Louisiana Continuing Education Guidance

Professional Development Hours (PDHs) are a means for Louisiana licensed professionals and others interested in geoscience to maintain and expand their knowledge and experience in their chosen career. Continuing education is one criterion used to evaluate the licensee’s commitment to staying current and informed of the “state of the art” within the profession. As geoscientists, you must be constantly aware of new developments, technologies, ideas, and practices in order to best serve the public trust. LBOPG has adopted this definition for a continuing education activity: “Any geoscience-related course or activity with a clear purpose and objective which will maintain, improve, or expand skills.”
The LBOPG requires and audits the current role of Louisiana licensed geoscientists for compliance with this regulation. A form was developed for ease of maintaining the record of PDHs and supporting documentation. There are only a few simple rules for meeting these requirements:

1. ALL ACTIVITIES MUST BE GEOSCIENCE RELATED.
2. Use the LBOPG form available here. Additional information that may be helpful as you complete the log can be found in the matrix found here.
3. Obtain the requisite number of PDHs each calendar year.
4. Keep documentation for each PDH from the source providing it.
5. Submit the entire package when audited.

Some helpful directions for applying the correct number of PDHs for types of activities:

1. When you attend a geoscience meeting presentation, you get 1 PDH per meeting (12 maximum per calendar year).
2. If you prepare and present a geoscience activity, you get 3 PDHs as Instructor. (You can claim this only one time per each presentation.)
3. If you author a geoscience paper, you get 10 PDHs. (It must be published in a geoscience journal.)
4. If you participate in a geoscience activity, you get 1 PDH per hour, for up to 5 PDHs, for volunteerism (e.g., serving on a geoscience board or committee).
5. If you pass a college quarter geoscience course, you get 10 PDHs per course.
6. If you pass a semester geoscience course, you get 15 PDHs per course.
7. If you participate in geoscience activities online or in a self-directed manner, you may claim up to 5 PDHs, but you must provide documentation of your participation. If the self-directed work involves reading technical articles, for each article, provide the title, author, journal in which the article appeared, date of publication, and a brief synopsis (one or two sentences) of what the article is about.
8. Online courses (e.g., IRTC, EPA webinars, other educational offerings) can be used to fulfill continuing education requirements.
9. Geoscience ethics courses are available through a number of professional geoscience organizations and at many geoscientific society meetings. Documentation is REQUIRED. Rule or regulation review is NOT considered ethics education.
10. If you have questions about a particular source offering PDHs, contact the LBOPG (225-505-3766 or apply@LBOPG.org) for guidance.
11. If you want to carry over excess PDHs to the next year or subsequent years, you must be able to provide documentation for all years claimed, up to three, if you are audited.

Some helpful directions on what are NOT considered appropriate PDHs:

1. In-house training for employees
2. Business/Corporate/Government Ethics
3. Safety training
4. HAZWOPER training
5. Seminars or training courses on sexual harassment, substance abuse, suicide prevention, active shooter, defensive driving, preventing violence in the workplace, etc.
6. Business operations
7. Management
8. Regulatory or legal seminars or courses
9. Other states' PDH requirements may differ from those of Louisiana -- please follow Louisiana's guidelines.
   

Remember, all PDHs must be related to geoscience -- if in doubt, ask!

Click here to download our Continuing Education Log Template. Please note the instructions at the bottom of the document.

Click here to download our Continuing Education Log Matrix for additional information on completing the log sheet.

Click here to download an example of our Continuing Education Log filled out.

Click here to download a list of example sources for acceptable PDHs. Please feel free to suggest additional sources.