What are Continuing Professional Development hours, and how to record them?

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• Keeping your skills up to date is crucial to keeping your tech career on track. All ACS members are encouraged to complete Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours each year as part of their membership. Learn here how to increase your CPDs and how to record them. 

What are CPDs?

Continuous Professional Development is the means by which members of the profession maintain and broaden their skills and expertise, and develop the qualities required in their professional journey. 

CPD hours are awarded to appropriate activities on a 1:1 ratio, meaning, 1 hour of learning equates to 1 CPD hour.

Why is it essential to record your CPDs? 

The updating of skills and knowledge is critical in keeping ahead of industry changes, maintaining professional competence and ensuring that qualifications do not become obsolete.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) improves your ability to perform your job by extending your knowledge and skills. As an ACS Certified member you have a professional obligation to yourself, your employer and the community to plan and participate in CPD activities that are tailored to meet your needs and develop your career.

How can I get CPD hours? 

ACS provides numerous activities and platforms to help you grow your career. All of the following opportunities provided by ACS are counted towards improving your CPD record:

• Our events 
• Our courses via ACS Learning Accelerator
• Some ACS accredited courses
• Some ACS career development programs, such as the Mentoring Program or the Ethics Education Program 

But CPDs can also be acquired by attending relevant activities such as formal and informal events, peer and professional interaction, research, courses or white papers.

How do I record my CPD hours?

ACS recommends you maintain detailed supporting documents or evidence of all your CPD activities.

If you attend ACS events and programs, you are automatically allocated the appropriate hours.

For the activities that are not hosted by ACS, in order to claim them as CPD they must be structured in that they have a clear set of objectives and a logical framework and will be reviewed and allocated by the ACS Membership Team. 

For any question or support, please contact member.services@acs.org.au