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CEUs & CEPHs

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Continuing Education for Interior Designers in the State of Texas

Continuing education for interior designers is not a simple subject, especially in the state of Texas. The purpose of this page is to help members understand why it is not cut and dry. It is vital to understand the system so that you will be armed with knowledge that will allow you to fully understand and confidently comply with the requirements that apply you and the current stage of your career. Keeping abreast of the latest developments within our industry is vital to your practice and the profession as a whole.

Where can you find continuing education courses to fulfill requirements?

  • For in-person courses in and around Texas: Check the ASID Texas Calendar for courses offered at monthly Design Community meetings, by ASID Industry Partners, and at Celebrating Design Texas, the annual event held in August in Dallas that offers many courses over two days.
  • For in-person courses in and around the USA: Check the ASID National Calendar for courses offered at various events across the country.
  • For online courses that you can take anytime, anywhere: Visit the ASID Academy, the online learning management system that provides new opportunities for continued education and professional development for interior design professionals.

Acronyms & Important Background Information

IDCEC

International Design Continuing Education Council Inc. (formerly known as the Interior Design Continuing Education Council): The organization that serves as a central entity for the sharing of interior design continuing education information, approval, and registration.

The three IDCEC core member organizations...

  • ASID [American Society of Interior Designers]
  • IDC [Interior Designers of Canada]
  • IIDA [International Interior Design Association]

...work together to approve continuing education courses. Courses approved through one of these organizations is approved for all of these organizations.

 

TBAE

Texas Board of Architectural Examiners: A multi-profession regulatory agency that oversees the examination, registration, and professional regulation of architects, interior designers, and landscape architects. Registered Interior Designers [RIDs] pay annual registration fees and take continuing education annually to comply with TBAE’s requirements for registration and the ability to call oneself a Registered Interior Designer in the State of Texas.

CIDQ

Council for Interior Design Qualification: The organization that implements the NCIDQ Examination, which serves to identify to the public those interior designers who have met the minimum standards for professional practice. Successful completion of the NCIDQ Examination is a prerequisite for professional registration in those U.S. states and Canadian provinces that have enacted licensing or certification statutes to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. The NCIDQ Examination must also now be passed by designers applying for professional membership in various professional organizations (including ASID).

 

HSW

Health, Safety, Welfare: This term refers to courses having these types of educational components. Examples: following guidelines for barrier-free (ADA-compliant) spaces; understanding fire and building codes; choosing appropriate lighting levels and materials for the elderly; improving indoor air quality; planning safe, healthy hospital wards; choosing eco-friendly materials for the home; creating ergonomic workplaces; using daylighting for reduced energy consumption; etc.

CEU

Continuing Education Unit: The general term for continuing education. Some people use CEU and CEPH interchangeably, but this is not accurate.

CEUs do not necessarily address HSW issues – instead, they could consist of topics such as marketing one’s business, learning a new accounting or drafting software program, color forecasting, etc.

ASID requires its members take at least 10 Continuing Education Units (CEUs), equal to 10 contact hours of approved continuing education coursework, every two years. Find out more here.

CEPH

Continuing Education Program Hours: As of January 2013, TBAE requires that Texas RIDs must complete at least twelve (12) CEPHs per renewal period (i.e., annually). All CEPHs must include the study of subjects related to the ID profession and be pertinent to the health, safety, and welfare (HSW) of the public.

NOTE: All CEPHs must have HSW content, regardless of whether or not they have an IDCEC course number. TBAE has mandated that one of the 12 annual hours must be related to sustainable / energy-efficiency issues, and one of the 12 annual hours must be related to barrier-free / universal design.

All registrants are required to record and maintain their CEPHs on a CEPH Log, which is downloadable on the TBAE website here. The log is not submitted with one’s renewal payment – it is only to be provided if one is chosen for an audit; therefore, every RID should maintain the log in one’s records for a period of not less than five years. TBAE has strict guidelines about RIDs’ annual 12 CEPHs, all of which can be found here, with additional important CEPH FAQs here.

Reporting CEU Compliance for ASID Membership

When you pay your dues it indicates that you agree to remain in compliance with the CEU requirement because it is a required condition of membership. You do not have to submit any information to ASID about the courses you have attended. 

The only exception will be in the event you are one of the members selected for an audit, in which case more detailed records will be requested. For this reason, it is in your best interest to report / track your courses by logging into the IDCEC website. (See the IDCEC section above for more information.)

It is the responsibility of each ASID practitioner member to maintain personal files documenting successful completion of their continuing education coursework. This documentation/file for each course or program should be kept for four years from the date of course completion. If you are selected for an audit, you must present ASID with your verification of attendance or the completion certificate for all coursework.

The Basic Facts To Know:

  1. ASID is not a regulatory body – it is merely a professional organization, albeit a very respected one. Other professional organizations that focus on the design industry exist, and ASID is simply one of them.
  2. Being a RID has nothing to do with being a member of ASID. One can be a RID and have to pay annual registration fees to TBAE and take 12 annual CEPHs to sustain their registration, but not be a member of ASID. Conversely, one can be a member of ASID, and not a RID in Texas or anywhere else.
  3. Prior to May 12, 2009 – the date when Governor Rick Perry signed HB 1484 into law, amending the Texas Interior Design Title act from a “Naked” one to that of a “Qualified” one – if one was not a RID in Texas, one could not call oneself an “Interior Designer” as that was a violation of the Texas state Interior Design Title Act at that time. Alternate designations were: Designer, Decorator, Interior Decorator, Design Consultant, Intern Designer, Interior Stylist, Interior Consultant, etc. However, once HB 1484 passed, anyone can call themselves an “Interior Designer,” and those who are qualified and have registered with TBAE should set themselves apart by calling themselves a “Registered Interior Designer” or a “RID”.
  4. ASID itself does not approve any continuing education courses. Courses are instead approved by IDCEC, which also approves courses for other professional organizations that focus on the design industry. If you are an instructor interested in submitting a course to IDCEC for CEU approval, GO HERE to find out how.
  5. Although TBAE requires RIDs to take 12 CEPHs a year, TBAE does not designate specific classes as approved – it leaves it up to the RID to use his or her best judgment when choosing classes to count as CEPHs. Recently, TBAE has recognized IDCEC’s approval system as a valid approval method and will accept any IDCEC-approved HSW designation as legitimate. TBAE will accept classes that have not been approved by IDCEC if they feel that have met the HSW requirements; however, this is not 100% guaranteed. Bottom line: A class does not have to be IDCEC-approved to count as a CEPH for TBAE, but it does have to follow the requirements spelled here out here by TBAE.