Maintaining Your Membership and Certifications
To stay a member in good standing, you need to engage in continuing development of your skills. You also need to support and engage with the OLN community in your local region and worldwide, on social media. Each year, you are required to assemble 100 Continuing Development Units (CDUs) through a variety of qualifying activities. You self-report your activities and related CDUs through the course of the year.
Current Rules:
- All certificants must earn 100 CDUs per calendar year. This count applies to all of the certificates you hold and gets you current on all of then for one calendar year.
- Level 0 Certificate holders are required to earn at least 50 CDUs by engaging in any combination of Category 1 CDUs as listed below
- Level 1 Certificate holders are required to earn 100 CDUs by engaging in any combination of Category 1 CDUs as listed below
- Level 2 Certificate holders are required to earn 100 CDUs per calendar year according to the following mix: 50 CDUs or less from Category 1 and at least 50 CDUs from Category 2 activities
- Level 3 Certificate holders are required to earn 100 CDUs per calendar year according to the following mix: At least 40 CDUs from Category 3, up to 40 from Category 2 and up to 40 from Category 1
- Anyone who earns over 400 CDUs in a given calendar year is entitled to a complimentary. non-tranferable ticket to any Open Leadership Symposium conference event anywhere in the world over the next calendar year.
CDUs: Qualifying Activities By Category
| Activity | CDU Value | Category | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Writing articles and essays on Open topics on social media (blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) | 15 | Category1 | Value is applied per article or essay |
| Attending an Open Leadership Network Symposium event | 60 | Category1 | Attendance can be at any OLN Symposium event |
| Speaking at user group meetings such as Agile user groups and PMI, on Open topics | 15 | Category1 | Per occurrence |
| Speaking on Open principles, patterns and practices as an invited speaker at conferences | 20 | Category1 | Per occurrence |
| Volunteering at Open-affiliated conferences | 15 | Category1 | Must be for at least 4 weeks duration with an OLN-affiliated group |
| Volunteering at Open-affiliated user groups | 15 | Category1 | Per event |
| Taking a certified OLN Course | 60 | Category1 | Per course |
| Formally mentoring others who are seeking Level 2 certificates | 35 | Category2 | Per individual you assist in this way |
| Becoming an OLN Trainer in one Certified Course | 40 | Category2 | |
| Teaching the required minimum number of people per year in the discipline | 50 | Category3 | 75 students per year to keep your Trainer credential |
| Reviewing course material of Certified Classes submitted by Certified and Certified Instructor candidates | 35 | Category3 | The value applies to each Candidate that you assist |
| Bi-monthly mentoring calls of 1 hour on ZOOM, where the instructor coaches all Level 1 student-alumni in the work of becoming a competent practitioner and reaching Level 2 | 15 | Category2 | This is 2 hours a week |
Members and certificate holders can choose from any and all activities that qualify for CDUs. Members and certificate holders from from a mix of activities that match their interests, personality and talents. You can select the activities that suit you, according to the above table of activities and rules for earning CDUs at each certification level.