AIG joins with EduMine to deliver world leading Continued Professional Development opportunities to members
The Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG) has reached agreement with EduMine to establish an AIG EduMine Campus that will provide members with access to an extensive range of continued professional development (CPD) resources in the form of structured learning programs, able to be undertaken by members on-line, anywhere, at any time, and seminars streamed live from several locations around the world that provide participants with the opportunity to interact, in real time, with other participants and the course leader.
Establishment of the campus is an important development in AIG’s provision of CPD opportunities that compliments traditional offerings, in the form of highly accessible and affordable conferences, seminars and informal lectures and talks presented by AIG state branches, regularly, throughout Australia.
In working with EduMine to establish the campus, AIG joins a small, select group of leading professional institutes who have taken this step for the benefit of members.
EduMine is a division Infomine Inc., a global leader in the provision of geoscience and mining information services. EduMine is Infomine’s professional education division, established specifically to provide specialised CPD opportunities to geoscience and mining professionals, and allied mining industry personnel. EduMine offers a wide range of structured courses covering a wide range of topics, relevant to geoscientists working in all sectors of the profession. A unique aspect of many of EduMine’s courses is that they can be used as credit towards the award of formal postgraduate qualifications in mining by selected universities, in conjunction with lectures and research assignments. AIG has agreed that EduMine short courses, nominated by AIG, may be used as credit towards satisfying CPD requirements of the Registered Professional Geoscientist (RPGeo) programme.
AIG has had an affiliate agreement with EduMine for several years, whereby members have been entitled to a 10 percent discount on enrolment and course certification fees. Establishment of the AIG campus takes the relationship between AIG and EduMine to a higher level, offering greater benefits for members.
There are currently more than 100 short courses, accessible on-line, 24 hours per day, seven days per week, enabling members to undertake CPD when they want, wherever they happen to be. Courses provided by EduMine also cater for a range of levels of experience, from new graduates launching their careers to seasoned professionals seeking to expand their existing knowledge. Topics covered range from technical subjects spanning a variety of geoscientific fields, to issues becoming increasingly important to geoscientists particularly in the exploration sector such as building relationships with community stakeholders and earning a social licence to operate. There are also a range of courses covering geotechnical and mining engineering, and coal and minerals processing that offer geoscientists to expand their knowledge of these fields and better equip themselves to work with professionals from other disciplines. New courses are being added to the catalogue constantly.
Live “webcasts” presented regularly by EduMine are not covered by the Campus agreement. Access to these will continue to available to all AIG members at 10% discount of the normal seminar registration fee.
AIG will also assist members interested in developing and presenting courses commercially to do so using the EduMine platform, assisted by EduMine staff, with the dual aims of increasing the course content with an Australian flavour, and providing members with the ability to both share and commercialise their skills and experience with a global audience.
The AIG EduMine campus will be accessed through a dedicated EduMine portal via the AIG website or at http://www.edumine.com/campuses/aig/. Members who wish to access the campus will be required to enrol, and will be provided with a student ID that provides access to all EduMine content. Enrolment is not available to Student or Associate Members.
Members who complete a course may be requested to pay a nominal fee for assessment of course outcomes and certification of course completion. Certification is required if CPD hours are to be claimed as credit towards maintaining registration, and is recommended by AIG to all members who complete CPD work through the campus as a means of demonstrating completion of voluntary, self-initiated CPD activities.
Edumine enrolment is available to eligible financial members.
The AIG Council believes that establishment of AIG’s EduMine campus is an important initiative that delivers additional benefits to members and adds to the high quality, relevant range of CPD resources provided to members. The initiative directly targets CPD, which is at the core of being a professional. The campus also tangibly supports members who have elected to have their personal CPD efforts independently verified through AIG’s Registered Professional Geoscientist (RPGeo) programme with affordable, accessible resources needed to meet their CPD commitments, and will ideally, provide more members with the incentive to take up registration.
For further information about EduMine visit www.edumine.com or for more information about the campus contact the AIG Secretariat office (aig@aig.org.au).