Background
The Professional Development Institute is a private career school licensed by the Maryland Higher Education Commission and the Virginia Real Estate Board. It is approved by the Maryland Real Estate Commission; the Real Estate and Appraisal Boards of the District of Columbia; the Maryland Appraisal Commission and the Maryland Division of Financial Regulation.
This manual addresses the Institute’s policies and procedures for the online continuing education courses approved by the aforementioned authorities and offered through the
Dearborn/REcampus™ education company. The policies and procedures for courses offered through the Thomson Computaught company appear in a separate manual.
Minimum System Requirements
To access and take the course, your system must conform to the following minimum
requirements:
- 56K modem (40 kbs)
- 800 x 600 (16 bit)
- Pentium II, 233 MHz
- Sufficient memory to run your system software and browser
- Windows 2000, XP, Me, NT, 98, 95
- Supported Browser is Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x, 6.x.
- Cookies enabled
- JavaScript enabled
Please note: AOL, Earthlink & Compuserve dial-up users should minimize their connection window and launch Microsoft Internet Explorer from the Start button in order to use the standard, supported Microsoft Internet Explorer browser.
Additionally, some courses will require Adobe Acrobat Reader software. This will be made known on the course enrollment page. The Reader is available as a free download. The enrollment page contains detailed information on how to obtain it, and a link for testing your computer.
Courses Offered
The following are offered through Dearborn/REcampus™:
Maryland real estate sales licensees. Mandatory legislative update, ethics, and fair housing courses, and electives on many topics.
Virginia real estate sales licensees. Continuing education courses, as well as residential and commercial post license courses for salespersons licensed fewer than two years.
Maryland mortgage lenders. Elective courses only. Mandatory courses are offered in our
classrooms.
Links to a complete list of online courses and what they are approved for, and a handy form you can use when enrolling for classes, are available on our web pages containing introductory information for each licensing jurisdiction.
Time Allotted to Complete the Course/Extensions
Each course must be completed within one year from the date of enrollment. After that date, you will no longer be able to access the class. There are no extensions if you do not complete the course within one year of enrollment.
Requirements for Completing the Course
To receive a course completion certificate you must pass unit quizzes before advancing to the
next unit, complete the entire course and pass a final exam. The passing grade on the quizzes is 90%. The passing grade on the final depends on the state and type of license you want continuing education credit for.
Maryland real estate agents, brokers and associate brokers. Dearborn/REcampus’ software is designed to require a passing grade of 65% on the final exam for Maryland real estate salespersons. However, the Real Estate Commission requires that you score at least 70% on the final to receive continuing education credit. If you score less than 70%, a completion certificate will not be issued.
Virginia real estate agents, brokers and associate brokers. Dearborn/REcampus’ software is designed to require a passing grade of 75% on the final exam for Virginia salespersons. If your score is lower, a completion certificate will not be issued.
Maryland mortgage lenders. Dearborn/REcampus’ software is designed to require a passing grade of 65% on the final exam for Maryland mortgage lenders. If your score is lower, a completion certificate will not be issued.
Repeating the Course and Final Exam
You may repeat the course and take the final exam as often as necessary, as long as you do so within one year of enrollment.
Reporting Course Completions/Affidavit for Maryland Real Estate Agents, Brokers and Associate Brokers
If you achieve the required passing score on the final exam, the online course will inform you via on the Study Plan page that you have completed the course and report your final exam score to us. You will then be able to print an affidavit. DO NOT DO SO, as the wording may not meet certain state requirements. Instead, USE THE AFFIDAVIT LINKED ABOVE. Have it notarized and mail it to The Professional Development Institute, Attention: Affidavit, PDI Administrative Office, Westfield North Building,
2730 University Blvd, Ste. 200, Wheaton, Maryland 20902. We will send the completion certificate by first class U.S. mail within 5 business days of receipt of the affidavit. Arrangements can be made for overnight delivery for a fee of $35.00.
Maryland real estate agents, brokers and associate brokers. Although the software will enable you to print the affidavit if you achieve a minimum passing score of 65%, you will not receive a completion certificate if you do not achieve the 70% minimum passing score required by the Maryland Real Estate Commission.
The Site Used When Enrolling for a Course Determines the Credit You Will Receive
Many of PDI’s online courses are approved for continuing education credit by several licensing authorities and states. Further, the same course may be approved for different topics, or different credit hours, by different jurisdictions. The courses available and the type and number of credits you receive will be determined by the site you used to enroll for the course.
E.g., Buyer Representation in Real Estate is approved for three hours of mandatory “legislative update” credits by the Maryland Real Estate Commission, and four hours of real estate related (elective) credits by the Virginia Real Estate Board. If you enroll in this class on the RECampus site for Maryland real estate licensees, upon completion you will receive a certificate for three hours of continuing education credit acceptable by the Maryland Real Estate Commission towards your “legislative update” renewal requirement. If you enroll in the course on the site for Virginia real estate licensees, you will receive a certificate for four hours of continuing education credit acceptable by the Virginia Real Estate Board towards your real estate related renewal requirement.
Please be sure you enroll on the correct site, as a certificate issued for one jurisdiction may not be accepted by another. A fee will be charged if you request a corrected certificate because you enrolled on the wrong site.
Credit for the Same Course in Different Jurisdictions/Additional Certificates
Continuing Education credit for license renewal purposes may be given by different agencies. In some cases, the topic and/or the number of credit hours will differ among the jurisdictions. E.g., Buyer Representation in Real Estate is approved for three hours of mandatory “legislative update” credit by the Maryland Real Estate Commission, and four hours of real estate related (elective) credit by the Virginia Real Estate Board.
If a course is specifically approved by another agency, we will provide a certificate showing the agency’s required wording and the number of credit hours approved by that agency. If not, we will provide a duplicate of the certificate you received. To illustrate, Home Inspection and Environmental Basics is approved by the Maryland Real Estate Commission for three elective credit-hours. It is not specifically approved by the Virginia Real Estate Board. If you request a certificate for the purpose of obtaining credit in Virginia, we will furnish an exact duplicate of the Maryland certificate.
Before requesting additional certificates, please check with your other regulatory authorities to determine their policies and procedures for granting credit for courses taken to satisfy another state’s license renewal requirements. Please note: you must have achieved a minimum passing score of 70% on the final to receive a certificate for Maryland real estate salespersons.
Under no circumstances will we provide an additional certificate if we cannot verify that you successfully completed the course, or you did not achieve the minimum final exam grade required by the licensing authority.
To obtain additional certificates, use the Certificate Request Form linked above. The fee is $14.95 per certificate.
Lost/Erroneous Certificates
Lost certificates. To receive a replacement for a lost certificate, send the Certificate Request Form linked above to us, Attention: Certificates. The fee is $14.95 per certificate.
Erroneous certificates. If, due to our fault, you received an incorrect or erroneous certificate, we will replace it free if we receive the Certificate Request Form linked above, and the original copy of the erroneous certificate with corrections clearly shown, within 14 days of the postmark on the envelope.
There will be a fee of $14.95 to replace a certificate if the request is received after 14 days, or if the error is due to any reason not our fault including, but not limited to, unclear handwriting or incorrect information on the affidavit. Under no circumstances will we provide a replacement certificate if we cannot verify that you successfully completed the course, or you do not return the original certificate with the embossed school seal.
Enrollment on Wrong Site/Corrected Certificates
If you enrolled on the wrong site, use the Certificate Request Form at the end of this manual to obtain a corrected certificate. Include the original certificate. The fee is $14.95 per certificate.
Under no circumstances will we provide a corrected certificate if we cannot verify that you successfully completed the course, or you do not return the original certificate with the embossed school seal.
Technical Support
Please call the Dearborn Technical Support Hotline at (888) 213-5124 if you are encountering system-type difficulties such as the following: the course will not run; graphics are not visible on your screen; your computer crashes while running the course. Technical support is available from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. CST daily.
Non-technical Questions
For questions concerning course content, please email us at distance learning@pditraining.net, or call us at (301) 949-1771. Non-technical support is available Monday-Friday, 8:30 am-5:00 PM EST, excluding federal holidays.
Refunds
The Professional Development Institute does not issue refunds for online courses. Before
enrolling, please ensure that your browser and system meet the requirements, above.
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