GISP Continuing Education

Over that past few weeks there has been a very lively discussion concerning whether to require continuing education for a professional certification. The Wisconsin Chapter of the American Planning Association listserv has been discussing whether continuing education, or "Certification Maintenance", should be required, to maintain the AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners) credential. (I don't believe an online copy of the listserv exists, if there is let me know and I'll post a link to it.)

The primary points in the debate are:

• Recertification should be required to maintain the integrity of the certification
• The amount of education required for recertification is excessive, because:
• There is not enough educational opportunities within the State
• Educational opportunities are too expensive for today's budgets - expensive in conference/workshop fees, travel, and time away from the office
  
• Not worth it because:
  
• The certification is not required by law (like an Engineer, Architect or Surveyor)
• The certification does not bring any significant increase in pay

I find this debate interesting, because the same debate points can easily be made for the GISP (Geographic Information System Professional) certification. The GISP certification has required recertification from the start. However because the GISP certification is new, no one has yet been required to apply for certification. In fact, the exact requirements for recertification are still under consideration. There is a draft process under consideration, and available for comment.

Like the initial certification, the recertification process falls under three areas: Education, Experience, and Professional Contribution. Reading over the requirements, I believe the most difficult area is education. To meet the education criteria, you must achieve a degree or certification, attend workshops (both GIS workshops/class or "soft skill" such as public speaking classes), or attend conferences. In particular:

• If you get a related college degree or college GIS certification after you initial certification, your basically covered. Otherwise,
• 4 education points are required in 5 years for recertification
  
• GIS Workshops 40hours per point. Thus a 5-day ESRI class is 1 point. A 2-day ESRI class is 0.4 points.
  
• Softskill classes/workshops (such as public speaking, professional writing, budgeting, etc.) are worth 40hours per point, with a maximum of 1 point.
• GIS Conferences count as 0.1 points per day.

To meet these requirements, as an example, you must in the past five years:

• Attend WLIA every year: 1 point ( 0.1 point per day x 2 days x 5 years)
• Attend EWUG every year: 1 point ( 0.1 point per day x 2 days x 5 years)
• Attend one WLIA 1/2 day workshop: 0.1 points
• Attend one ESRI 5-day training class: 1 point
• Attend one ESRI 2-day training class: 0.4 points
• Attend Employee-sponsored training sessions every year (such as customer service or project management training) : 0.5 points (0.1 point per day x 1 day x 3 year)
• = Total: 4 points (minimum)
  

This is what is required to meet the minimum for the education area to be recertified for GISP. There are still the Experience, and Professional Contribution areas that must be met.

So, considering this example, what do you think about recertification for GISP?

• Is it necessary?
  
• Is it expensive (time and money)?
• Is it worth it?
  

And BTW - I'm not sure if blogging counts for anything.