Continuing Competence Newsletter
Fall 2020
Greetings!

November is traditionally a time for gratitude. We at ACE want you to know that we appreciate YOU and all your hard work. You've continued to offer CE, adapting your education activities to distance learning formats to continue meeting the learning needs of social workers. You may be among the providers who created timely new CE activities, including offerings on electronic practice regulation and best practices, COVID-19 pandemic concerns, and topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

While some social work regulatory boards have temporarily revised CE requirements for license renewal—whether by reducing the requirement or waiving the requirement entirely—many social workers wanted and needed education to better serve clients in the pandemic landscape.

Thank you for continuing to create exceptional, high-quality courses for licensed social workers—the kind of learning experiences that CE providers offering ASWB ACE credit are known for!

Sincerely, 
Lisa Casler Haun, LMSW
Continuing Competence and Continuing Education Services Manager
From our CE providers: The effects of the pandemic on continuing education 

We have heard from some of you about how the pandemic has affected ... Read More
Reminders

Automatic format waiver set to expire 
CE providers are reminded that the automatic format waiver to offer in-person courses as live webinars expires on December 31, 2020. The waiver was intended to help providers continue to provide CE while under emergency orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CE providers must submit applications and fees to add a format at least 90 days before the date of the first live webinar offered in 2021. Email us to request an application to add a format.

Approval expiration dates and self-paced courses
When a course or provider approval expires before course participants have completed self-paced courses, certificates of ACE credit may not be granted. This rule applies even when the social worker began the course before the expiration date. Renewing approvals on time is the best way to prevent this problem. Read the ACE Handbook for more details on renewing your approval.

Certificates of credit for series/semester courses
To earn ACE credit, course attendees must attend every session of a semester or series course if the whole series offers a single certificate of credit. In cases where certificates are offered for each session in a series, then each would be considered a course for the purposes of granting ACE credit. For example, weekly or monthly grand rounds with an evaluation required after each session could result in a participant's receiving a certificate for each session.
Resources for providers

Environmental scan: How the pandemic is affecting the accredited continuing education provider community The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education surveyed 64 medical CE providers. The results may also apply to social work CE providers offering courses for ASWB ACE credit.

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion 101 The University of Colorado Denver Office of Equity offers a self-guided learning resource that may help your CE department and instructors to feel more comfortable with their level of DEI knowledge. 

Resources addressing coronavirus (COVID-19) The Council on Social Work Education provides a variety of educational resources that infuse public health social work (PHSW) approaches into social work education at all levels, modified to include COVID-19-specific examples. Topics include social determinants of health, racial and ethnic health disparities, and epidemiology for PHSW.

Regulatory provisions related to COVID-19 ASWB has compiled and is regularly updating data on emergency provisions regarding social work licensure related to the COVID-19 public health emergency, including continuing education requirements and license renewal dates.
ASWB | aswb.org/ace