Staying up to date with the latest techniques, practices and research studies is critical in offering the best service to your customers, let alone legal requirements for some industries. Continuing education (CE) credits can help you keep the license, renew it and stay on top of your competition.
While there are plenty of CE courses online you can take, it’s imperative to stick to approved and certified providers only. At the same time, you can take courses from more providers, based on your needs.
However, when your credits are scattered all over the place, keeping track of everything can be a daunting job. Fortunately, there are ways to simplify things. Here’s everything you need to know about how to keep track of your online CE credits and certificates.
Why It’s Important to Track Your Online CE Credits and Certificates
Earning continuing education credits is important, but keeping track of them is just as useful. If you think about it, they become completely useless if you can’t find them before a license renewal application, let alone showcasing your skills and capabilities.
You risk missing deadlines, misplacing certificates and even losing track of the total number of credits. Just because you think you have enough for a license renewal, it doesn’t mean you do. You have to keep track of everything or you risk facing a suspension. To avoid these pitfalls, it’s essential to establish an organized system for managing your CE credits.
Some other reasons include:
- Making sure you don’t miss any deadlines, as some credits may expire if unused for a while.
- Showcasing proof of compliance if questioned by professional boards or licensing bodies.
- Ensuring continuity in professional development is a must for a variety of different industries.
Being organized is the key here, but you also need to use the right tools. Here are a few helpful ideas to keep in mind.
The Classic Manual Approach
This is one of the easiest ways to keep track of your online CE credits and certificates. It’s manual and gives you full control over your credits, yet it requires thorough planning.
Get a new folder and store all the documents related to CE, from receipts and applications to descriptions and certificates. Even if documents are online, print them and store them in your folder. You can also do the exact same thing in a digital manner, so it pays off having both.
Organize all your CE documents by the renewal date. You can also do it by year. However, doing it by the renewal cycle allows you to see which course must be renewed next. It saves time and confusion, but it also prevents mistakes.
You can also create a checklist and ensure you meet all the requirements, from cultural competencies to ethical standards. This way, you’ll be able to take the right courses when it comes to renewing your license.
This manual approach gives you full control over everything, from the actual organization to the storage. There’s no need to pay for applications or digital platforms to do it for you. However, it’s not perfect because you also risk misplacing documents or losing them.
Other than that, if you get plenty of certificates, it could take a lot of time to organize everything accordingly. You’ll also have to keep on top of renewals, as there will be no automatic reminders.
To play it safe, once again, you should have both tangible and digital copies. If you get your CE credits online, print all the paperwork. If you get them offline, scan all the documents.
You could lose physical documents, so it’s important to have digital copies too. At the same time, your computer or hard drive could get damaged, so it’s just as important to have tangible physical copies too.
The Digital Approach
There are quite a few digital tools to help you keep track of everything. They’re easy to use and allow for easy organization. You can use different online platforms, but also spreadsheets or mobile apps. Apps and platforms usually have built-in reminders as well.
Having everything in a digital format allows easy access anytime, anywhere. Besides, keeping track of renewal dates and cycles is also easier, especially if you use a platform with automatic reminders. Overall, the job is simply more convenient and less prone to human error.
This also means you depend on these digital systems. You need to back things up regularly or you risk losing everything, which would have terrible consequences. People who prefer a more tangible approach should also have physical copies and backups, just to play it safe.
Tips and Tricks for Effective Tracking
Here are a few useful tips to ensure you keep on top of your online CE credits:
- Stay active. Don’t leave it until the last minute. Once a month, you should spend a day taking a look through your records only to avoid missing any deadlines or renewal requirements.
- Set reminders. If you don’t have an app to do it automatically, you can usually set reminders on your mobile phone or computer through the calendar for upcoming deadlines or when it’s time to complete new credits.
- Extra copies are mandatory, both online and offline. Always back up your certificates and records in multiple locations.
- Organize everything. Do it by category or renewal dates to ensure you won’t miss any deadlines or renewal applications.
- Keep an eye on providers too. Some of them may lose their accreditation or approval in the long run. So, you need to verify periodically to ensure that your credits will count toward your professional requirements.
Bottom line, keeping track of your online CE credits and certificates requires a bit of work. Whether you do it manually or automatically, make sure to stay organized and back everything up on a regular basis. This not only protects your credentials but also gives you peace of mind. Being safe is better than being sorry.
