On November 18, NCARB will implement several changes to the Architectural Experience Program® (AXP®), including updating each of the six experience area descriptions, launching a new experience reporting policy, and expanding opportunities to gain experience through continuing education (CE) courses.
Below, we answer your questions about how you can earn AXP credit by completing continuing education courses and how this opportunity will be updated on November 18.
What Is the AXP’s Continuing Education for Health, Safety, and Welfare Opportunity?
Read the AXP Guidelines
Learn how to document your experience and see a list of all experience areas and tasks in the latest version of the AXP Guidelines.
This opportunity to earn experience hours falls under AXP setting O, which is ideal for candidates who are not currently working for an architecture firm under the supervision of a U.S. or Canadian architect. Setting O can also be helpful for candidates who are having trouble gaining experience in each of the AXP’s experience areas. Other setting O experience opportunities include experiences such as construction work, site visits with a mentor, design competitions, and more.
Under the CE for HSW opportunity, you may earn up to 20 hours per experience area by completing continuing education resources or programs that qualify for Health, Safety, and Welfare (HSW) credit, as defined by the NCARB Continuing Education Guidelines. This opportunity is available for all six experience areas. One learning unit (LU) earns one hour of AXP credit.
How Is CE for HSW Changing on November 18?
Under the current policy, only American Institute of Architects (AIA)-approved CE courses are eligible for this opportunity, and you must upload your AIA transcript confirming you completed the course to receive credit. This policy limits access to this experience opportunity to only candidates who maintain Associate AIA memberships.
The updated policy will expand access to non-AIA members who complete courses through other approved organizations, some of which may provide CE transcripts without a paid membership. Under the new requirements, NCARB will accept HSW CE courses approved by AIA, as well as CE courses approved by certain other organizations. These organizations must be pre-approved by NCARB. Keep in mind, in order to qualify for AXP credit, continuing education courses must still qualify for HSW credit and cannot be self-reported to the organization that approved the course. Candidates who wish to receive AXP credit will need to provide a transcript, not a course completion certificate, when submitting their experience hours.
More information about how organizations can apply for pre-approval and what documentation NCARB will require from candidates taking advantage of this opportunity will be provided closer to November 18.
What Is NCARB’s Professional Conduct CE Series?
NCARB offers a free continuing education course series as another setting O opportunity, which is distinct from the CE for HSW opportunity above. Each course in NCARB’s Professional Conduct CE Series is worth between 1 – 2.5 continuing education hours in HSW. You may complete all courses for a total of 10 hours toward the Practice Management area of the AXP. This opportunity will not change as part of the November 18 updates to the AXP.
How to document the Professional Conduct CE Series:
- Take and pass each course’s quiz
- Individuals who do not pass the quizzes may retake them as necessary
- You will automatically earn AXP hours upon passing each CE course’s quiz. You can access our Professional Conduct CE Series at no charge through your NCARB Record or by visiting ce.ncarb.org
Download the latest version of the AXP Guidelines to learn about all the changes coming to the AXP on November 18.