Cooperative Course Offering

What Is a Cooperative Course Offering?

What Is a Cooperative Course Offering?

A cooperative course offering is when a continuing education (CE) provider, approved by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), 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 from the ASHA-approved CE provider. The ASHA Continuing Education Board 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. The University of Arkansas is an ASHA-approved CE provider and has agreed to do cooperative offerings. For additional information regarding joint providership course offerings and sponsorship, please see ASHA's Cooperative Course Offering Orientation.

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

Planning the Course

  1. Contact the University of Arkansas CE administrator uace@uark.edu a minimum of 6 months in advance of your event. You will receive an email with a Cooperative Course Agreement to review, sign and return. When you return the Cooperative Course Agreement, you will be asked to pay the initial cooperative offering fee of $400 for a half day of 3 hours or fewer, $500 for 3 to 6 hours, and $600 for 6 or more hours. Subsequent offerings of the same course within in 12 months of the initial offering date require a course offering fee of $150. Each new course offering will be at the same rate as the initial.
  2. Review the University of Arkansas Cooperative Course Policy.
  3. Cooperative course offerings must be registered 30 days in advance of the course offering's start date, 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. For addition information, see ASHA's CE Deadline Reference Guide (PDF).
  4. Review the Guidelines for Cooperative Offerings (PDF) that explains ASHA's requirements for courses offering ASHA CEUs. Cooperative course offerings must meet the same requirements as any ASHA CE course, including needs assessment, learning outcomes, Brand Block, speaker disclosures and evaluation.
  1. Submit the final course agenda, disclosure forms, and promotional materials to the University of Arkansas CE administrator (uace@uark.edu) a minimum of 2 months in advance.
  2. Determine the maximum ASHA CEU amount for the course. ASHA CE makes available an Excel spreadsheet (download) that will calculate ASHA CEUs for you. The number of ASHA CEUs offered in the course need to clearly labeled in promotional materials.
  3. Course promotional materials must meet ASHA requirements.
    • Speaker disclosure information must be included in the promotional materials. Consider these sample disclosure statements.
    • Contact the University of Arkansas CE administrator (uace@uark.edu) to request the Brand Block and ASHA statement for promotional materials.
  4. Report any changes in course content, agenda, or speakers immediately to the University of Arkansas CE administrator (uace@uark.edu). Revised agendas, learning outcomes, or speaker disclosure information must be submitted to the University of Arkansas CE administrator. 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.
  5. In summary, the following forms should be submitted to the University of Arkansas CE administrator a minimum of 2 months in advance:
    • UA CEU Form (documentation of event)
    • Course/Speakers Disclosure Form(s) (completed and signed)
    • Cooperative Course Policy (completed and signed)

After the Course

  1. Review the reporting requirements for participants requesting ASHA CEUs.
    • The ASHA CEU Participant Form can be found A copy of this form must be provided to all participants of each course. Forms are to be turned in to the University of Arkansas administrator within 3 business days of your event. Forms should be in alphabetical order with legible writing and boxes clearly marked.
    • The ASHA Course Offering Report Form can be found This forms is to be completed by the course organizer and turned it with the ASHA CEU Participant Forms to the University of Arkansas CE administrator. Course organizers are encouraged to photo copy or scan original documents prior to submitting them to the University of Arkansas CE administrator. Only original documents are permitted for submission to the University of Arkansas CE administrator.
    • A Course Offering Report Form is required even if there are no participants requesting ASHA CEUs.
  2. The University of Arkansas CE administrator will review submissions and submit documentation to ASHA. All reporting is due to ASHA CE within 45 days of the end date of the cooperative course/offering. Upon ASHA receiving the report, participants will see the course/offering listed on their CE Registry (if applicable).
  3. Roster corrections - work with the University of Arkansas CE administrator to ensure that all participants have been accurately reported. You have 45 days to report any corrections to ASHA CE. Please use the Roster Corrections form to correct any errors made by ASHA. Participants cannot be added after initial reporting to ASHA CE. In order to add participants not originally reported, you will need to appeal via the Continuing Education Board Appeal Request form.
  4. Reporting will be retained by the University of Arkansas CE administrator for at least 5 years. Participants may need to appeal for missing ASHA CEUs. If so, the University of Arkansas CE administrator (add link) will be contacted to confirm their attendance.

Monitoring Cooperative Courses

An additional cooperative fee ($150) must be paid for each additional offering of the same cooperative course within 12 months of the date of the initial offering. Contact the University of Arkansas CE administrator (uace@uark.edu) for additional information. Above listed policies (with the exception of the initial fee) apply, as well as a review of promotional materials, and the same forms and reporting is required.