Description
The University of Colorado Continuing Professional Education Program for Certified Public Accountants (CU CPE for CPAs) is a National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) sponsored provider of Continuing Professional Education (CPE). Because all instructors are non-professional instructors, or subject matter experts, I had to develop guidance, and a course template, on how to assist the subject matter experts to take an instructional design approach to their course development, and to also ensure that the course development adhered to NASBA's Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education: http://nasba-cpeprograms2012.advancedpublishing.com/Vizion5/viewer.aspx?id=1&pageId=1 . The Instructor Course Development Guide outlines the instructional design approach to take in course development, based on current research, and the Development Template demonstrates how to apply the Instructor Course Development Guide into practice.
HOW DOES THIS IMPACT THE UNIVERSITY?
The instructors in the University of Colorado Continuing Professional Education Program for Certified Public Accountants (CU CPE for CPAs) are all teaching on a volunteer basis, and the majority of the instructors have limited knowledge of instructional design theories and practice. Also, because the program is sponsored by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), the course development processes must adhere to their Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education. The course development guide impacts the University in that it is efficient; the template saves instructor's time by outlining the instructional design specifics required for each course. The CU CPE program is also subject to desk audits by NASBA to ensure all courses adhere to the standards, therefore, the course development guide will save the University time and money if/when we become subject to a NASBA audit. The course development guide also provides economies of scale; the learner analysis section of the course development guide is consistent across all 43 courses offered by the CU CPE program.
IMPLEMENTATION STATUS:
The Instructor Course Development Guide has been in place since September of 2011. At the annual National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) Summit on Continuing Professional Education, it was discussed and discovered that the University of Colorado's Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Program is currently the only NASBA sponsored provider to take this rigorous, detailed, and efficient approach in assisting Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in course development. The Instructor Course Development Guide was also selected for Training Magazine's Online Learning Conference as a Best Practice Roundtable Session in September 2014.
Submitted by Lisa Vallad, CPE Program Manager, Office of University Controller