by Brianna Crandall — November 11, 2019 — In response to a constantly evolving educational facilities profession, campus FM organization APPA has launched a new program called “Pathway to Professionalism” (P2P) to help educational facilities organizations and their institutions keep pace with an accelerating rate of change, while providing continuous learning opportunities for their staffs and schools.
Touted as a convenient and cost-effective way to ensure employees receive relevant, timely training and development from experts in the field of educational facilities management (FM), APPA’s new program combines interactive online with instructor-led training on site. P2P is a 90-day program using APPA’s Customized Interactive Learning (CIL) platform and four on-site presentations on the core areas of the Body of Knowledge from APPA facilitators.
P2P provides a printed class program manual, corresponding PowerPoint and supplemental instruction materials, as well as 90 days of 24/7 access to the CIL for all registered attendees, providing online study tools such as practice tools, exams, recorded webinars, narrated modules of the Body of Knowledge, study manual and flashcards.
Lander Medlin, APPA executive vice president, explained:
We understand that everyone is extremely busy and not everyone has a budget to travel to our professional-development opportunities. We created P2P to meet their continuous learning needs — where and when it’s convenient for them. One of P2P’s greatest benefits to institutions is the opportunity for facilities teams to learn alongside their colleagues discussing real-world work situations, so institutions can be confident this training will be immediately applicable on the job.
Medlin continued:
Learning what others do and why their work is important fosters more effective professional interactions and creates lasting relationships. It can be especially beneficial for individuals and departments who may not interact with each other on a daily basis, and it certainly contributes to a greater knowledge of the organization as whole. P2P is an investment in organizational excellence.
Following the 90-day training course, qualified participants may elect to take APPA’s Certified Educational Facilities Professional (CEFP) certification exam at no additional cost (plus one free retake) within 30 days of the end of the session. The CEFP credential is viewed as a mark of superior proficiency in the core competencies for education facilities professionals.
Participants also earn CEUs at the completion of the program for their general professional-development journey.
Institutions only need 20 people for APPA to bring the P2P training to their campus, and it can be any combination of departmental employees to meet this minimum. Regions can also offer it across a group of institutions. The cost per person is only $1,195, which includes 24/7 access to the CIL platform, all the study resources, four on-site presentations, and the certification examination for those who wish to showcase their expertise with a CEFP credential.
To learn more about how the Pathway to Professionalism (P2P) program can help you provide relevant, cost-effective training, visit the APPA website. Previously known as the Association of Physical Plant Administrators, APPA is the association of choice for more than 18,000 educational facilities professionals from 1,300 educational institutions in North America.
