INDEX
CE Certificate Requirements
CE courses are entirely online; they are designed around live, interactive, real time sessions, message board discussions, and materials in the course area library.
Once enrolled in a course, you will receive informational e-mails directing you to prepare for the upcoming course. On the day the course area opens, you will be e-mailed your course open instructions; and access to the course area will be available through the CE Portal (www.vin.com/CE).
To access the course area, go to the CE portal and login. Select the green arrow in the "Visit Course" column to the right of your course in the list of courses under "Current Courses."
The first thing you need to do is learn your way around the course area. Look for the buttons on left side of the page:
- the orange "ATTEND SESSION" button will add you to the live webinar session when selected. This button is only active approximately 15 minutes prior and for the duration of the scheduled real time webinar session. Webinar real time session dates and times are listed on the course main page - you will probably have to scroll down the page to see them listed.
- the blue "ENTER LIBRARY" button will list the contents of the course library. Or you can scroll down and navigate the course library by using the menu provided under the buttons.
- the green "ENTER MESSAGE BOARDS" button will list the message board folders for the course. Or you can scroll down and open the course message boards by selecting "Message Board" from the menu provided under the buttons.
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Course Library
Course materials will be posted here as they become available (check this each time you come to the course area). It's advisable that you review this material before each real time session webinar so you are familiar with the lecture topics covered. If you do not understand something after a real time session webinar, please post those questions to the message boards rather than taking up valuable interactive session time. Materials may include:
- Handouts.
- Graphics, movies, or other material to view before or with the real time session webinars.
- Homework (HW) quizzes (available within a day or two of each session and should be completed prior to the next real time session). If this course has homework, there will be a link to a multiple-choice question/answer HW quiz listed in the course area library the day following the real time session.
- The end-of-course test. The end-of-course test will be available in the course library the day after the last real time session. You will have until the course closes to achieve a passing score of 80% or greater on the end-of-course test.
- The course evaluation. We would appreciate your completing the course evaluation so we may make the next CE course even better! The course evaluation will open in the library the day after the last real time session and is due by the day the course closes.
- Real time session webinar materials:
- The day before a real time session webinar, a PDF of the slides used in the presentation will be posted to the course library.
- The day after a real time session webinar, a video recording and an audio-only recording will be posted to the course library.
- The audio recording will be sent out for transcription and a text transcript with slides will be posted to the course library. This will take approximately 3-5 days after the webinar. Participants will be notified by email once all the real time session webinar materials have been posted to the course library.
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Course Message Boards
Several informational folders indicated with an '*' in the title are available along with the course folders (*Introduce Yourself, *Course Communications, etc). Reads of these folders are not tracked for participation credit. Examples of folders that are tracked for participation credit include: Other Questions, Questions about the homework/final, and Weekly topic folders.
Note: Reviewing/reading any new posts on a daily or every-other-day schedule is highly recommended.
The course message board is located under the course library in the menu on the left-hand side of the course area main page.
The course message board contains a number of folders, each folder contains a list of discussions, and each discussion contains a list of messages.
I will briefly describe the organization of the message board folders.
The *Course Communications folder contains copies of all the course emails that have been sent out. Please do not post in the *Course Communications folder. If you do not get the course emails, you may need to adjust your email spam filters to receive email from the @vin.com address.
The *Introduce Yourself folder is intended as a place for participants to introduce themselves to each other. Posting an introduction is a great way to practice posting to the course message board.
The *Technical Issues folder is intended as a place for participants to report non-critical problems.
The weekly message board folders are there for participants to post questions and comments regarding the Real Time Session webinar topics, and to interact with their fellow course participants and instructors outside of the Real Time Session webinars. The instructors will attempt to address any questions posted to these weekly topic folders while the course is open.
READING the boards:
The course message board is located in the course main page menu (left side of the course area main page). Select Message Board on the course main page menu and it will display the message board folders for your course. Opening a discussion by clicking on its title will display all the messages posted to that discussion. This allows you to view (read) them.
POSTING to the boards:
To add a message to an ongoing discussion, click on one of the "Reply" buttons located under each message in the discussion to bring up a posting form. Note that the text of the message you are replying to is included in the posting form. You can quote from the original message by highlighting a segment of text in the original post and selecting the "Quote" button on the posting form. Type in your message and select the "Post Message" button. Your message will be added to the end of the list of messages in the discussion. Quoting from the original message helps to link it to your message in the discussion.
If you elect to start a new discussion topic in a new discussion thread, click on the "Post New" button located at the top of the list of discussions. This will bring up a new discussion posting form. Provide a short but descriptive title for your discussion, add the text of the message and select the "Post Message" button. Your screen will refresh and you will see your discussion added to the list of discussions in the current message board folder.
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Real Time Session Webinars
The real time (interactive) sessions are presented using a Zoom webinar. If you click on the orange "ATTEND SESSION" button, you will be added to the webinar session.
- If you need help joining the real time webinar session, select the orange VIN "HELP" button located on the CE portal and course main pages. Staff are available to assist you 15 minutes prior to the start and through the duration of the webinar session.
- While the real time sessions are not mandatory, we highly recommend attending the live sessions to maximize your exposure to the material.
- During this session the instructor discusses cases, concepts, and content related to the course topic and addresses questions posed by the course participants.
- Participation in questions and answers is counted toward your participation points.
- Answering polls, regardless if you answer them correctly or not, counts toward your participation points.
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Participation Policy for Course Credit
To demonstrate that you are following along with the class you must do ALL of the following:
- Participate actively in the course each week. This can include posting on the course message board and/or participation in the real time session. You can meet these requirements by posting to the course message board once each week, by "speaking up" during the real time session (i.e., answering the poll questions and/or submitting questions and comments during the session), by completing any homework assignments provided by the instructor, or by any combination of these.
If you miss a real time session or can't visit the boards in any given week, you will still receive credit provided you meet the requirement for total participation by the end of the course.
- As required by RACE and VIN, successful completion of the end-of-course test is mandatory. A score of 80% is passing. If you don't take the end-of-course test, we cannot award a CE certificate for completion of the course. You will have until the course area closes to complete the end-of-course test. You can take the end-of-course test repeatedly until you score 80% or better. You will receive one participation point for your highest passing score (80% or better) on any quiz or end-of-course test.
- For some courses, homework assignments, and/or completion of the course evaluation will be required. Please check the specific requirements of your course on the course front page.
- Either post an introduction on the *Introduce Yourself message board folder or complete the Course Evaluation to earn the final participation point required for a certificate.
For information about requirements for non-interactive courses, please refer to Self-Directed CE Course Certificate Requirements.
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Attendance
If you miss any given real time session or can't visit the boards in any given week, this is not a problem, provided the requirements for total participation are met by the completion of the course.
How do we keep track of attendance online? This is done in several ways.
- A complete transcript of each real time class session, as well as logs showing individual participation in the real time session polls, is kept for possible auditing by a state board or RACE.
- A complete transcript of the course message boards is kept for five years for possible auditing by a state board or RACE. We will provide any or all of this material to an accrediting state board or RACE. It is then the responsibility of the accrediting body to decide if the documentation is adequate and complete.
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Certificate for Participation
At the end of a course, the CE office will confirm your actual participation. If you have met the requirements for a certificate of participation, you will receive an email notification indicating when your course certificate will be available for download from MyCE. You can go on-line to your MyCE page and download the CE certificate anytime after the date specified in the email notification. For more information on how to access and use MyCE, please refer to MyCE.
Each participant is responsible for keeping track of each hour of CE credit earned and for printing or saving this completion certification for submission to his or her accrediting board(s). We provide certificate information to any state or province board only in response to a question from your accrediting board.
Please contact us if you need further documentation.
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