The formats in common use
CPD has broadened well beyond the classroom. The formats below all count in most schemes, though the evidence each one can produce differs.
- Taught courses, in person or live online, which produce the strongest assessment evidence.
- Webinars and single sessions, useful for keeping current on a narrow topic.
- Self paced online modules, which suit knowledge that does not need practice to acquire.
- Audio and video podcasts, increasingly accepted where the learning is structured.
- Written learning: articles, guides and journal reading with a reflective element.
- Conferences, where the CPD is the individual sessions rather than the attendance.
- Workplace learning: mentoring, shadowing, supervised practice and case review.
- Self directed study and reflection, which most schemes cap because it cannot be verified.
Choosing between them
Match the format to what you need to be able to do. Knowledge you only need to recall can be acquired from reading or a podcast. A skill you need to perform requires practice, and an activity that claims to teach it without any practice is overclaiming.
If your scheme distinguishes structured from unstructured CPD, check which category an activity falls into before relying on it.