Continuing education is an important facet of today’s learning environment. For professionals CEU continuing education is essential for maintaining their license, their level of quality performance and their ongoing ability to remain on top of their field. Continuing education is a valid means of assisting professionals to manage the challenges of a changing environment of health and the social sciences.
Basic Methods of CEU Continuing Education
The basic methods of CEU continuing education consist of the following:
- Traditional: This encompasses attending class, lab, lecture or workshop with an actual instructor present. It can also include seminars, conferences, rounds and in-course training. This is how the health social welfare professions have transmitted information for the past century or two. The methods may be didactic. They can also employ a few innovative means of engaging the students, but essentially, the delivery of new information is fairly static.
- New: This includes many varied means of passing on new methods, knowledge and data. It is part of a renaissance in CEU continuing education. At the heart of this change is the technological revolution and the computer. Without new technology, a growing interest in high tech “toys” such as video cameras, audio players and a thousand gadgets you can use and information you can access through a laptop computer, this new approach would be ineffective if not impossible.
Technology and the Renaissance in Continuing Education
The popularity and availability of inexpensive technology has spiked a rebirth in the delivery system of CEU continuing education. The new model, existing before but not rising in popularity until the early 21st century has resulted in increased interest and attendance in non-traditional classrooms. Today, the methods readily available for teaching, training and transmitting new information include:
- Online classes based on the traditional mode of teaching
- DVD presentation of material purchased and plays at home
- Online video available on the education facility’s website
- Online audio available for listening through the educational facility’s website
- In real time continuing education conferences or seminars. Conferences and seminars are broadcast over the internet in real time for attending
The variety of methods can be effective. They provide people with the chance of utilizing one method or another. In some institutes, CEU continuing education combines several methods to create a unique means of providing the required information.
Barriers
Research and studies indicate the appeal and even beneficial effects of various forms of online and computer-based learning. Yet, it is too simplistic to expect everyone to conform to the technological norm. For some, the independence of online learning requires more commitment and dedication than they are able to give. For them, a structured in-classroom form of instruction is more effective.
The current surge in interest in continuing education owes a lot to technology and its ability to make knowledge available to everyone. For CEU continuing education courses, non-traditional and practical training is advantageous for many. Others, however, find the independence to be an impediment in their attempt to achieve their goals. The need for both traditional and technologically-based forms of learning is obvious. The educational facilities that embrace the two main types of disseminating information are the ones that are truly trying to teach all individuals.
