CE is part of scien(ce) and practi(ce)

At APA, we recognize the importance of lifelong learning and we strive to help members fulfill that need by providing a broad range of diverse opportunities for continuing education (CE) and professional development. Workshops, webcasts, online programs, books and videos all represent important vehicles for helping psychologists fulfill their ethical mandates and maintain professional competence. The profusion of new knowledge in the field taxes our ability to keep pace and challenges us to redouble our efforts to remain current. New knowledge today, in areas such as neuropsychology and health psychology, may be obsolete in just a few years. A commitment to lifelong learning is the antidote to that obsolescence.

In a world of evolving media and new technologies, it's good to know that continuing education is keeping pace with those advances. So, whether you are interested in learning about confidence intervals for your research or building confidence in your clients, you can go online or onsite to find programs to meet your interests. Some of APA's exciting CE developments include:

Unlimited CE. Back by popular demand, this year at the APA Annual Convention (Aug. 2–5 in Orlando, Fla.) attendees can earn CE credit at over 200 CE sessions for a single fee. CE sessions will all be held in the Orange County Convention Center and will be identified by a special logo in the convention program. The convention opening session — featuring Drs. Kelly Brownell and Rena Wing on the obesity epidemic — will offer CE credit for the first time this year, too.

Convention CE workshops. Eighty CE workshops will be offered at convention this year, including four presidential workshops and a distinguished workshop on psychological stresses of deployment.

LIVE webcasts. APA is now webcasting all of its monthly Clinician's Corner workshops live, and archiving them as on-demand programs afterward. The webcasts cover a range of timely topics within education, practice and science, and APA members receive a special discount on all programs. Tune in for our next webcast on Friday, Sept. 21 for "An Evidence-Based Approach to Assessment of Learning Disabilities in Adults." A complete lineup of programs can be found online.

Free programs. APA recently partnered with a White House initiative called Joining Forces, spearheaded by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, to provide training to students and educators regarding deployment issues in military families. The archived version is available for free and offers CE credit. Future programs in this series will follow the contours of some of APA's strategic initiatives, including programs on obesity, evidence-based practice, collaborative care and the International Classification of Diseases, among others. Four programs are scheduled to roll out the remainder of this year, and four more in 2013. Watch the APA CE home page for more information.

Stats camps. APA is partnering with the University of Kansas to bring you CE credits for a wide range of weeklong training programs in statistics and research methods. This summer is the first to offer CE credits for these intensive institutes, on topics such as structural equation modeling, multi-level modeling, confidence intervals and dealing with missing data.

CE for international delegations. In March, APA sent its first delegation of psychologists to Cuba, led by former APA President Dr. Carol Goodheart. Because of the success of this trip, plans are now under way for a second delegation to Cuba, as well as to other international locations, to foster better understanding and cultural exchange around areas of common interest within psychology and across diverse contexts. Watch for your opportunity to join a future international delegation.

Don't forget your APA Monitor. "CE Corner" became a quarterly feature in the Monitor this year. It has been so successful that it will be back next year. So, don't forget that you can turn to your Monitor for continuing education, too.