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Professional Practice
By Ray Bower, AACI
Chair, Professional Practice Seminar Redevelopment Committee
The new
Professional Practice Seminar
In 2013, a new Continuing Professional Development
(CPD) cycle will begin. For the past 15
years, one of the mandatory requirements of
the CPD program was the successful completion
of the two-day Professional Practice Seminar.
Some AIC members have now taken the same
course three times. To coincide with the new
CPD cycle, and to avoid further repetition, a new
program is currently being developed.
For all students and Candidate members, the
existing two-day Professional Practice Seminar
will be updated and continue as a prerequisite.
For designated members, the new CPD
requirements will be successful attendance at a
one-day Professional Practice Seminar which will
cover any new developments in the Canadian
Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice
(CUSPAP), as well as the insurance program.
More importantly, the majority of the session will
focus on actual ‘case studies.’
There is only one way to learn how to do
something and that is to do it. Throughout
history, youths have been apprenticed to masters
in order to learn a trade. Learning a skill means
eventually trying your hand at the skill.
Sometimes, it is not practical for students to
learn every skill they need to know by actually
performing it. We can afford to allow somebody
to be a nursing assistant in the emergency room,
but we cannot afford, in Groucho Marx’s words,
to allow that person to be an “amateur brain
surgeon.” For this reason, the continuing educational
aspect of the Appraisal Institute of Canada
(AIC), particularly in the area of Standards and
Ethics, is of the utmost importance. In our profession,
the risks are too great to allow one to learn
simply by trying things out. While, in certain
situations, it may be acceptable to ‘fiddle around
and see what happens,’ the appraising profession
requires teachers, advisors, or colleagues to look
over a member’s shoulder. This form of education
allows members to gain from the experiences
and observations of others. It allows others to
intervene and give perspective on what they are
doing by sharing the experiences of those who
have preceded them.
For example, when beginning a career in
appraising, the student takes courses of instruction
that teach the theory of the task without the
need for the student to concentrate on actually
performing the task. Soon after the student
learns basic theory, the apprenticeship begins
and the student continues the education by
‘hands on’ experience. Real estate appraising and
consulting is a profession that constantly evolves.
Not only are the types of assignments continually
changing, but the types of properties requiring
the skills of appraisers are numerous. Even the
most seasoned appraiser can find himself or herself
in a new situation involving either a different
approach to a problem or simply a different type
of real estate. The learning aspect of the profession
never ends.
The current group of Certified Professional
Practice Seminar Instructors generally agrees
that, in presenting the content of the current
two-day seminar, the best part of the presentation
lies in relaying the actual experiences of the
various Professional Practice committees and
actual Insurance issues involving the members.
These experiences and issues are being formulated
into ‘case studies’ for all members to share.
‘Case studies’ are summaries or syntheses of
real-life cases. Generally speaking, they require
the student to isolate and think through the key
issues involved as well as identify appropriate
strategies for the resolution of the ‘case.’ Students
can weigh the pros and cons of the remedial
options/strategies, recommend and present a
rationale for the best resolution, and compare
their thinking with the actual outcome of the
‘case’ they are examining.
By their very nature, teaching and learning
styles are changing and, in recent years, there
has been a noticeable move from lecture-based
activities towards more student-centered activities,
based on topics that demonstrate theoretical
concepts in an applied setting. The ‘case studies’
being prepared for the new Professional Practice
Seminar will range from short individual case
studies to longer group-based activities and will
cover topics of interest to both residential and
commercial practitioners.
In order to satisfy the requirements of our
insurance program, the frequency of the oneday
attendance requirement will likely increase.
In other words, designated members will be
required to attend the new one-day session more
than once during the ensuing five-year cycle.
However, each session will offer different ‘case
studies,’ so designated members will not be
faced with repetitive material.
Professional Practice Seminar
Redevelopment Committee
Ray Bower, AACI, Chair
Vesa Jarvela, AACI
Peter MacLellan, AACI
Chris Perret, AACI
Deana Halladay, CRA
Royl Mayr, AACI
Stephanie Anglehart-Paulin, AACI
Davida Mackay
David Shum, AACI, Board Liaison
To contact this committee, email:
standards@aicanada.ca
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