Guest Blog from Macel Ely

Each member of the IPS Leadership Academy is writing a blog about one of their experiences. Macel is the first to write...

This past month, CTAS e-learning specialist Mary Ann Moon and I were asked to speak at the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) Symposium held in Atlanta, GA. This conference highlighted some of the “best practices” of continuing education across the country. We were honored to be invited to speak as panelists and shared the stage with groups such as the Georgia Department of Labor, ESi University, and Emory Healthcare.

As many of you know, this past year IPS was granted an additional five years as an Authorized Provider for IACET accreditation. IACET is a top-quality entity that strives to “promote and enhance quality in continuing education and training (CE/T) through research, education and the development and continuous improvement of criteria, principles and standards.”

IACET is proud of its rich, professional history and for good reason. The organization was the first to develop the original Continuing Education Unit (CEU) along with the creation of the ANSI/IACET Standard for Continuing Education and Training.

During our particular session, Mary Ann and I shared our personal insight on the task of going through the accreditation process for IPS. We concluded by showing the audience the recently developed IPS CEU Approver’s Sharepoint Site that IT administrator Scott Gordy helped create for us. This site has streamlined the process by which all IPS agencies submit courses for CEU approval; and as a result, the new method of approving courses has enhanced the level of effectiveness and efficiency for our training departments. In order to better familiarize IPS employees with the new CEU online approval system for courses, Mary Ann created a demo of the site which we showed in our presentation.

For those unaware, each IPS agency has individuals on the overall IPS CEU Approval Committee. Once a course has been submitted for CEU, it must then be approved by 3 committee members and then receives a fourth approval by the overall IPS CEU Administrator. Below are the individuals that work diligently to ensure that our courses meet the IACET standard and provide us with a competitive edge over others in the area of adult learning.

Macel Ely, CEU Administrator
Martha Kelley, CIS
Bryan Lane, CIS
Kimberly Clark-Carney, CTAS
Mary Ann Moon, CTAS
Chris Payne, CTAS
Emily Miller, LEIC
Lori Ungurait, LEIC
Kurt Frederick, MTAS
Gary Petree, MTAS
PJ Snodgrass, MTAS

Our session was well received by those in the audience, and the feedback has been very flattering. As employees that strive for excellence in the field of public service, I am confident that our training is positively impacting society. Thanks to everyone at IPS for the hard work done day after day in order to make this possible!