Every year, there are hundreds of opportunities to earn professional development units (PDUs) towards maintaining your PMI credential. While courses and seminars are ideal ways to stay up-to-date with project management best practices, many other activities occurring in your daily professional life may count toward PDUs, too. Here are 12 ways to earn PDUs this year:
1. PMI's Knowledge Shelf: Posts your articles about project management and information to help professionals and organizations advance the practice of project management. A team of volunteers along with PMI staff review the articles before posting them. Your paper could be a part of this virtual collection and earn you 15 PDUs under Category 2B if you are its single author.
2. PMI® Publication Quizzes: These are new and allow you to earn PDUs from the comfort and convenience of your personal computer. When you purchase a quiz bundle from PMI.org, you receive PMI-published articles and white papers with accompanying quizzes that test your learning. If you obtain a quiz score of 70 percent or higher you will earn between one and two PDUs per quiz in Category 3. PMP® credential holders can earn a maximum of 20 PDUs per certification cycle using Publication Quizzes.
3. Volunteer Service: Earn PDUs for providing your professional services to an organization outside of your employer. You could serve as an elected officer or volunteer committee member for a project management organization. Or you could provide a project/program management-related service to a community or charitable group.
4. Registered Education Provider (R.E.P.) Courses: There are more than 900 PMI R.E.P.s worldwide who offer courses that are pre-approved for PDUs.
5. PMI® Global Congresses: Congresses offer opportunities to network with colleagues and attend seminars that go toward receiving PDUs.
6. PMI Community Offerings: The Tallahassee PMI Chapter, specific PMI interest group (SIGs) and colleges hold events, meeting and educational sessions that are pre-approved for PDUs.
7. SeminarsWorld®:Held throughout the year, SeminarsWorld events provide educational activities for beginning, mid-level and experienced project professionals—PMI members and nonmembers alike. Seminar topics tend to cover one of five areas: core competencies, specific application areas, people and leadership skills, tools and techniques, and strategic applications.
8. eSeminarsWorldSM: While face-to-face training has its obvious merits, online courses are some of the most convenient ways to earn PDUs. Each eSeminarsWorld web-based course includes discussion questions, individual and group assignments with classmates from all over the world, and timely feedback from qualified instructors.
9. Web-based Self-Study: All you need to complete the Project Movie: A Practicial Application of the PMBOK® Guide—Fourth Edition course is an Internet connection and about 15 hours. Focused on the current edition of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), this course is a perfect way to receive 15 PDUs on your own time. Once registered, you will have 24-hour online access to this 12-module course for one full year.
10. Professional Activities: Authoring an article about project management or speaking at a project management event can quickly earn you 10 to 30 PDUs. PMI has specified a number of professional activities—things you may already be doing—that can translate to varying amounts of PDUs.
11. Self-Directed Learning: Obtain PDUs by sharing project management knowledge with your colleagues. PMI will recognize activities that involve personally conducted research or study. This includes discussions or coaching sessions with colleagues or clients that put to use informational materials such as CD-ROMs, articles, books, videos or instructional manuals.
12. Educational Programs by Outside Providers: PMI recognizes relevant educational activities or programs offered by organizations not registered with PMI. Use the following formula to calculate the number of PDUs earned: One hour of learning relevant to project management within a structured activity or course equals one PDU.
Remember: Activities must be related to project management topics that are substantially consistent with the knowledge areas and processes outlined in the latest edition of the PMBOK® Guide and involve appropriate expert resources.