The term "CEU" is not universally understood as the same thing. Even all of the state boards don't have a common definition of this term. Be aware of how your state board defines a CEU in advance of obtaining CE from an online provider. "Contact hour" or "clock hour" is a different term used in place of "units". This term gives a better frame of reference when assigning the amount of continuing education credit to a course. Let's look at each term individually.

First term we will discuss is "unit". This is the term used when using the acronym CEU. Most organizations rely on the universally accepted definition of a CEU equaling 10 hours of instruction time. Not all organizations within the mental health field hold to one definition. Some states say one CEU equals 10 hours of instruction, while other states will say one CEU is equal to one hour of instruction. In light of this conflict mental health state boards are moving away from using the term CEU or Unit when explaining the continuing education requirements of their licensed professionals. The term "contact hour" (or in some instances the term "clock hour") is gaining more widespread acceptance.

"Contact hour" means what is says, one hour of "contact" with the learning material or one hour of actual presentation from a speaker. This one hour is usually accepted to be 50 minutes. The 50 minute definition was applied because of the necessity for breaks during multiple session seminars and conferences. With this definition, it is easy to determine the credit at a live conference. How would this be defined with those earning continuing education through written materials at home?

Because the reading speed of individuals ranges dramatically, one hour of reading for one person can equate to a completely different amount of material for someone else. How is a "contact hour" measured with this format? The National Board for Certified Counselors has a formula based on an average reading speed and the measure of words per hour based on that average. Here is an excerpt from the NBCC website explaining this:

"2. Home Study Programs.

Home study-approved clock hours must be calculated in accordance with the following requirements.

The number of hours of credit awarded must be based on an accurate word count for text-based materials, and on an accurate word count plus listening/viewing time for mixed text and audio/visual materials. A reading speed of 66 words per minute is used to calculate the number of clock hours that may be awarded for text-based home study programs. One hour of continuing education credit may be awarded for a minimum of 4,000 words of text."

http://www.nbcc.org/Assets/CEProvider/approvedproviderpolicies.pdf (page 10)

In conclusion, it is important to know what definition your state board relies upon for CEU and use that as your definition. Otherwise, you will end up with less credit then you originally thought and find yourself scrambling to make up the credit. Because virtually every state accepts the term "contact/clock hour" make sure this is what gets printed on your certificate of completion for any online courses you take.