MoreEducation in general is a topic that sparks much discussion among land surveyors, whether it regard degree requirements, licensure or continuing education requirements. For this poll, we were interested in finding out your thoughts on continuing education. Here is some insight into surveyors’ position on this topic.
Sixty-eight (68) percent of the total (152) responding said their state did require continuing education.
A majority of respondents feel that requiring continuing education requirements are valuable to the surveying and mapping profession—80 percent of those responding to this question answered favorably, while 20 percent responded that they do not feel that the requirements are valuable.
The numbers of those responding to the question: If your state requires continuing education, do you think the current requirements are strict enough did not match the number of those who said that their state required continuing education, so it is difficult to figure percentages for this question. The raw numbers are: 103 said that their state required continuing education. But 119 responded to the question about whether or not the requirements were strict enough. Of those 119, 99 said they were strict enough and 20 said they were not. Forty-eight (48) said that their state does not require continuing education but 77 responded to the question that said, “if your state does not require continuing education, do you think your state should implement continuing education?” Of those 77, 47 said yes it should, 27 said no it should not and 3 were undecided.
A third of respondents believe that surveyors who attempt continuing education should pass a test to receive the credit. Sixty (60) percent feel that attendance is enough to receive credits.
By far the most preferred way to obtain continuing education credits was by attending workshops/technical sessions at professional conferences. A full 62 percent agreed that this was the favorite way. In second place was self study with 14 percent, closely followed by participation in state societies with 11 percent. Distance education gathered 9 percent of the vote and 3 percent cited they preferred other ways to obtain the credits.
Should continuing education credits be the same for every state? Well, 56 percent think so. Some of those who responded favorably to this question did stipulate that all PLSS states should have the same and all metes-and-bounds should have the same requirements, but the two groups needn’t necessarily have the same requirements.
Do continuing education requirements result in a higher level of respect for/among surveyors? Sixty-five (65) percent think that they do and 35 percent feel that they have no effect.
Forty-three percent of respondents felt that continuing education requirements resulted in fewer violations and complaints from the public, while 36 felt that they did not and 19 percent did not know.
Do continuing education requirements result in higher pay and/or rates? For the most part, surveyors don’t think so—46 percent said that surveyors who obtained CEUs were not paid more or able to charge higher rates. Only 16 percent said that they did result in more money and 32 percent admitted to not knowing the answer to this question.
Eighty-two percent of respondents were land surveyors, 4 percent were engineers and 14 percent were both.
