A person with specialized learning who is engaged in a specified activity as an occupation

Benefits of online professional development

Training opportunities can include both online as well as blended learning (a mix of online and face-to-face). Online professional development courses can provide a high-quality professional learning experience, but have the added benefit of being completed around any existing time restraints.

Online development courses can typically vary from full eLearning programs carried out over several months or even a year, through to short bite-size videos and webinars, and can useful for keeping skills up to date suitable for any ongoing Professional Development obligations. Be aware that Online and eLearning can vary significantly, both in the depth and quality of the subject matter they cover as well as the levels of interactivity for the student or learner.

A professional development certificate is typically obtained on completion of any online training, ideal for showcasing your newfound skills, knowledge and experience. This usually includes the number of CPD hours, which can be added to the individuals personal record to show the professional development they have achieved for that year.

Whether you’re looking to complete a full Personal and Professional Development training suite or an individual bitesize course, there should be some form of online professional development to suite any individual requirements.

The CPD Courses Catalogue has thousands of certified courses, of which approximately half of these are now online learning. All of our Provider’s courses are designed to enhance your skills and knowledge in the workplace and help you advance your career or to meet the mandatory training requirements in your profession.

How to track and record your professional development

To be effective, professional development requires thoughtful planning followed by careful implementation with feedback to ensure it responds to an individual’s needs. A CPD log or PDP, personal development plan, provides a record of all the learning activities you have undertaken. It enables you to track your learning and development and show how your skills and knowledge have developed over a set period of time.

Planning your own professional development can help an individual to be more efficient with their time, and keeping a proper record provides evidence of learning, which can be useful for any professional body obligations. The myCPD Portal is a free record tool which can make it easier to manage any ongoing professional development requirements, set annual CPD targets and store certificates in one simple place.

The most successful personal and professional development is done in a systematic and intentional manner. In order to fully embrace the benefits of personal and professional development, you should set goals for yourself. What do you hope to get out of your development activities, and how will you go about reaching those goals?

The most important thing to keep in mind is that all goals must be SMART:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Timely 

In order to create a plan for yourself (or for your employees), you should keep a folder or portfolio of all your development activities, drawing on your learning diary. Your plan is personal to you and your own development needs, and therefore any activities must be fully owned and managed by you.

We ask you to ensure that any personal development plan should:

• relevant to you and your career
• able to support the development of your knowledge and expertise
• planned, executed, recorded and evaluated to demonstrate the impact on you and your role
• varied – this is because we recognise that individuals will have differing access to resources and activities that support their own professional journey. 

Tip: Keep a learning log and record your thoughts in whatever way suits you best. You may find it helpful to write things down in detail, for example, or to make notes on key insights and learning points. The process of writing makes you think about your experiences at the time and makes later planning and reflection much easier.

Where to find professional development courses

Whether you are wanting to continue learning in the industry you are currently in, or you want to put some transferable skills on your CV, there are a wide range of courses and trainings to cover all personal development requirements.

CPD certified courses help to enhance your professional skills, develop and update your knowledge, and give you or your employees a competitive edge within your ever-changing environments and industries. Professional development or CPD can also be carried out in order to expand your professional skills while giving you exposure to other aspects of your chosen field.

All training offered by our CPD Providers, and listed in our course catalogue are checked against our criteria developed over the past 25 years, meaning that the learning has reached the required industry standards and benchmarks. This includes professional development opportunities in industries including information technology, business, education, healthcare, and more. Explore the CPD Industry Hubs section of our website, where you can find a full scope of CPD providers and courses covering a range of subjects.

CPD accreditation of professional development courses

CPD accredited professional development training has been assessed to ensure meets the expectations of Continuing Professional Development within the profession. By providing CPD certified professional development courses, events, eLearning, webinars, or workshops, you can help to demonstrate the steps you have taken to deliver the highest learning criteria within your industry or field.

The CPD Certification Service was established in 1996 and is the leading and largest CPD accreditation organisation. We work with members from consultancy firms to large online training providers, universities, corporations, conference & events organisers, further education colleges, Government departments, local authorities and councils. Many organisations that offer professional development training and educational events may be suitable to become a CPD Provider.

We hope this article was helpful. To Find out more about how to become an accredited CPD provider please contact our team to discuss in more detail.