FAQ

Licensed professional engineers and land surveyors work in an evolving world. Protection of the public, ethical conduct, and professionalism are some of the responsibilities belonging to licensed professionals. Continuing education allows professionals to stay informed and up-to-date with emerging issues and new technologies. This practice keeps professional engineers and land surveyors educated and the responsibility to the public safety fulfilled. More information can be found on the NYSED Website. 

Every NYS licensed and registered professional engineer(PE) and land surveyor(LS) must complete continuing education. PE’s will be required to complete 36 hours of CE during each three-year registration period. LS’s will be required to complete 24 hours of continuing education during each three-year registration period. More information can be found on the NYSED Website.  

Visit our Online Forms & Applications Page and submit an online form. 

Only fully completed course submittals are sent to evaluators for processing. Expedited course submittals are given priority. Other course submittals are processed in the order which they were received, provided they were fully completed. Average decision times vary, but most submittals are processed within a few weeks. 

If there is less than 3 weeks (less than 21 days) between your submittal and the course date, you will need expedited service. For more information, please view the Course Submittal Guidelines. 

The Title of your course is very important. It needs to be descriptive and focused on the topic being presented. It should not include any company names or branding. Titles which include company names can be interpreted as advertisements and are more likely to be rejected. Company Logos should also be kept to a minimum, if included at all. Restrict the use of company logos to the first or last slide of presentations at most. Please view the Course Submittal Guidelines for more information. 

Courses of learning must have a clear educational purpose with content that meets the objectives of the training. Sales presentations that merely talk about the benefits and use of a proprietary product or system will probably not rise to the level being engineering education. Companies may provide training on the benefits and use of their product but the preponderance of the content must be technical and factual in nature. When a company must talk about a proprietary system, that has no comparable competition it may be difficult to speak about the technical aspects in a generic manner. The trainer should attempt to define the problem and solution offered in as generic a manner as possible so that the technical principles are the focus. This way the engineer may learn about a novel approaches to common problems and more readily compare the option offered vs. other solutions. Often vendors and suppliers provide valuable training in the form of “lunch and learn” sessions, conference seminars and other venues at little or no cost to the engineer. Some reference to the history of the company/product development that may be relevant to the material may be allowed. It is acceptable that an entity provide information on the provenance of their materials and claim copyrights on each page. Use of logos and company promotional references should be kept to a discreet minimum.The PIE Course Evaluator should look at the total package; content, audience, venue, presenter qualifications, assessment of learning method and make a judgement. Is this engineering education that meets NYS Education Department standards? It is always good to get a second opinion. When in doubt, provide your reasoning for approving or denying to staff. Staff may be able to provide guidance or forward to a PIE Officer or the Executive Director for concurrence.

Professional Development Hours (PDHs) earned in NY state are not guaranteed to be accepted in other states. You must check specific policies regarding PDHs for each state. 

Yes you can. The presenter of a course will receive an equal 1:1 ratio of teaching time to credits earned. This means that if a presenter teaches an entire 1-hour course, that presenter will also earn 1 PDH. If there are two Presenters for a 1-hour course, Presenter A teaches 30 minutes and Presenter B teaches the other 30 minutes, each Presenter will receive 0.5 PDHs. 

The State Education Department will allow credit for the author in a 1:2 ratio of preparation time to credits earned. The Presenter will only earn a 1:1 ratio of teaching time to credits earned. This means that if Author A prepares a 1-hour course, and Presenter A teaches the 1-hour course, Author A will receive 2 PDHs and Presenter A will receive 1 PDH. 

The State Education Department has strict rules against Partial Credit. No Partial Credit is accepted. If a 3-day course is scheduled, attendees must be present for each hour of each day’s presentations. Otherwise, no PDHs will be credited. If Multi-Day Courses are being considered, it is recommended to split the course up into Single-Day Courses and submit multiple Course Accreditation Applications for each course. Multi-Topic courses are also not recommended. Courses should be focused on one specific topic.

Refer to 68.11 “Continuing Education for Professional Engineers” paragraph 3.ii.h, which states, “For continuing education courses, a minimum of 50 minutes shall equal one continuing education hour of credit.” Frequently Asked Questions for Professional Engineers & Land Surveying clarifies and amplifies this requirement and addresses breaks when sessions longer than 50 minutes are given. Refer to Questions 11 and 11a.
Answer 11a. states: “Continuing education hours, commonly referred to as Professional development hours (PDH) are based on the duration of time it takes for continuing education content to be delivered. It includes only (emphasis added) instructional time and does not include breaks (emphasis added) or meal time. 1 PDH is equivalent to 60 minutes of instruction. In the case of a one hour long, stand-alone educational session, 1 PDH may be awarded for 50 minutes of instruction. In all other cases (emphasis added) 1 PDH should be assigned for each 60 minutes of instructional time. “The answer continues giving examples. The intent of NYSED as applies to contact (instructional) time appears clear. PDH credit is specifically excluded by in the FAQ NSED for these breaks.

Yes. The FAQ 11a Example 2 has a 2 PDH course. Example 3 has a course that was split into two parts. NYSED is not clear on fractional hour courses but in the FAQ for Landscape Architecture Question 10 and in FAQ for Architects Question 9 it has an example of a fractional multi-hour symposium.

A 1-1/2 hour session should be 90 minutes. NYSED is specific in the FAQs that the only time 50 minutes can be used for 1 PDH is in a standalone session. (See preceding FAQ).

I presume here you are referring to two (or 3) shorter presentations. NYSED is not specific relative to this except in saying that it can be done if the subject matter of the sessions is the same or very closely allied.

Yes. You can combine multiple presentations, provided they are related. This is commonly referred to a Symposium. Some organizations do this to reduce the costs. The application form has the option for multiple PDH courses under a single Submittal. In this manner, only a single registration fee is paid although there are increases in the evaluation and expediting fees. I have seen organizations do this for multiple days. If this is chosen, attendance must be taken at the beginning, after each break or meal, each day. The attendee must be present during all sessions and no partial credit is allowed. A note to that effect should be on the evaluation sheet. It is simpler, although more expensive, to break up the symposium into multiple 1 hour or so increments and have each increment separately evaluated and approved. This way, attendance problems can be minimized. I assume the same rules for these questions would apply to any organization approved by the Dept. of Education for PDH’s. NYSED approves many organizations, all which may have their own set of rules. The preceding is the procedure used by PIE and its Sponsor Organizations. The rules outlined in the PIE “Procedure Manual for Continuing Education Activities” are the guide for PIE and its Sponsor Organizations. These rules are based on the Law, NYSED FAQs, and on discussions with NYSED personnel. The PIE site has a listing of providers authorized to approve NY State sponsors or courses. This listing also has a link to other educational, commercial, and institutional providers.