Section 3119.60  Continuing Education Requirements

a)         The certification must be received by the Director at least 30 days prior to any course being offered.

b)         For purposes of this Section, "full credit" shall mean the reasonable amount of time, as certified by the provider, that is necessary for a student to study for and pass an examination, or in the case of a course with no examination, the number of documented classroom attendance hours.

c)         Courses shall be intended to increase the knowledge and understanding of insurance principles and coverages, applicable laws, insurance regulations, agency management, customer service and sales.  The following courses shall not be considered for continuing education:

1)         Courses used for insurance pre-licensing training or insurance qualifying examination preparation.

2)         Courses with less than 1 hour of certified continuing education credit.

3)         Courses in excess of 12 hours of certified continuing education credit.

d)         For purposes of this Section, the minimum number of hours may be made up of any combination of classroom, seminar, or self-study hours.

e)         One credit will be awarded for each 50 minutes of contact instruction.

f)         No credit shall be given for a self-study course if the student does not successfully complete the examination.  If the student fails an examination and successive examinations are given, the successive examinations must be substantially different from each other.  Self-study courses are subject to the following additional requirements:

1)         No students shall evaluate their own examination.  The evaluation of the examination must be completed by the provider;

2)         No provider shall furnish the answers to an examination prior to the student completing the examination;

3)         Self-study exams must contain at least 25 questions.  The number of questions must increase proportionately as the amount of material increases;

4)         No more than a third of the questions shall be true/false; and

5)         Credit hours shall be determined by the time it may take a student to study the material using 10 8½" by 11" full pages per credit hour (10-12 point font text), single line spacing with 1" margins.

g)         Interactive Online Courses

Interactive online is considered to be a type of self-study course.  Interactive online courses are, by definition, only presented on the Internet and do not require a proctored final exam.  To be eligible for certification under Section 3119.30, an interactive online course must meet the following additional requirements:

1)         The course must provide at least 5 questions after each unit or chapter.  The questions must be answered prior to proceeding to the next unit or chapter.  The material may be reviewed while answering questions;

2)         The course must provide clear instructions on how to navigate through the course;

3)         The course must provide the ability to go back and review any unit at any time;

4)         The course must provide online viewing access to the Department at all times;

5)         The course must include a statement that the student information will not be sold or distributed to any third party without prior written consent of the student.  Taking the course shall not constitute consent;

6)         The course must provide some type of encryption.  All personal information, including credit card number, name and address of the student must be encrypted so that the information cannot be read as it passes across the Internet;

7)         Students must affirm that they, and only they, completed the course; and

8)         The course must include the ability to contact an instructor (i.e., automated e-mail).

h)         LTC Training Credit

1)         Continuing education credit may be earned based on the criteria established in Section 3119.65.

2)         Training credit may be obtained after a failed examination if the provider gives, and the student successfully completes, a substantially different examination.

3)         If a student receives training credit only, the provider shall issue a proof of completion certificate to the student but the certificate shall be prominently stamped "NO CON-ED CREDIT".

(Source:  Amended at 44 Ill. Reg. 3910, effective March 2, 2020)