Greetings to all from beautiful downtown Hudson FL.

Members about the state are receiving emails advertising ECLB approved on line courses sponsored by the IAEI-IO in Texas. This is a very touchy and delicate issue between the Florida Chapter IAEI and the IAEI-IO. The problem reared its ugly head last Thursday 08/12 with the mass emailing to Florida Chapter members. Your Chapter President and Secretary are aware of it. They are gathering necessary information and Board of Directors members' opinions prior to confronting the IO about this issue.

There was a lively discussion about this last Thursday at the Suncoast Division monthly meeting. As a former Chapter Secretary who helped implement CE courses with the BCAIB and ECLB in 1993-95, I gave the attendees a brief historical back ground as to why the IO forced the Chapter into the CE business.

CE seminars and activity is the crux of major income for the 9 Divisions as well as for the Chapter itself. Now that a person can sit down at home and get their 14 required CE hours, will we ever see them again. On line courses should never have been allowed by the ECLB. They have already drastically cut into seminar attendance around the state. I personally know of 6 contractors in the Tampa Bay area who take all their required courses on line, using the flimsy excuse of not wanting to sit in a boring class room for 8 hours. Give me a break now ! An on line course cannot and never will be able to provide the kind of intimate contact between an instructor and the pupil, that is crucial to understanding all codes, not just the NECode. What effect has this had upon our inspection agencies, when red tags are issued and the contractor claims ignorance because he or she was not willing to sacrifice some time to get quality exposure to quality presentions. And believe thee me, all of the Florida Chapter's Divisions and the Chapter go out of their way to present quality seminars with top notch presentators.

If any one has any questions about these on line CE courses by the IO, please direct your concerns to your Division Officers and the Chapter BOD representative from your Division. For those IAEI members that are not affiliated with a Division, please contact your Chapter President or Secretary.

The NECode is already a complex publication. And each code cycle makes it all the more complex. Contractors as well as inspectors must see their way clear to avail themselves of seminars that will enlighten their walk through the NECode. This is a very important example of ignorance not being a valid excuse for failure (i.e.- red tags).

Respectfully,

Dick Widera
Secretary
Suncoast Division IAEI

Well said, Mr. Widera!!

Dick; I agree with you, IO should leave Courses to the Chapters

Well said D.W.

If this exposes more electrical professionals to the IAEI and what we have to offer, then I think it is a good thing.

If this provides quality education and training to more electrical professionals then the IAEI Florida Chapter and Divisions are currently reaching, then I think it is a good thing.

If Florida electrical professionals choose this form of education over or in lieu of the education being provided by the Chapter and its Divisions, then we need to come up with a better product, or a better platform, or some other incentive and reason why they should choose us over anyone else.

I am a supporter of and advocate for ANY organization that is working to better the electrical industry here in Florida, be it the IAEI, ECF, Building Officials Association of Florida, ICC, and many others.

Bryan; I agree with some of what you said, but on the other hand, it seems that the IO is in competition with the chapters , case in point ; when I was Sec/Treas. of the South Carolina Chapter, the IO was scheduling one day seminars at the same time as our state meeting and workshop,which because of price and location, juristictions were opting to send their inspectors there instead of the three day workshop. I do understand the the IO needs to make money to operate, and it has become so expensive to do so, that they need to find ways to "feed the Bear", but not in competition with the state and local chapters and divisions, I still maintain that the IO needs to decide whether it is a business organization or a membership organization first.

I think some of the attractiveness of online courses is simply scheduling. A seminar is hard scheduled. Online courses can be done any time.
I know, some of the modules, like law and ADA are not given very often and if you miss them, you aren't getting them.
That was what got me to the online provider in the first place.

: opinion on
Seminars are also a hit or miss thing. If someone like Jim Pauley is doing it I will skip a family reunion to go but there are a few other road show presenters that I don't care if I ever see again.
: opinion off
Maybe I just caught them on a bad day.

Well I for one think the chapter/divisions should consider online courses.
Just because it is happening in the industry.
Or maybe a collaboration between the IO and chapter/divisions.
Say for example if the IO develops a online course in the territory of a section/chapter/division. then some monetary value is passed to same.
At least the IO will not be in competition with them.
And everyone benefits.

This in no way supports that online courses are better. But it is the way things are today.

I will say I have used them on occasion. Only because I could not find a course to meet the hours I needed without driving a few hours somewhere. Which did not conflict with work hours.

Also there is not always a live course available when it is needed.

If enough members so desire that the Chapter initiate on line CE courses, then of course the BOD should give serious thought to their development. If this is the wave of the future, then so be it. In the mean time, face to face interaction between teacher and student is still the most effective manner to get across the many complexities of the NECode.

I would like to point out that certified course instructors are available about the state through the various divisions. It would not take very much to schedule somebody if a member was short an hour or two. I have done this many times in the past when I was Chapter Secretary.

I cannot recall how many times I went one on one with a member when I was working for A Randy's Electric. We would go upstairs into the conference room and have at it. I went to Naples several times to give seminars to the Florida Sign Association. I did presentations several times on the Saturday of Chapter Annual meetings to accomodate members. The grand Poo Bah though was on Saturday August 31, 1998, the very last day of the licensing cycle. I gave a 14 hour Banzai course at Plant City for 35 contractors and inspectors. The next day I had to enter all the data into the DBPR computer system. I talked myself hoarse that day, BUT THERE were 35 happy procrastinators who made it by the skin of their teeth timewise.

So the point is if someone needs some extra help in getting a couple of hours of CE, then the Chapter is ready to meet their needs.

Dick W.

Agreed the chapter/ divisions have always looked out for ceu requirements for contractor/inspector's alike on the cycle that they are needed..
But human nature says wait till the last moment to get them.
After the fact. This is not the fault of the chapter or Division but the individual.
Knowing that it is a user problem does not rectify the issue.
Online courses are there and the masses will migrate to them if needed.
At the last moment of course.

I am just being the devil's advocate I agree with you. But in today's economy I don't think you will find contractors or even building departments that allow inspectors that will let people attend a class versus just going online.

A example would be:
Oh, I need 2 hours of ADA.
I can get it online for 30 bucks or you can send me all day to a class out of town, and pay my expenses.
I won't be performing any inspections that day either.

What do you think the city manager would decide.

Sad, but I think a true example in today's world.