Teaching technical communication to professional engineers and architects in the U.S.

Licensed professional engineers and architects in the U.S. must meet education and experience requirements and pass rigorous exams administered by state licensure boards before offering their services directly to the public. State licensure is also required if an engineer works as a consulting engineer, signs and seals documents for public agencies, or establishes their own firm. Individual state boards have different requirements for professional licensure, but most are similar. Thirty states in the U.S. require mandatory continuing education for licensed engineers. Thirty-two jurisdictions currently require architects complete continuing education. The number of continuing education units (CEU) or Professional Development Hours (PDH) required for license renewal varies by jurisdiction. Correspondence, distance learning, and online courses are accepted by all states requiring continuing education activities for licensing renewal provided the course meets the guidelines and completion of the course can be independently verified. During the past two years, the author has developed and presented two specialized continuing education programs in technical communication, technical writing for engineers and writing construction specifications. Sixteen state licensure boards have reviewed and approved the seminars for CEU or PDH credits for professional engineers who need to fulfill their continuing education requirements. This paper examines the development process and course emphases for the seminars, as well as responses from licensed professional engineers and architects who have attended the seminars.