The District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and other states (contact specific state licensing board for more information) recognize programs sponsored and accredited by the DC Metro Chapter for license renewal for social workers. For information on applying for Contiuning Education for nationwide events, please contact the National CE approval program (click here). For more information on Licensing, visit local licensing boards or the Association of Social Work Boards.  The difference between CEUs, continuing education credits, and contact hours Contact Hours – This term refers to the number of hours a person is in an instructional environment (class, workshop, etc.).  In other words, if you attend a training from 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m., you will have two contact hours.  DC, MD, VA, and other states require that licensees in their state earn a certain number of contact hours in order to renew their license.  DC requires 40 hours of continuing education for license renewal for social workers every two years, which must include 6 hours of ethics eduation. The next renewal date wil be July 31, 2007.  Maryland requires 40 hours for license renewal, of which 3 hours in ethics education. Virginia requires 30 hours for two year renewal and has a 2 hour ethics requirement.  Check Licensing for links to these licensing boards for social workers. Continuing Education - Continuing Education Unit (CEU) is a trademarked term used by the International Association of Continuing Education and Training (IACET).  One continuing education unit (CEU) equals 10 contact hours. Therefore, .1 CEU equals one contact hour, .2 CEUs equals two contact hours, and so on.  This CEU language, is frequently used interchangeably to indicate actual hours of instruction, but we have maintained the appropriate differentiation between contact hours and continuing education units.  Continuing Education Credits – The DC Metro Chapter of NASW uses this term on its certificates for program participants who are licensed in states where licensing requirements use the same formula as CEUs (10 contact hours = 1 unit).