How to Fit Continuing Education Seminars Into a Busy Schedule

As people go through life, they may strive to learn more about topics and events of interest in their business field or things that affect them personally. Some professional certifications and organizations may require members to complete continuing education unit (CEU) credits throughout the year to keep up their membership status and knowledge. Those who wish to pursue continuing education in lifelong learning for personal enrichment may find that one of the best ways to do so is through seminars at a local university or learning center. While it sounds like a good idea in theory, this is sometimes difficult for people with busy lifestyles. Here are some ways to fit continuing education seminars and classes into a busy schedule to meet requirements or for personal enrichment.

Me Time
While parenting and working are important aspects of life, it is equally important to take some time out for personal enrichment. Taking a break from the daily stresses of life can come in the form of learning about photography, world politics or other areas of personal interest. This leaves the individual well-rounded, relaxed and better informed about society and the world around them.

Plan Ahead
When it seems there is never enough time in the day to do everything, planning well in advance may be the key to fitting it in to the busy schedule. Find a one-day seminar or weekend class and work it in to the calendar. Resolve to keep the date and not bump it in favor of other activities or appointments. Mark it on every calendar with reminders. For continuing education credits related to a profession, consider taking time off from work to attend. Most employers are interested in having well-rounded employees who are accredited and certified. They, too, may need to keep up with CEUs and will understand the need to fit them in before a looming deadline.

Bring a Friend
Sometimes part of the challenge of attending seminars is spending less time with friends or family. One way to do both is to take a seminar that someone both people can take together. For example, spouses, parents or adult children may be equally interested in taking a class on digital media and web design, learning about financial and estate planning or discovering the world of genealogy and how to research the family tree. Not only will taking a seminar or continuing education classes help both people learn something of interest, they can spend time together before, during and after the class.

While lifelong learning is a personal goal for many people, finding the time to actively pursue it can be a challenge. By setting aside personal time to attend classes by planning ahead and rearranging or coordinating their schedules, continuing education can be an enriching and informative addition to a busy lifestyle.

Social Work Continuing Education Information And Facts

It takes a unique type of man or woman to dedicate their career and professional life to social work. Continuing education and maintaining current licenses is just a small part of their position, but is an essential step to keeping their accreditation up-to-date. This article outline a few of the key points about continuing education in the field and why it is so important for the individual to stay abreast of the information and license renewal.

As someone that is employed in the field of social work, these classes are your responsibility. You can look to education boards and even your employer for direction, but the ultimate task of applying for and maintaining current licensure in your field is completely up to you. Individual requirements vary according to jurisdiction and you must take the time to make yourself aware of what these particular requirements may be.

For many men and women keeping up with license renewal for social work, continuing education involves taking certain courses along the way. Keep in mind that not all courses are created equal and you often get what you pay for. Be wary of courses that advertise dramatically reduced fees or do not offer to provide attendance records to licensing boards. Once you complete a course you should receive a signed certificate indicating your successful completion, attendance records for every day that you were present, as well as proof of qualification of instructors, consultants, and other educational personnel. All of these items are important to present to the licensing board when validating or renewing your social workers accreditation. Once again, all of these requirements are the responsibility of the social worker and must be kept track of by the individual that is looking to advance their education and renew their license.

There are a number of other things that help set some courses far above and beyond their competitors. It would be in your best interest to choose continuing education that offers a lot of assistance from other social workers in the program, provides evaluation forms and procedures that are easy to understand and learn from, and offers relevant content with a general outline or syllabus. The course should also state the educational goals and learning objectives, with tangible ways of evaluating progress as the course unfolds. There are a number of online courses also available that are convenient to attend and easy to pay for. These may be viable options for busy professionals with numerous home and career commitments.

It is important to keep all of these factors in mind when considering social work continuing education. Be responsible for keeping yourself aware of the requirements of license renewal and choose a course that exceeds the Association of Social Work Board's Approved Continuing Education requirements. In this way, you will keep yourself on track in a fulfilling career for years to come.

Continuing Education for a Growing Business

One of the best perks you can give your employees is continuing education. In business, investments do not only come in material form. You can also find them in people. Continuing education works more than just empowering your business but it also allows you to have a worthwhile contribution in the business. There are plenty of good trickle down effects that this kind of business investment brings.

Knowing the Benefits of Continuing Education

Whether your business is small-scale or already an enterprise, learning is as much an integral part of any organization as change is. Individual employees would be empowered professionally and personally. When you give them trainings, they become skilled in more ways than one and that can also cause them to be personally confident in getting the job done. Their values and attitudes towards their work can also be positively affected.

When you have a group of individuals all working towards the same goal and knowledgeable enough to know what the job demands, you in turn develop a productive community. With this team in place you can innovate new solutions to existing problems and even new product or service offerings for your target market.

Finally, you become a main contributor to a growing economy. You strengthen business by showing the world that the industry you are in is promising and you can carve a niche for your company in the process. It then becomes a fully cycle of profits starting from investing on people who are essentially the lifeblood of your organization.

Direct Effect of Continuing Education on Employees

You can feel the positive effects of offering continuing education as early as the recruitment side of hiring people. People who see that you offer a chance for them to amp up their knowledge will definitely take it as a good sign of joining your company. It also helps give a positive image to your company as an entity that knows how to take care of its employees and knows that they have a direct contribution to the overall success of the business.

When employees know that you take care of their personal growth they are also less likely to find another company to join. This can help prevent high attrition rates which actually affect the business image not to mention your day to day operations. It can be troublesome to keep on training people to handle a specific task especially if it involves client interfacing.

Also, change management may happen in your business at one point or another. You should also know that change often happens inside the company and the best way you can introduce this is by upgrading the skills-set of your employees. By providing people with the right training ground you also prepare them to face perhaps an upgrade on technologies, on the new products you are offering, or as a means of personally preparing them to handle bigger responsibilities in the company.

These days there are many companies that offer specialized continuing education. Through their programs, you might find a suitable plan that you can implement in your company. Of course, you can also think of this as an added cost to your company but as said, it is an investment. So when choosing the company to train your people, make sure you go for those who have already proven their world in the field of management training and business training