HOME STUDY CONUNDRUM
August 14, 2009 – 3:32 pmIn 2007, the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) surprised many in the massage and bodywork community with this announcement: Videos of any type could no longer be included in home-study and online courses unless NCBTMB-approved instructors offer one-day workshops to monitor and test home-study participants on the techniques presented in the videos. Furthermore, home-study reading material was restricted from displaying photos or diagrams of hands-on techniques without a one-day testing seminar. Bottom line: Continuing education credits could only be granted upon successful completion of the home-study program in addition to the one-day supervised workshop if any hands-on techniques were displayed in the material.
Please read the full text including comments by Whitney Lowe @ http://www.massagemag.com/News/massage-news.php?id=7523&catid=251&title=home-study-ce-conundrum and chime in on the debate. Art Riggs, Tom Myers and I have been discussing this ruling for some time and finally decided to open it up for discussion. Comments are appreciated…
17 Responses to “HOME STUDY CONUNDRUM”
Here’s a teaser comment sent to me by Art Riggs that will appear next week on Massage Mag’s home-study resource page:
“Recently Erik Dalton asked me if I would like to contribute a chapter for his upcoming book. I was flattered that someone I respect so much for his knowledge and contributions to thousands of therapists would offer this opportunity, and I asked for more details. He offered a wide range of subjects, but stipulated that absolutely no specific treatment techniques could be included because he plans of offering CE credits for the book and that the NCBTMB prohibits any techniques for CE hours listed under the “Cognitive” classification. Of course “techniques” can be offered under the “Kinesthetic” category, but to offer materials in book or DVD form for this category, the NCBTMB guidelines require a laborious, impractical, and expensive requirement of classroom or proctor supervision. This is the only way one can offer specific techniques rather than broad philosophical thought.
I felt it was incredulous for many reasons, not the least being that I’ve learned a great deal from watching Erik, Tom Myers, Ben Benjamin, Til Luchau, Michael Stanborough and many others’ incredible video presentations. I’ve read Erik’s letter about the unfairness of this practice and wholeheartedly agree with all of his comments, so will try to not repeat his arguments, but will offer some other perspectives. I suppose one could criticize anyone as self promoting who confronts the NCBTMB, but I, for one, have little interest in offering my DVDs for CE credits because I lack the wherewithal, time, and organizational skills to embark on such a laborious procedure. I am not writing to promote myself, Erik, or any other educator; instead, I am writing as an advocate for the countless thousands of therapists out there who want to further their expertise in specific techniques by studying with recognized experts but are prevented from doing so (at least for CE’s) by what seem to me to be ineffective and illogical red tape….to be continued..
By Erik Dalton on Aug 14, 2009
Here’s another home-study teaser sent to me by Tom Myers that will appear in two weeks on Massage Mag’s home-study resource page:
“Since Erik and Art have covered the territory, I will simply shout ‘Olé’ and add my own emphasis:
I completely understand the concerns of NCBTMB that online education not replace the direct kinesthetic experience of one-to-one hands-on education. The motivation to prevent the electronic medium from taking over completely is laudable – this is a motor skill. I don’t want my surgeon trained solely on simulators, and I don’t want my massage therapist trained by phoning it in.
But when you talk about continuing education after a competent and documented one-on-one basic training, we are concerned with adding valuable skills to an already competent person, and that is a different animal. Thus, in creating such rules, regulators may go too far in denying access to good instructional material that is, thanks to the reach of the internet, available to those who are geographically or financially challenged in making it to hands-on classes.
People have been learning technique from video for years – and many such videos are approved for NCB credit. Distance learning is no good for acquiring a whole new approach (though it is great for learning about the approach), but it is excellent in refining existing skills, and bringing new techniques within a known bailiwick (e.g. more myofascial techniques for the MFR practitioner, a new cranial move for Upledger graduates, a more advanced exercise for the Egoscue crowd). These applications of internet learning should be encouraged and fully credited. In other words, I would be very afraid of getting my cranium adjusted by someone who learned it all online, but I am relaxed about a trained cranial person using this new temporal release technique they picked up from Michael Shea’s website.
Online students study when they are ready, often pay more attention, and can return to review bits they need. The sad truth is, as both Erik and Art point out, that the student:teacher ratio and the demands of a weekend workshop often do not succeed in bettering online education in terms of one-on-one contact, or competency assurance in terms of the techniques conveyed. In some cases, online education may even do a better job. As our sophistication with online educational applications increases, it will get even better…more to come.
Meantime, review all the rest of the comments posted by notables such as Whitney Lowe @ http://www.massagemag.com/News/massage-news.php?id=7523&catid=251&title=home-study-ce-conundrum
Please submit your comments. Feel free to disagree with any point. That’s what makes it fun…thx~ERIK
By Erik Dalton on Aug 14, 2009
Regarding the article “Home-Study CE Conundrum” (Aug. 12) published online at Massage Magazine, I was unaware of the NCBTMB’s restrictions and am, frankly, appalled. I agree that the NCBTMB is taking the easy way out by not evaluating home-study courses, and that home-study courses can be valuable for massage therapists.
I am fortunate to live in an area (DC/Baltimore) which regularly offers good hands-on CE courses, but there are many massage therapists who live and work in rural areas who are not so lucky. And over the last year I have not had the funds* to attend locally offered courses; home-study courses provide me with a less expensive alternative.
Education is very much what one puts into it. I have taken CE classes which were attended by some individuals who were obviously just there to accumulate CEUs; they didn’t put forth much effort and did not get much out of the class. The NCBTMB is telling us that that is superior to a well-designed home-study course in the hands of a motivated, intellectually curious massage therapist? No thinking person could believe such a thing.
The NCBTMB’s restrictions are arbitrary at best; they not only hurt massage therapists, but negatively impact continuing education in the long run. Developing a quality home-study course takes a great deal of investment of time and resources on the part of CE providers — that effort should be rewarded by NCBTMB, not punished.
There is also a potential downside to NCBTMB itself; last year Maryland dropped NCBTMB certification as a condition of license renewal. With NCBTMB eliminating less expensive CE options in favor of more expensive CE classes, how many massage therapists in Maryland will decide that NCBTMB certification is prohibitively expensive to maintain voluntarily? This scenario is likely to play out in other states, especially with AMTA endorsing the MBLEx and lobbying states to adopt the MBLEx over the NCE.
The NCBTMB needs to recognize that we are in the 21st century, not the 20th. There is an increasing market for home-study courses and there is constantly evolving technology that will make those courses even better in the future — but only if they are allowed to exist in the first place. The NCBTMB’s backward position closes the door on a market that should be wide open, explored, and developed.
Sincerely,
Mercedes Clemens, NCTMB, LMT, EBW
Gaithersburg, Md.
*My equine massage business was illegally shut down by the State of Md. for 17 months, which had a drastic effect on my income; fortunately, due to a recent judicial ruling, I am now back in business, but it will take some time to recover from that economic blow.
By Mercedes Clemens on Aug 15, 2009
In addition to Tom Myers, Art Riggs and Whitney Lowe, Cliff Korn has also been instrumental in reporting on the plight of NCBTMB’s home-study ruling. In fact, in the April, 2007 edition of Massage Today, Cliff was the first to report on NCBTMB’s shocking announcement. Please visit this link and read half way down the page: http://www.massagetoday.com/mpacms/mt/article.php?id=13576
By Erik Dalton on Aug 15, 2009
Please view Art Riggs’ insightful article on the home-study issue. Just posted last night, think you’ll enjoy his insightful perspective… http://www.massagemag.com/News/massage-news.php?id=7573&catid=251&title=guest-editorial-the-home-study-ce-hoax
By Erik Dalton on Aug 19, 2009
Please check out Tom Myer’s article on this subject @
http://www.massagemag.com/News/massage-news.php?id=7648&catid=251&title=guest-editorial-more-thoughts-on-online-education
I posted a comment that will appear tomorrow…thx.
By Erik Dalton on Aug 27, 2009
Ken Nelson August 28 at 3:06pm
Hi Erik
Some more thoughts on internet and home studies. My father was a professor and I strongly believe in formal education. However, attending an institution does not make one a student. After Viet Nam(US Navy) I enrolled in college. It did’nt take long to figure out that one could get high grades without being a student. Even when I attended Massage school 80% of the students only wanted to know just what was on the test. I told them that people in pain don’t have a multiple guess test taped to their back. (It was a good school and I belong to the national honor society) A student is one who is engaged in the acquisition of knowledge by reading and investigation. I believe that manual therapy practices are at a very exciting time and will be recognized in the medical field. However, we must be real students and be prepared for the professional challenge. Erik, I am honored to be one of your students. Your presentations are completely full of detailed content. I will tell you that, I have had to watch your video over many hundreds of times (play/rewind etc.) and study many other books until I truly understand and am able to provide application. With the videos, I study your text. Your references are excellent. Your texts and videos are a springboard to knowledge. I have ordered many books that you have referenced. My library has grown and they are like good friends. Without homestudy progams and text books available with great detail, I would not have the knowledge to be the best I can be as a practitioner. I do not know how to create a passionate student and/or a client; however, detailed study programs by you and other masters in the bodywork field placed in the hands of passionate students are exponentially life changing to millions of people.
I encourage other students to see the vision that you have laid before us. This profession is not a “tool box” bright and pretty that we show but a gratifying, science and practice that has the potential of helping complicated and detailed infinitely valuable humans be pain free to enjoy the dreams goals of their lives.
Although exciting, this is not about me. It is a defense of higher learning provided by masters in our field willing to put incredible time and effort to produce very high quality texts and programs to enhance our education .
Thank you for being my professor
Ken Nelson
By Ken Nelson on Aug 29, 2009
People like you Ken are what cause educators like me to maintain a frantic pace of writing, researching…and traveling (against my wife’s better judgement). I too have collected many mentors over the years. During the very first class I took with Philip Greenman at Michigan State College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1992, I said to myself…this is who I want to be when I grow up. But I soon realized he’d probably forgotten more than I would ever know.
People like Greenman, Rolf, and Janda have offerd a challenge to be the best therapist I can be and I’m blessed to be a small part of the greatest profession on the planet. Keep the passion bro…
By Erik Dalton on Aug 29, 2009
After my quick read of this article, I have come away with the idea that even though I am a qualified and experienced massage therapist, I will no longer be allowed to use home study material with visual teachings. Is this correct??? I am a visual learner. I often review my modalities by watching a visual.
This will totally stop my home study learning. I cannot learn/fine tune technique without a visual and I would venture to say many learn the same way.
I value hands-on classes in learning new techniques. I understand this. We should never be an oonline school for basic learning. BUT when fine tuning or taking a review study for my benefit and the benefit of CEUs for renewal, I need the visual. When I live in a rural area, how do I afford traveling for every class?
By Kristine Rose on Aug 31, 2009
I couldn’t agree more Kristine.
We’re starting a petition that may be taken seriously by NCB…or not…we’ll see. Lot’s of emotion surrounding this issue.
I think NCB’s decision was a “knee-jerk” reaction to some of the complaints about the the quality of home-study courses they’d approved. Probably never thought it out or they’d have never come to such a ridiculous conclusion…thx.
By Erik Dalton on Aug 31, 2009
It’s a shame. When organizations become like government agencies and begin to run amuck with no one to control those who are trying to control us. Their attempts should be minimally invasive to the people they serve. Maybe we as a body politic should pull the plug on those who have seemingly become obsessed with their own powwer they imagine they have. D
By Dan Dutcher on Sep 1, 2009
Well said Dan…It appears there is a movement afloat to do just that.
However, NCB has just announced the hiring of a new managerial staff that may bring about much needed change….and, hopefully…some common sense.
By Erik Dalton on Sep 1, 2009
This upsets me.. Has anyone started a petition? All this will do is increase costs of CEU programs, and make them much more difficult to finish. I would travel to another state for Erik’s or Myers program but only for the satisfaction of completely their programs, and receiving their certificates of completion not some silly ceu’s. My primary concern with all these continuing education ceu programs is that they do not have enough live video! In fact that is my concern with all related ecucated programs including live classes. Having video presentations is probably the most important part of ones educational investment NCBTMB should of required live workshops or a live video broadcast. Say 1 day of group classroom or 2 days of group interaction over a live broadcast, and save that to video too! Put specifications on broadcast feed quality, etc.
Did NCBTMB create this new policy without community feedback? I never heard of it until now.
We are in a new age for education! Online classrooms are gaining momentum and are proving to be just as effective, especially when there is online interaction, video presentations, etc. You can do everything online that can be done in a physical classroom. “except for maybe a physics/chemist lab”
By Zac on Sep 14, 2009
I love the home study programs that I have done so far. I took a course which did provide a dvd of the techniques and I think it is much better then taking a hands on class. If I have questions or want to review, its easy to watch the video. If I take a hands on course I’m left with only what I can remember. I think the idea of not accepting those home study courses is just hindering those of us who have a passion for learning, but do not have the funds to travel to larger cities to find decent CE classes.
By Jennifer Muller on Sep 15, 2009
Totally agress Jennifer and there is currently a petition to alter NCBTMBs ruling on this subject at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/reverse-or-modify-ncbtmbs-decision-to-remove-online-courses
Am on my way out the door to teach in Atlanta and then on to the AMTA National Convention in Orlando. Will resume discussion in two weeks….best to you…ERIK
By Erik Dalton on Sep 16, 2009
Hello everyone!
Followed this thread—-notified the appropriate people at NCB and they are reviewing this as we speak. I’m certain that information regarding this issue will be coming very, very, very soon.
Thank you so much for bringing this issue forward and please feel free to contact Industry Relations at NCB via email for other “Industry Concerns”
Angie Palmier = apalmier@ncbtmb.org
Chris Alvarado = calvarado@ncbtmb.org
Respectfully,
Angela Palmier
Industry Relations
By Angela Palmier on Sep 17, 2009
Good news from NCBTMB Board Directors and Volunteers,
I wanted you to be aware of the fact that we are releasing a statement – on industry blogs and to the media and APs – regarding NCBTMB’s Education/Kinesthetic Policy.
NCBTMB Announcement Concerning Distance Education/Kinesthetic Policy
Suspending instructor/proctor requirement for home study and DE programs
The definition and delivery of continuing education (CE) continues to evolve rapidly in this country, and NCBTMB is committed to ensuring that its policies reflect current standards and best practices.
With this objective in mind, NCBTMB’s Continuing Education Committee met in 2007 and proposed that distance education (DE) for kinesthetic (hands-on) programs require an instructor to be “present” for the final assessment of acquired skills. This policy was developed with the intent of serving the best interests of Approved Providers, certificants and consumers, and included a 3-year grace period for pre-existing courses and completed CE hours.
Based on input from the profession – as well as enhanced DE delivery methods – NCBTMB’s Board of Directors will re-visit this policy during its Q4 Meeting. Until a final decision is reached and communicated to the profession, NCBTMB is suspending its instructor/proctor requirement for home study and DE programs.
If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Wagley, Director of Communications, at jwagley@ncbtmb.org or 630-652-0483.
A step in the right direction. Congratulations to the NCB Board for such a rapid response to this issue ~ ERIK
I’ll let you know when a final decision is reached. Thank you.
Paul R. Lindamood
CEO
By Erik Dalton on Oct 14, 2009