Cooperative Course Offering Orientation

This orientation explains the concept of a cooperative course offering and describes the process of developing, monitoring, and registering a cooperative course. Please contact your Provider Manager at any point in the development process if further clarification is needed.

To see if your organization has agreed to offer cooperative offerings, please visit the provider listing. If your organization would like to offer cooperative offerings or is no longer interested in working cooperatively with other organizations, please fill out the Application to Engage in Cooperative Agreements.

What Is a Cooperative Course Offering?

A cooperative course offering(s) is when an ASHA Approved Continuing Education (CE) Provider joins with an organization or entity that is not an ASHA Approved CE Provider to plan, deliver, and evaluate a continuing education course/offering(s) for ASHA continuing education units (CEUs). A fee is owed for cooperative offerings. The ASHA Continuing Education Board (CEB) considers a course offering(s) to be cooperative if another party or entity is not part of the organization approved as the ASHA Approved CE Provider, as detailed in the application to become an ASHA Approved CE Provider.

A joint providership course offering(s) is when two or more ASHA Approved CE Providers team up to plan, deliver, and evaluate a course offering(s). One of the ASHA Approved CE Providers must take responsibility for the registration and reporting of the course offering(s) to ASHA. There is no fee due to ASHA when two or more ASHA Approved CE Providers offer a course.

However, if multiple organizations work together to plan, conduct, deliver, and evaluate a course offering(s), and one or more of the organizations do NOT fall into the category of "ASHA Approved CE Provider," then this is considered a cooperative course, and a fee is due.

Sponsorship is when an entity/organization provides financial and/or in-kind support for an ASHA CE course offering(s) but is not involved in the planning, delivery, or evaluation of the course. The organization providing sponsorship has no influence over the content of the course.

What are the steps involved in working with third party organizations to plan, deliver, monitor, and report a cooperative course offering for ASHA CEUs?

Creating Cooperative Policies and Processes

1. Develop a Cooperative Course Policy for your organization. See this template [DOC] as an example.

2. Develop a webpage or email message that you can share with or send to third party organizations. This resource should outline your policies and provide guidance on what is required and when. This is called the Cooperative Course Agreement.

3. Have the cooperative party complete and sign your Cooperative Course Agreement, agree on deadlines, provide all contact information and agree on a turnaround time to respond to your request for information before and following the course.

4. Set deadlines for the cooperative party to submit required policies, program information, promotional materials, cooperative fee payment, and reporting so that you can easily meet ASHA CE deadlines [PDF]. Remember that cooperative course offerings must be registered 30 days in advance of the first offering/first date a learner can access the course content, and reporting is due no later than 45 days after the end date of the course offering. Additional offerings to registered courses are due at least 3 days prior to the start date of the new course/offering.

• • Group (synchronous) and blended (hybrid) courses (in-person or web-based): Fee for each time the course is offered.
  • Individual/Self-study courses (asynchronous): Fee is charged for each month the course will be available to learners. For example, a self-study available for 12 months would be charged the initial cooperative offering fee + 11 subsequent offering fees. Provider organizations reporting participant via web calls are charged a single fee for a cooperative offering regardless per calendar year.

Planning the Course

1. Cooperative course offerings need to meet the same requirements as any ASHA CE course, including policies (e.g., refund, complaints, nondiscrimination, etc.) and needs assessment, learning outcomes, Brand Block, speaker disclosures, and evaluation. For information on how to write a learning outcome, please direct cooperative parties to creating learning outcomes. Provide your speaker disclosure forms for their speakers. Resources for CE Presenters and Planners  defines financial and nonfinancial relationships and provides sample disclosure slides for their presentations.

2. Please discuss the satisfactory completion and reporting requirements for participants requesting ASHA CEUs.

3. Develop a system for collecting the information needed from the participant which will be used by the CE Registry to accurately post credit to their ASHA account. You should share the Excel template [XLS] with the Cooperative Party so that they can provide the information and format you need to report.

4. Ask to see the final course agenda as soon as it is available. Determine the maximum ASHA CEU amount for the course. ASHA CE makes available an Excel spreadsheet [XLS] that will calculate ASHA CEUs for you. Inform the cooperative party of the number of ASHA CEUs that they need to stipulate in their promotional materials, and review their materials to ensure that the ASHA CEU amount is correctly listed.

5. Work with the cooperative party to develop course promotional materials that meet ASHA requirements.

6. Work with the cooperative party to ensure the learner communications [PDF] include all the required elements.

7. A cooperative fee (plus a fee for each additional offering) is due with course registration. Work with the cooperative party to acquire a check or credit card number for payment. They can also pay by credit card online at ASHA's website with an invoice number and account number. If payment is by check, then cooperative parties must include the ASHA Course ID, Provider Name and Invoice number on the check in order to pay the fee directly to ASHA.

8. The provider must retain all CE course planning documentation for a period of 7 years.

Registering the Course

1. Once you have the course agenda, learning outcomes, promotion piece, and cooperative payment, you can register the cooperative course offering for ASHA CEUs.

2. Use the CE Provider Portal to register cooperative course offerings. Be sure to include the cooperative party's contact information and registration information so ASHA members can register for the course. Payment of the applicable cooperative fee(s) is due at registration.

3. Changes to course content, agenda, or speakers should be immediately reported to you. Ask for revised agendas, learning outcomes, and speaker disclosure information, and submit those to your ASHA CE Provider Manager. New speakers must fill out disclosure forms. The disclosures must be reviewed, instructional personnel disclosure statements must be created, and disclosure statements must be published in promotional materials and disclosed at the event.

4. Date changes should also be reported to you as soon as possible. You should report any changes to ASHA at least 3 days prior to the new start You may cancel a course offering using the CE Provider Portal. Cancellation must be received within 45 days of the end date of the course offering.

Conducting/Reporting the Course

1. Speakers must disclose relevant financial and nonfinancial relationships at the start of their presentations. You can share these sample slides with the cooperative party.
2. Explain to the cooperative party that they need to report to you, regardless of whether anyone requests ASHA CEUs.
3. Set a deadline for the cooperative party to provide you with reporting data.
4. All reporting is due to ASHA CE within 45 days of the end date of the cooperative course/offering.

Monitoring Cooperative Courses

1. Will the group/live cooperative course be held on multiple dates in the calendar year? If so, you need to register those additional offerings at least 3 days prior to their start date using the CE Provider Portal An additional cooperative fee must be paid for each additional offering of a cooperative course. You will receive an email with an invoice for the fee, which can be paid by phone or online (you'll need to provide the invoice number). If you need to pay by check, follow payment instructions on the invoice, and be sure to include the Course Offering ID and offering number on the check.
2. Ask to see any new promotional materials for the new courses/offerings to ensure that they meet ASHA requirements. The promotional materials should contain your Brand Block, the course information (instructional level and ASHA CEU amount), and speaker disclosures.
3. Remember to discuss participant reporting procedures for each new offering.
4. Roster corrections—work with the cooperative party to ensure that all participants have been accurately reported. You have 45 days to report any corrections to ASHA CE. Please use the CE Provider Portal to correct any errors made by ASHA. For more detailed information on how to request roster corrections, please see the Reporting and Rosters section [PDF] of the CE Provider Portal User Guide [PDF]. Participants cannot be added after initial reporting to ASHA CE. In order to add participants not originally reported, you will need to contact your CE Accounts Manager to discuss why their reporting is late.
5. Reporting must be retained for at least 2 years. Participants may need to appeal for missing ASHA CEUs. If so, you will be contacted to confirm their attendance.