Sapmple CertificateWhat you need to know about Certificates of Attendance and CEUs from Early Childhood Investigations

We’re pleased to provide a link to download a free Certificate of Attendance for every session we offer. You can also apply separately to purchase Continuing Education Units from University of Oklahoma.

Certificates of Attendance and CEUs are different. You may need to produce a certificate to prove that you attended professional development for required professional development. CEUs are partial course credits that can be applied to the process of earning a credential or degree.

 

You will use an online link to download your certificate during each webinar. You can download the certificate instantly when you attend a live session and you can download it if you watch the recording. See the details below.

You need Adobe Reader to open and print your certificates. Most computers have the software, but if not you can download it here. It’s free.Acrobat Reader Download

We recommend that all participants complete a Professional Development Reflections Form to extend their online learning experiences. Further, we also suggest that supervisors require that staff members who attend webinars complete the Reflections Form or their own form as additional proof of attendance and to encourage deeper thinking about the webinar’s main themes.  Our Reflections Form is required for the application process for CEUs from University of Oklahoma.

How you get

How you obtain your certificate if you attend the live session

There are three ways for people who attend live webinars to receive certificates. (For those who watch recordings, the process to obtain certificate is different.)

  1. New Feature! When prompted, download your certificate during the webinar, at the end of the session by going to the “Handouts” pane in your control panel.
    1. Click + to open the pane
    2. Click on the link to access the certificate
    3. Your default webinar browser will automatically launch and open a blank page and the handout file will automatically start downloading.
  2. The full  link to download a certificate is included in an email sent to all participants who attended the live session. You will receive the email with the link to the certificate within 24 hours of the end of the session. You will simply click on the link to download the certificate.
    * NOTE: We rely on an automated system provided by our webinar provider, GoToWebinar to send out the links to certificates. When you register for a webinar, you provide your email address. The system uses that email address to send confirmation and reminder emails about the webinar and instructions with a link to log in. The system only sends emails with the link to the certificates to people who have logged in by clicking on the link sent in the confirmation and reminder  to watch the webinar. The system will not record your presence and send a certificate if you only call in and listen by phone.  Our system retains attendance records and records the time you log in  to the on-screen webinar and when you log off. It uses that information to send out the email with the link. If your supervisor or a licensing agency inquires about your attendance, we will check our records to verify your attendance.

  3. We also announce and display on the screen a “shortened” link on the final two slides at THE END of every session. This link is provided as an alternative in case you do not receive the email with the link to the certificate.
  • To obtain the certificate with the shortened link, write down the link displayed on the screen. (It is often hard to capture the link if you are only listening, but not viewing the screen.) After the session enter the into your browser to download the certificate.
  • Please note that some schools and organizations block shortened links that are shown and announced during the session which means the page will not open. If your link does not work, you should receive the email with a full link that should open at your organization. If not, please try to access it in another location.
  • If you do not receive your email, please check your “junk” or “spam” folder in your email system or use the shortened link you wrote down at the end of the webinar.
  • If you receive an email with the subject line “We’re sorry you could not attend the webinar”, the system did not record your presence, and you will have to get the link by watching the recording of the session. The email will include a link to the recording, and you can find all of the recordings here.
  • Please note that we cannot send the link to people who view the recordings, and we cannot respond to email about problems with certificates.

You are responsible for your certificate. We do not offer technical support for, or respond to email about certificates.

How you get

How you obtain your certificate if you watch the recording

If you watch the recording of the session you can download the certificate.

  • You must watch the entire recording.
  • We also announce and display on the screen a “shortened” link on the final two slides at THE END of every session.
  • To obtain the certificate with the shortened link, write down the link displayed on the screen. (It is often hard to capture the link if you are only listening, but not viewing the screen.)
  • After the session enter the into your browser to download the certificate.
  • Please note that some schools and organizations block shortened links. This means the page will not open if your organization blocks shortened links. If your link does not work, please try to access it in another location.
  • Please note that we cannot send the link to people who view the recordings, and we cannot respond to email about problems with certificates.

You are responsible for your certificate. We do not offer technical support for, or respond to email about certificates.

 

Problems with Certificates

If you do not receive the certificate, you can watch the recording of the session to see the certificate link at the end of the recording, copy the link, and type it into your browser to download. All recordings are located here.

 You are responsible for your certificate. We do not offer technical support for, or respond to email about certificates.

 

Acceptance of Certificates

Please be aware that the .certificates may or may not fulfill licensing or credentialing requirements for ongoing professional development. This is determied on a state by state or agency by agency basis.  At this time, ECI Webinars are not officially sanctioned or endorsed by any organization or licensing body, however many licensing and QRIS systems accept the webinar certificates as proof of ongoing professional development. You must check with your agency to determine if it accepts the certificates.

Why we have to be so strict about certificates

Early Childhood Investigations is a free service. Other than offsetting some of the costs of delivering the webinars with sponsorships, I do not receive any compensation. ECI operates with only me (Fran Simon) and one part time staff member. Thousands of people attend the webinars, but there’s only two people running the show. As much as we wish we could, we cannot respond to every request for certificates. The requests are overwhelming, so please ask a friend or someone to help you if you are having trouble with your certificates.

We have designed this somewhat complicated process in order to protect the integrity and prevent fraudulent use of the certificates. We hope to pursue official approval for the webinars in as many states as possible, so keeping the process as fraud-proof as possible while keeping it easy enough for two people to manage is important to our credibility. While it may seem  challenging to navigate the process, it is designed with integrity, safety, ease of administration in mind. Thousands of attendees have successfully used the certificates. We are certain you can obtain and use your certificates with a little patience and practice.