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Continuing Education & CAUs

Accruing the Certification Renewal Requirements

Certificants must accrue at least 36 units during their renewal cycle. Units can be obtained through a combination of competency assessment units (CAUs) and professional development units (PDUs).

Accepted activity types are listed on the Certification Renewal Activities Chart.

Earn Free Units With the Navigator®

Our online tool assesses your competency across different domains of occupational therapy.


How to Convert Units

Continuing Education Units (CEU) and contact hours can be converted into Professional Development Units (PDU) as described below. Certificants can convert CEU to PDU using the PDU Calculator available through their MyNBCOT account under Renewal Log.

  • 1 contact hour (not to include meals or breaks) = 1 PDU
  • 1 clock hour (not to include meals or breaks) = 1 PDU
  • 0.1 Continuing Education Unit (CEU) = 1 PDU
  • One contact hour earned through successful completion of education (workshops, seminars, online courses, or conferences) with an assessment component at the end of the program (scored test, project, paper) provided by AOTA; AOTA approved providers; IACET-authorized providers; or regionally accredited colleges or universities = 1.25 PDU
  • 1 Competency Assessment Unit (CAU) = 1 Contact Hour or 1 PDU

NBCOT adheres to the CEU definition defined by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) of 1 CEU = 10 Contact Hours.

Earn Free Units with the Navigator®

Our online tool assesses your competency across different domains of occupational therapy.