The Minnesota Board of Psychology (Board) is committed through its strategic plan to advancing stakeholder outreach and to the relationships it is building with the public, its licensees, and all communities within the State of Minnesota. The Boards efforts to connect with Greater Minnesota have included annually hosting a board meeting in a Greater Minnesota community in September as well as bringing to these communities free continuing education opportunities including the Boards Cafandeacute; conference programming.
The Board feels strongly about its theme of putting a face on the Board, and has accomplished this by offering free in-person trainings and presentations by staff and board members to professional firms and organizations requesting additional information on Board processes and pertinent issues. Efforts to put a face on the Board also include staff and Board member participation in the Minnesota Psychological Association (MPA) annual meeting as an exhibitor and as a presenter as well as increased educational mailings that can serve as reference materials.
One of the Boards visions is that innovative use of technology advances efficient processes. This vision is supported in action by the Boards new website, expanded online services, automated workflows to speed application processing, and electronic educational materials. With respect to electronic educational materials, the Board created PRE Practice Scenarios available on its website that can be used in preparation for the Professional Responsibility Examination (PRE) or for graduate students looking to explore frequently occurring ethical issues the Board investigates. In addition to the PRE tool, the Board has recently modified is examination program that administers the Professional Responsibility Examination (PRE) so that the PRE can be taken at multiple locations across the State of Minnesota and the United States. The expansion of our PRE offerings by contracting with a new exam administrator will greatly increase access for those seeking licensure. It is the hope that this addition will allow those in Greater Minnesota to remain in their communities while testing and preparing for licensure.
Another way the Board promotes innovative use of technology to accomplish its vision and mission is by offering electronic versions of its continuing education events. Last year, the Board provided a live webcast version of its continuing education conference, Forging a Path. Unfortunately, the feedback we received required that we take action to improve this offering. The live webcast version of Forging a Path, had various technical complications, along with inconsistent and challenging audio. The quality of the offering did not meet with Board values of communication, simplification, and professionalism.
This year, for the Boards continuing education conference, Beyond the Boundaries, the Board has partnered with a team of professionals to ensure that the webcast version of its conference is of high quality, is easy to utilize, and provides a much improved experience to our stakeholders who are unable to join us in person on May 21, 2015 in St. Paul, Minnesota. As such, the conference will not be live streamed, but will be captured and compiled into a free webcast eligible for the same amount of continuing education credits. The main difference, beyond improved quality, is that the webcast will follow the live offering by approximately two to three weeks depending on production time, and will require, as it did last year, a post-test. In addition to improving the video and audio quality, we also seek to honor our value of diversity by extending this option to our stakeholders who find it challenging to travel and to step away from practice for an entire day to join us. Finally, the new webcast format and the team of professionals we have assisting us will make it possible for us to ensure closed captioning and key accessibility standards are met.
As we continue to reach out to all of those impacted by the Boards work, we appreciate your commitment to remain open, to stand with the Board, and to assist us in removing traditional boundaries that may have stood in the way from you seeing the Board as a resource, as accessible, and as one willing to go beyond the boundaries, to ensure that the public is protected through licensure, regulation, and education in order to promote access to safe, competent, and ethical psychological services.
