Continuing Education Units

Continuing Education and Ongoing Knowledge

Professional certification encourages candidates to remain current and relevant in a constantly changing profession by learning and demonstrating new knowledge, skills, and practices. Certification also demonstrates a sustained commitment to technical communication by supporting a higher standard of knowledge and skills for professionals.

Accruing continuing education units provides evidence that the candidate’s knowledge and skills are current with trends in the field. These requirements may vary in length, scope, or type, such as participation or presentation at professional conferences, completing additional training or short courses on related subjects, active membership in professional societies and groups, or even publishing articles or papers on related subjects.

Continuing education units (CEUs) are point based and 12 points are required over each two-year period from the original date of certification to remain current. After each two-year period, if 12 CEUs have not been accrued, certification will not be considered current.

Certificants can earn CEUS by completing activities listed in the table below. Certificants may also request CEU credits for other relevant educational activities, which specifically relate to one or more of the core competencies of technical communication by using the online form link below.  These requests are reviewed by the Chief Examiner and certification staff.  Certificants may also request credit for other relevant CEUs, via email request sent to the Chief Examiner at certification@stc.org for evaluation.

Professional Development Activity Point Value
STC Annual Membership 2
STC Recorded Webinar (self-study; free recordings excluded) 1
STC Live Educational Webinar (free, sponsored, and community webinars excluded) 2
STC Online Courses 6
STC Annual Technical Communication Summit 8
STC Summit Pre-Conference Courses (full day) 6
STC Summit Pre-Conference Courses (half day) 3
STC Online Seminars 4
Published Article in Technical Communication Publication 2
Conference Presentation at a Technical Communication Conference 2
Begin and complete a college accredited course related to the Technical Communication field* 8 points per 3 college credit course
(*to be adjudicated by the Certification committee once a transcript is sent in)
Non-STC webinars (submit the form below with a full description of the webinar) 1
Non-STC courses (submit the form below with a full description of the course) 3

CPTC Continuing Education Units Request

Use this form to request that non-STC activities be reviewed for eligibility for CEUs. If you are requesting credit for multiple activities, please use the form multiple times to submit your requests.

Name(Required)
MM slash DD slash YYYY
Certification Level(Required)
Activity Type(Required)

Max. file size: 15 MB.
Attach transcripts and other documentation to support your request.
Related Core Competencies(Required)

Have a Certification Question?

Contact certification@stc.org or fill out this form.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Live Webinars

The Society produces multiple live, one-hour, webinars each month on technical communication topics ranging from accessibility to user experience design. Expertise levels range from beginner to advanced with audio via the phone or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and the presentation via the Web.

Online Certificate Courses

STC offers multiple online courses where participants can earn a certificate of successful completion. These courses let you explore a subject in depth over the course of several weeks. In addition to the practical work skills that you will develop, participating in a certificate program provides you with a unique, live opportunity to learn directly from an instructor and to also exchange ideas and tools virtually with the other participants in the program.

Have an education question?