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Mandatory CPD Information

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Note: Retired members are NOT REQUIRED to complete CPD. 

OACETT’s mandatory Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program is ongoing learning that allows professionals to keep their knowledge and skills current and relevant in today’s evolving work world. It provides a framework for certified members to guide their professional development choices.

OACETT’s CPD Program also provides direction to OACETT members as they invest in their careers to own their professional futures. Lifelong learning is a cornerstone of today’s work life. With workplace change coming from all sides, we need to build and maintain the knowledge and skills to enable us to navigate this change successfully. In engineering technology and applied science, we need to ensure that we stay current with the rapidly changing technologies of our profession. We also need to maintain the soft skills needed to interact and communicate effectively with our clients, employers, government, and public. 

OACETT members are required by policy and by the Code of Ethics and Rules of Professional Conduct to participate in OACETT’s CPD Program. This program is a requirement to maintain membership. It applies to all Certified OACETT members, including Life and Fellow OACETT members and Associate members outside their 3 or 6-year certification timeline. Please refer to the certification timelines for further information.

 CPD 3-Year Cycles and Audits

The CPD program places members into a three-year cycle. Cycles always begin on January 1st and always end on December 31st three years later. This means you have three years to complete the required courses or activities to maintain your certification. CPD Audits are conducted each year for the previous three-year cycle of a random selection of members. To check the dates of your CPD cycle, log into the portal and click on CPD in the main menu.

What is required to comply with the CPD Program?

To comply with the program, you must complete four CPD approved or CPD eligible activities, see activity categories listed below, in every three-year cycle. These four activities must fall into one of the following three scenarios.

Please note: You do not need one activity from each category. However, you do require four activities in total. One activity must be in either ‘Contributions to Technical Knowledge’ or ‘Management or Leadership Training’. The remaining three may be from any categories in any combination. For example, it is perfectly acceptable to take all four activities in ‘Contributions to Technical Knowledge’ or 'Management or Leadership Training.

Scenario 1: 

All activities from Category 1: Contributions to Technical Knowledge.

Scenario 2:

All activities from Category 2: Management or Leadership Training.

Scenario 3:

Minimum of one activitiy from either Category 1: Contributions to Technical Knowledge or Category 2: Management or Leadership Training AND remaining activities from your choice of Category 3: Contributions to the Profession or Category 4: Peer and Professional Interaction.

"Four categories of professional development: technical knowledge, leadership training, professional contributions, and peer interaction, each with specific activities and timing requirements."

Yes, informal activity hours may be counted cumulatively in order to reach the six hour minimum requirement. Each contributing piece must be at least one hour in length. Activities shorter than one hour will not be counted.

Activities that fall under "Contributions to Technical Knowledge" or "Management or Leadership Training" must meet minimum timing requirements to be acceptable. An activity must be three hours long (if it is formal) or six hours long (if it is informal). "Contributions to the Profession" and "Peer and Professional Interaction do not have minimum timing requirements but often take much longer than six hours.

  • WHMIS, First-aid, CPR and AODA. 
  • CPD activities that are repeated within the same CPD cycle.
  • Activities that are unrelated to your job.
  • Courses that are partially complete.
  • Activities that fall outside the 3-year cycle.

"Contributions to Technical Knowledge" or "Management or Leadership Training" activities are divided into formal or informal. Formal activities are typically those with an examination attached, informal activities typically do not have exams.

When submitting a CPD activity for assessment in the CPD Audit, supporting evidence must be provided. This could take many forms, but some common examples are: certificate of attendance, transcript, signed letter from workplace supervisor, written summary of learning, copy of presentation etc.

OACETT's member portal has a built-in tool to help you track CPD. Learn how to use it by watching this short video below.
Questions?

Still have questions? Contact OACETT at cpd@oacett.org

Are you being audited for CPD compliance and have questions about that? Contact OACETT at cpdaudit@oacett.org.

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