IAAP Education Credits

Virginia Tech is proud to offer the Accessibility Professional Certification Grants that allow faculty, staff, and graduate students to prepare for the certification exams from the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP). IAAP Certifications are valid for three (3) years. Membership in IAAP is required, and Virginia Tech provides a yearly IAAP membership to all employees. 

IAAP certification recipients can renew by earning Education Credits through Professional Development or Sharing Your Knowledge. Each credential (CPACC, WAS, CPWA) has its own number of required Education Credits. To maintain an active certification:

• CPACC requires a total of 45 Education Credits every three (3) years
• WAS requires a total of 35 Education Credits every three (3) years
• CPWA requires a total of 55 Education Credits every three (3) years

To support our members in maintaining their certification status, we have provided the following resources. Please reach out to the Accessible Technologies team at assist@vt.edu if you have questions or concerns about maintaining IAAP credential(s).

What Counts for Education Credits?

A wide array of activities count towards Education Credits. IAAP maintains a list of pre-approved options that may be of interest.

• View pre-approved CPACC credits.
• View pre-approved WAS credits.
• View pre-approved CPWA credits.

Some additional examples include:

• Conferences
  • Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) Conference
  • CSUN Assistive Technology Conference
  • Axe-con
  • Disability: IN Annual Conference
  • Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD)
  • M-Enabling Summit
• On-Demand self-paced training
  • All Level Access, Deque, and Trusted Tester webinars
  • On-Demand Webinar – Undertaking JAWS Screen Reader Compatibility Testing in Real Life
  • Webinar – VPAT® 101: Introduction to the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template

IAAP also accepts many opportunities that are not on the pre-approved list. Such as:

• Attending classes, workshops, webinars, and other educational events about accessibility.
• Presenting educational materials about accessibility outside your job function.
• Publishing articles, books, blogs, or other publications about accessibility.
• Participating in formal mentoring programs in accessibility.
• Speaking engagements at IAAP or other approved educational events.
• Volunteer service with IAAP.

Virginia Tech specific classes and workshops on accessibility are in the Professional Development Network (PDN) Course Catalog. 

How can I earn Education Credits?

When participating in an approved activity, you will need to collect some important information.

• For all events, conferences, or activities, record your registration, confirmation email, email from the webinar event, certificate of attendance, presenter registration, agenda, and/or any other confirmation from the activities or event. IAAP prefers to receive a copy of the agenda.
• For on-demand programs, where there is no registration, capture a screen grab of the opening of the program and collect the URL.

How do I submit Education Credits?

Learn more about submitting Education Credits online or go directly to the certification portal, log in, and follow the directions to submit credits.

Education Credits are reviewed at the end of each month. You can expect to receive email confirmations with your most recently requested Education Credits and your total Education Credits by the 15th of the following month.