Continuing Accessibility Education Credits (CAECs)

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 yearly IAAP membership to all employees. 

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

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

A wide array of activities count towards CAECs. 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
  • 37th Annual CSUN Assistive Technology Conference
  • Axe-con
  • The 2022 Disability:IN Annual Conference
  • Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD)
  • M-Enabling Summit
• On-Demand self-paced trainings
  • All Level Access, Deque, and Trusted Tester webinars
  • On-Demand Webinar – Undertaking JAWS Screen Reader Compatibility Testing in Real Life
  • On-Demand Webinar – The Business Case for Accessibility and HR’s Role
  • 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. But, there are also a large number of free or low cost online webinars that may be of interest listed on our A11y Webinars Google Calendar.

How can I earn CAECs?

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, or any other confirmation from the activities or event.
• 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 CAECs?

Submit your CAECs online by choosing your credential's CAEC submission from the list below. You can submit multiple CAEC events in one form.

• CPACC
• WAS
• CPWA

CAEC credits are reviewed at the end of each month. You can anticipate receiving email confirmations with your most recently requested CAECs and your total CAEC credits by the 15th of the following month.