuing education requirements for licensure, since we plan to be fully retired two years from now, and have no intention of remaining licensed after we move to Minnesota. Husband commented that now we can do whatever trainings we want, whether in psychology or other topics, and this made me wonder what I want to continue to learn about. I want to learn to speak German. i want to delve more into my family history and the history of Ostfriesland. This could be really fun. I might want to learn more about the history of psychology, but we will see about that.
What are you learning about now? Did you have to attend required trainings for your job? If so, what were the best and the worst?
Trail Baboon 
studying chinese on duolingo and various topics on edx. the science of happiness.the science of food, leadership, ai, etc
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One of the most challenging parts of learning Chinese, which I had in considered was learning to read and write the alphabet or the written word in Chinese. It is so different and there is so much of it.
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hadn’t
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lots of music studies online, a guy in my guitar circle has 2000+ songs on his onsong app that we use to remember the words and chord changes to songs we enjoy.
that got me involved in a little 4 peice group that playing a set at some city shindig this weekend
sticking my toe back into my musical involvement. if i could retire a performer id be a happy man
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is that how retirement works? instead of doing what youve got to do you get todo what you want to do?
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That’s the ideal outcome, tim. Good luck to you with your musical toe-dipping. There are few things more gratifying than making good music with others.
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Not all the time… : }
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Duolingo Spanish now.
Many hours of OSHA for work.
A special certification to work in hospital remodeling. That includes replacing acoustical ceiling tile. It’s a mammoth undertaking in surgery rooms. When properly done, replacing one tile will take 4 hours each for a two man crew. Cleaning equipment, staging, building the enclosure, providing proper air pressure equipment with settings, tiny camera to see above the grid, remove and replace tile, breakdown. All while wearing bunny suits.
Many masters classes required by flooring manufacturers.
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I’m constantly learning about being an author in the 21st century. Lots of webinars, videos, not so many books any more.
As a teacher I had to have so many continuing education credits each year. It wasn’t an onerous amount of hours, just a pain to make sure I got the credits. Also, working toward a master’s degree, which I never did, entitled one to a nice bump in pay. If I’d stayed in teaching more than 6 years, I would have gone for the MS in Music Ed.
To become a financial planner, I had to take a 40 hour course and pass two licensing tests: one to sell insurance and one to sell securities. Pretty tough unless you’re good with numbers and investment terms. I was, so I don’t recall sweating over my results.
Neither course of study stood out as particularly hard. Maybe the securities-selling test was the toughest.
Chris in Owatonna
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In California, early ’70s, I had to take night classes to “complete” my credential – CA required teachers to have a 5th year of coursework to become fully certified. So I learned my way around San Francisco State and UC Berkeley. I quit teaching before completing the credential.
I think I also had to take a course in Human Relations to get certified in Minnesota…
Next week I’m attending a free seminar about effective practices for non-profits… : }
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I imagine there must have been communications classes at the university aimed at working in the advertising and publishing industries but since I had no idea at the time that that’s what I would end up doing I never took any of them. The business changed so radically with the onset of digital technology that much of what I might have learned would have been irrelevant anyway and the parts dealing with ideas and conceptualization you can’t really teach.
I spent about six months on Duolingo trying to learn Japanese but was unsatisfied with the program. Conversation and vocabulary was interspersed with lessons in the three different writing systems used in Japan and that distracted from simply learning the spoken communication, which is what I was most interested in, especially as a first step. In addition, the quizzes presented by Duolingo were so uniformly formatted that it was possible to answer them correctly without absorbing the information. I felt after those six months that, despite ostensible good progress in the program, I hadn’t really learned anything.
I’ve since undertaken other online Japanese language programs with very mixed results.
During the pandemic I took several online classes from Edx and Coursera. My favorite was one engaged in interpreting history through objects—sort of a course in museum curation.
Since most of what I choose to read is nonfiction—histories, biographies, science, sociology—I’m usually learning something, and often I tend to read in threads, one book suggesting another, so that my reading is less scattershot than it otherwise might be. Right now, for example, I’m reading a book entitled Boswell’s Presumptuous Task, by Adam Sisman, about how James Boswell came to write his biography of Samuel Johnson. It’s a subject I knew little about but if I am sufficiently interested by this book I have a copy of Boswell’s journal of his trip to the Hebrides with Johnson to follow up.
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I am in a Dr’s office waiting fir the doc. I see the great Maggie Smith has died. 😔. What a legend she was, and so entertaining.
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Yes, I’ve loved her movies.
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I just saw the sad news about Maggie Smith as well.
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Better Late than Never, Baboons,
One of the things I love about Master Gardener program is the learning–we are constantly offered curricula that brings learning either online or in-person. Recently there was an event at the Arboretum for Hennepin County MGs. It offered a session about plant diseases. That was discouraging. What we learned about Climate change is that the northern forests are already starting to show stress, and they will be gone in our lifetime. I find that unwelcome knowledge, although it is true. Upcoming is a session on putting the right plants in the right place. I am passing on the one about turf. Yawn.
I also love learning about art and sculpture. In 10 days is my art class that will give me a week to work on my own stuff.
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Husband and I are learning about the food of northern Spain, which is fabulous and which I can’t believe we never explored before.
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BTW, my social work license expired 9/1/24. Easy Peasy!
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But bittersweet, too.
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I used to have to take CEUs for my license too, although not nearly as many as most of you. I’ve decided to give up my license when it expires next April, so no more CEUs for me.
I’m slowly learning Spanish on the Babbel app. It’s mostly conversational.
I learned knitting last spring and I’m still learning. I like to learn about various arts, and try my hand at them. I took a jewelry beading class and came out with a pair of earrings and a necklace with a beaded pendant. Next Monday I’m taking a dot mandala painting class. Monday nights I have a Fiber Friends group at Cannon Valley Makers. I always learn a lot there.
Right now, I just really can’t get into anything that demands my focus and attention. Pippin’s tumor grew so fast, really unbelievably fast, and I had to let him go on Wednesday morning. I’m still trying to get my head around it. Yesterday I went insane and washed load after load of stuff. I moved furniture around, and packaged up a lot of Pippin’s stuff (he really had a lot of stuff). Still learning to give myself a lot of time. Today I feel very tired.
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I can’t imagine what that must be like, Krista, never having had a pup. Yes, give yourself lots of time for healing and self care.
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Thanks!
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Krista, those are tough days when we let go of pets. We were having the same experience one year ago with our Bootsy, and I can still cry a little. And I miss that little girl! We are thinking of you. Be gentle with yourself.
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JacAnon
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Thanks, Jacque!
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So sorry to hear about Pippin. Sharing in your sorrow.
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My condolences for your loss.
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id like to learn guitar making
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My second cousin, who Krista knows, Is a luthier who makes all sorts of instruments from mandolins to arrpegiones to nikkelharpas. He is self taught, I believe.
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You’d like him, tim.
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I think there’s a guitar building program at Minn. State College SE in Red Wing…
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Yes, there is.
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I’m learning about my ancestors. Just now I learned that my grandfather x9, Jonas Fairbanks and his teenage son were killed by Indians in Philip’s War circa 1676.
Nasty business all around.
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Uffda.
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Sorry I’ve been quiet the last couple of days. I’m working on the eggs right now and it’s been all-consuming. Probably 4 more days.
This is what I’m working on these day of self-education:
Life of Gene Stratton Porter who was an extremely well-known author in the first half of the twentieth century (and also happens to be an ancestor of our Jacque). Biography and several of her books from the library.
Italian – still doing my Duolingo every day.
Alan Bennett. Working my way through all his works that I can get my hands on. (Bill – do you have a copy of A Life Like Other People’s?)
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I don’t have any other Alan Bennett, sorry. There’s a copy of Girl of the Limberlost around here somewhere though.
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I got Freckles and Girl from Limberlost from the library. That’s where I’m starting after the biography. Which wasn’t very good so now I’m gonna look for the biography written by the daughter.
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Girl of the Limberlost, and Freckles, right?
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Correct! And quite a bit more!
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I have continuing education credits to earn every year to continue being an enrolled agent. There are many opportunitues to sign up for online sessions, and you can just do an hour at a time so it’s not onerous.
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I’ve mentionded the class I’m taking this semester is Interpersonal Communications. It’s not doing much for me. I don’t like the online book, and nothing is sinking in. I’m still getting an ‘A’, and the group I’m in is a good group, but so much of it seems like common sense, and I feel like I’m in a pretty good place in my life. So I’m faking it well in class.
The college does require us to take a bunch of online safety courses. They are taylored to the job to a point, so I have to do ladder safety and for a while I had to do a course on enclosed spaces and trenching. Whatever. Remember, when using a ladder, three points of contact at all times. And don’t stand on that second step or the top step!
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