21 NCAC 22F .0205          CONTENT APPROVAL PROCESS

(a)  The Board shall use the start date of a program to determine the CEU Accrual Period assigned to Board-approved CEU credit.  The Board shall deny CEU credit for a program when the program application does not list the date and location of the program.

(b)  In order for the Board to assign CEU credit, each program application received by the Board shall subdivide the CE Program into sessions classified according to the Topic Content Categories set forth in Rule .0203 of this Section. The Board shall evaluate sessions for approval using the following criteria:

(1)           the content of a session;

(A)          educational objectives clearly demonstrate relevance to the fitting and selling of hearing aids;

(B)          presentation enhances a practitioner's knowledge of issues relating to the fitting and selling of hearing aids; and

(C)          format includes time for questions and answers;

(2)           the length of each session and published breaks;

(A)          no credit shall be offered for any session less than one full hour;

(B)          for sessions lasting longer than one hour, 0.05 CEU credit shall be issued for each additional full half-hour increment (a session lasting one hour and 45 minutes shall be issued 0.15 CEU);

(C)          any session lasting more than three hours shall include a published break, lasting at least 15 minutes, or the session shall be eligible for a maximum of 0.30 CEU credit;

(D)          for every three hours of continuous presentation time (regardless of the number of sessions presented during that time interval), a published break must be provided in order for any additional program sessions to be eligible for CEU credit; and

(E)           if a session is divided into parts, all such parts must pertain to the same Board topic content category.  No single part may be of a duration of less than one hour.  The session shall be clearly listed in the published program agenda as being divided into parts with attendance required at all parts in order to receive CEU credit.  A session is considered to be divided into parts if there is a published break scheduled to interrupt the session during the CE Program; and

(3)           the way in which attendance is monitored;

(A)          the program provider shall have a program representative verify attendance at each session of a CE Program;

(B)          a speaker or facilitator shall be present to actively interact with the participants and monitor attendance for sessions relying primarily on prerecorded (audio or video) materials or computer-generated presentations;

(C)          there shall be an announced means for participants to ask questions during each session for all televised or telephone distance learning presentations; and

(D)          the published program announcement shall state that a program representative will be present at each distance learning site to monitor attendance.

(c)  The Board shall post the processing and approval status of an application on the Board website in addition to posting a CE Program Report of Attendance for each approved CE Program which shows the Board-approved CEU credit for each session of the program.

History Note:        Authority G.S. 93D-3(c); 93D-11;

Eff. September 1, 2013;

Pursuant to G.S. 150B-21.3A, rule is necessary without substantive public interest Eff. September 6, 2016.