Distance Education Credits
Distance Education is not a new form of professional development. You may have heard it called correspondence courses, self-study resources or independent studies. Over the past year, we have had suppliers of distance education resources approach us about adding distance education courses as part of our CPTN Continuing Education Credits program. We researched the suppliers of distance education courses and found resources that could be beneficial to our Members.
We also listened to our Members. Over the past few months, Members who were going through the re-certification process found that they may have only needed a few CEC prior to becoming re-certified as a CPTN Certified Personal Trainer. However, there were barriers to acquiring a few more credits. Workshops occurred after their expiry dates. Workshops were not available in their geographical regions. Workshops were cancelled due to low enrolment. Upon review of all these barriers, we were convinced that there are substantial benefits to adding distance education as an option for CEC.
Coincidentally, the publishing company Human Kinetics is in its’ initial stages of developing a series of distance education courses targeted towards health and fitness professionals. Adrian Hutber, Distance Education Coordinator for Human Kinetics, informed us that their company will have a total of 36 new resources over three years. Their distance education resources could include any of the following items: text book, study guide, CD-ROM and online instruction.
With the rapidly changing technologies, distance education embraces a continuum of teaching formats including print materials, audio tapes, video tapes, fax, computer conferencing and use of the internet. In Philips article on graduate programs through cyberspace (1996), she notes that “Class discussions are held asynchronously, with learners reading and posting class commentary whenever they are online.” Therefore, professional development can now be more accessible and transcend the barriers of time and geographical constraints. Richard Vigilante, Director of the New York University’s School of Continuing Education, feels that “in today’s electronically networked society it makes no sense for adults to be bound by time and place when it comes to learning essential new skills” (Philips,1996).
While we have discussed the benefits of distance education for CEC, this mode of learning can be utilized by individuals who want to better prepare themselves prior to Certification. Courses will be identified in the near future for pre-certification purposes.
Distance education can definitely play a greater role in post-certification. With the growing number of consumers/clients who are becoming more educated in the areas of health and fitness, it is imperative that a CPTN Certified Personal Trainer stays a step, or more realistically, leaps and bounds ahead in their knowledge base to answer the technical queries of the fitness enthusiast. On this front, CPTN is researching the options of an advanced Personal Trainer certificate through distance education.
This year will be an exciting one as we explore and discover the new frontier of distance education and expand our knowledge base together as Personal Trainers.
Susan Lee
CPTN Executive Director
References
- Personal Communication: Human Kinetics & Personal Training On the Net, December 1999
- Peterson, J. & C. Bryant. Distance Learning, Fitness Management, Leisure Management: Los Angeles, California, March 1999.
- Philips, V. Earn a Masters, Virtually