The first year of the Commission's mandatory continuing education program is officially underway. The first sponsors, instructors and courses have been approved and the first classes have been scheduled. In this issue of the Bulletin, the Commission introduces a new feature to provide licensees with information regarding approved course sponsors and classes scheduled in various cities and towns.

The list of approved sponsors and scheduled courses on pages 7 - 9 was compiled from information which was received from sponsors prior to the deadline for publication of the Bulletin. The number of approved courses and sponsors is expected to grow rapidly in the next few months, and the list will be updated accordingly in each future issue.

To obtain information regarding course fees, registration procedures and additional classes which may have been scheduled, you must contact the approved course sponsors directly - not the Real Estate Commission. The Commission requires sponsors to offer courses to all licensees on a first-come first-served basis, and to charge a single, all-inclusive fee which includes course materials. However, a course sponsor, such as a real estate firm, franchise or trade organization, may charge a higher course registration fee to a licensee who is not affiliated with the sponsor.

Course sponsors must advise prospective students of their cancellation and refund policies. Sponsors are also required to provide, upon request, a description of the course content sufficient to give prospective students a general understanding of the instruction to be offered in the course.

Each licensed real estate broker or salesman must, upon the second license renewal following initial licensure and every year thereafter, complete eight (8) classroom hours of Commission-approved continuing education in order to renew his or her license on active status. Articles on continuing education in previous issues of the Bulletin (Winter 1994 and Spring/Summer 1994) addressed the basic continuing education requirements in detail. However, the fact that continuing education is not required until the second license renewal following initial licensure merits additional clarification.

According to Commission rule, initial licensure is "the first time that a license of a particular type is issued to a person." The rule further states that issuance of a broker license to a person previously licensed as a salesman is considered to be initial licensure; however, reinstatement of an expired, revoked or suspended license does not constitute initial licensure.

Therefore, newly licensed brokers and salesmen are NOT required to complete continuing education in order to renew their licenses on active status for the first time following initial licensure. However, before renewing for the second time following initial licensure they must satisfy the continuing education requirement.

However, in order to renew on active status for the license year July 1, 1996-June 30, 1997, the licensees must satisfy the continuing education requirement before renewing in 1996. The broker-in-charge at every real estate office should pay particular attention to this provision of the continuing education requirement and be sure that it is clearly understood by all licensees in the office.

Upon initially checking in to a class session of an approved continuing education course, each licensee must provide his or her North Carolina real estate license number to the course sponsor or instructor. You are advised to arrive early for class in order to allow time for the check-in process.

To receive credit for the course, you will be required to enter your North Carolina real estate license number and name (exactly as it appears on your real estate license) on a special machine-readable Course Completion Report form. (A person with a nickname or a name likely to be very similar to that of another licensee, or who is known by his or her middle name should be aware that failure to provide the name as it appears on the license may cause serious delays or errors in the reporting of course completion to the Commission.) In order to have this essential information available when needed, you should take your current pocket renewal card with you to each session of an approved continuing education class for which you desire credit.

The entire Course Completion Report must be completed with a #2 lead pencil which will be furnished by the course sponsor, and the completed form must be turned in to the instructor before leaving the class.

Unlike some other states, North Carolina will not require satisfactory completion of a written test as a condition for receiving credit for a continuing education course. The Commission has determined that North Carolina licensees shall be awarded continuing education credit by satisfying established criteria concerning attendance and participation in class.

Students must attend at least 90% of the scheduled classroom hours for an approved continuing education course, regardless of the length of the course, in order to receive any credit for the course. There are no exceptions to this rule!

As a further condition of receiving continuing education credit, the Commission requires students of approved courses to direct their active attention to the instructor and to refrain from engaging in activities unrelated to the instruction. Students may not engage in any activities which are distracting to other students or to the instructor, or which otherwise disrupt the orderly conduct of a class.

Examples of prohibited conduct in the classroom include sleeping, reading a newspaper or book, performing office work, talking with other students, making or receiving cellular phone calls, receiving messages on a pager which can be heard by others in the classroom, rattling papers, and interrupting and/or challenging the instructor in a manner that disrupts the teaching of the course.

This strict rule has been adopted by the Commission to protect the interests of the large majority of licensees who desire a continuing education program of the highest possible quality.

Course sponsors are required to strictly monitor class attendance and student conduct. Their failure to enforce the attendance and participation requirement is cause for withdrawal of approval to conduct continuing education courses.

Since a large majority of licensees are active in residential sales, it is expected that most continuing education elective courses will focus on topics applicable to residential sales.

The Commission recognizes, however, that many licensees who specialize in other types of real estate transactions would prefer to satisfy the continuing education requirement by taking elective courses which address their special interests.

Licensees who are active in property management, commercial real estate, farm or land sales, or other specialty areas of the real estate business may be able to identify persons or organizations qualified to develop and offer continuing education courses on topics applicable to those specialties. Licensees may wish to let such prospective course sponsors know of their interests because the "law of supply and demand" can be expected to prevail: Prospective sponsors are likely to devote the time and effort necessary to develop and seek approval to sponsor courses for which there is a significant demand.

It is hoped that this series of continuing education articles and accompanying list of courses and schedules will be helpful as you make plans for satisfying the continuing education requirement. You are advised to save ,in as these articles and to refer to them as needed.