2004 Education Committee Report

“Education is when you read the fine print.
Experience is what you get when you don’t.” Pete Seeger

Carol Prigan, Chair
Education Committee

As real estate licensees in the state of Ohio, we are required to attend at least 30 hours of continuing education courses and submit evidence of our attendance to the state every three years to fulfill this requirement.  Click here to view a list of upcoming CBR continuing education classes.

Of the 30 hours, nine must be in the three core areas of ethics, civil rights (fair housing), and core law.  The remainder can be our choice with a few limitations. 

We must limit ourselves to 15 hours of computer training, of which only six can be “basic” courses, or courses not specific to the practice of real estate. 

Online education has become a reality, but we are also limited to a total of 15 hours of courses taken online of which none can be the core courses.  (By the way, you can take online courses from the Ohio Association of REALTORS®.) 

The Residential Education Committee strives to provide meaningful educational experiences for the members of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®.  As professionals, we know the importance of staying up to date on the ever changing world of real estate, for as singer/songwriter Pete Seeger said, “Education is when you read the fine print.  Experience is what you get when you don’t.” 

The courses offered at the Columbus Board of REALTORS® teach you to “read the fine print” so that you don’t have an experience you don’t want or need.

When there are new developments in our profession, new courses are added to the curriculum to meet the membership’s need to know.  For example, over the past year we have added Tempo courses to teach our membership how to effectively use the Multiple Listing Service.

Since February of this year we have offered general, hands-on courses for the Palm PDA and e-KEY that were introduced in January. 

With the introduction of a new purchase contract, members have had the opportunity to take a three-hour course on the contract with the option of obtaining continuing education credit. 

In March, 12 classes were offered and filled almost as soon as they were announced.  These courses have continued to be offered with two both in April and May and one in June.  Such courses have been scheduled to meet membership demands and have been presented in addition to our regular course offferings. 

Remember that in addition to calling Lucy Hadley at CBR headquarters, you can register for courses online at the CBR website or by linking to the course offerings from the welcome page on Tempo.

The Residential Education Committee also regularly reviews the courses that have been given and suggests, develops, and implements new courses or changes. 

We ask all participants in a course to fill out the course evaluation.  A member of the Committee compiles the results of the evaluations and reports these results to the Committee.  We value your input and suggestions.  Please complete a course evaluation the next time you attend a continuing education course at CBR.

In addition to our work on course offerings for REALTORS®, the Residential Education Committee is charged with the maintenance of our library.  If you have not had a chance to visit the library on the first floor of CBR headquarters, I invite you to take a few minutes and see what we have to offer.  Not only are there books about real estate, but there are many video and audio tape series from some of the best speakers in the business to help motivate you, teach you new ways to make a listing presentation, and much more.  We will also soon add some books on tape and other new materials.  Borrowing from the library is easy.  Simply take your selection to the receptionist for an easy check-out.  Please remember to return the items you borrow in a timely fashion so that others may be able to use them.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Residential Education Committee for their work this year.  In addition to monthly meetings, many of the Committee’s  members take the time to serve on a subcommittee, introduce instructors of courses, review course evaluations, and review new items for the library.  Our staff liaision, Lucy Hadley, is indispensible to the functioning of this committee, and I’d also like to thank her for her work and advice. 

If you are looking for an opportunity to serve other REALTORS® in a way that impacts all of us through our professional education, please consider joining the Residential Education Committee.  We’d love to have you help shape the educational offerings at the Columbus Board of REALTORS®.