Continued

Continued is an online continuing education service sold by subscription to licensed and credentialed professionals. It is a learner product: a practitioner joins, gets a year of unlimited courses in their own field, and earns the CEUs, CE credits or hours their license or credential requires. The home page lists the professions it serves, each with its own course library and site: athletic training, audiology, counseling, early childhood education, massage therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychology, respiratory therapy, social work and speech-language pathology. The company's pitch is short: Continued "is a convenient, affordable solution that fits your lifestyle and learning style." Individuals sign up on their own, and the home page adds that "your organization can save with our group pricing discounts."

How the subscription works

The home page describes the service in three steps.

Join. "When you join, you get 12 months of unlimited access to the course library for your professional area." The subscription is tied to a profession, so an occupational therapist joins the occupational therapy library and a social worker joins the social work library. The FAQ answers the question of when a subscription ends in two words: "12 months after you join."

Learn. Courses can be taken "at home, in your office, or on the go," on any device, "including your phone or tablet." They come in four formats: live webinars, video, audio and text. The FAQ frames the choice as "Social, solitary, visual, verbal," and says there is a format for every type of learner. The practical gain is that a practitioner is not tied to one way of studying for the whole year: a live session one month, an audio course on a commute the next.

Earn. Completed courses count toward "the CEUs, CE credits, or hours you need," and the home page promises "convenient CE tracking." Continued keeps a transcript of completed coursework, and a dashboard shows progress through the courses. On the social work site the tracking goes one step further: "We track your CE and provide info you need about your state license requirements," and a state selector filters the course library to the courses that fit a given state.

The selling point behind all of this is volume without counting: the home page says you can "Take as many CE courses as you like, as often as you want, for one low price." For a practitioner who wants more than the minimum, or who uses CE to explore a new specialty, the unlimited model means extra courses cost nothing beyond the subscription itself.

Social work: the library in detail

The social work site gives the most specific picture of what a subscription contains. Its headline list reads:

• "400+ courses, new courses added weekly"
• "Live webinar, video, text, & audio formats"
• "Course completion certificates provided"
• "ASWB Approved Continuing Education Provider"
• "CE Broker reporting"

The price sits right under that list: unlimited CE access for $99 a year. Further down the page repeats it: "A subscription is just $99 a year and gives you unlimited access to continuing education courses."

On approvals, the page states that Continued "is an ASWB Approved Continuing Education (ACE) Provider" and that its social work courses are "widely accepted by state boards." For social workers who track their renewal hours through CE Broker, that reporting is part of the offer.

The topics named on the page are clinical social work, cultural competence, ethics, trauma-informed care and substance abuse, with a link to the full course library for the rest. The page describes the courses as "evidence-based," says they are "presented by leading experts," and says "the library is developed and overseen by an experienced team of social work professionals." It also stresses that new courses are added weekly so that practitioners can stay current "whether you're newly licensed or have been practicing for years."

There is a way to try before paying. The social work page invites newcomers to "Take a free course to see how easy it can be to earn CE credits online," and adds in brackets "No credit card. No commitment." That is a single free course, not a free plan: unlimited access still needs the paid subscription.

Price and plans

The pricing structure is simple. Individuals pay one subscription for one profession's library, which runs for 12 months from the day they join. The social work page prints the price as $99 a year; the home page itself names no figure and sends visitors to their profession's site to join. Organizations that want to cover several staff members are pointed to group pricing discounts, which have their own Group Pricing page on the social work site.

The home page FAQ meets the obvious question head-on. Under "So affordable! What's the catch?" the answer is "No catch!" followed by a link to a longer list of the top 10 questions. Help, a contact page, a phone line, a newsletter with new courses and special offers, and an affiliate program are linked from the footer.

What subscribers say

Three testimonials on the home page come from three of the professions. Taylor Stewart, MA, CCC-SLP, a speech-language pathologist, writes "Online learning is a great way for me to continue my quest for knowledge. I love continuing education courses, and I enjoy being able to learn online from the comfort of my home." Katie Harrington, AuD, an audiologist, writes "I can keep up with what is new in audiology at my own pace." Mitch Miller, PTA, a physical therapist assistant, says the service "has allowed me to access the courses that best fit my line of work" and adds "I can't say enough good things about it!" The home page sums up its standing by saying thousands of professionals trust Continued for content "developed and presented by leading experts."

Who it suits

Continued fits a working clinician or educator who renews a license or credential regularly and would rather pay once than buy hours course by course. Social workers have the clearest case: an ASWB ACE provider, CE Broker reporting, state-specific course filtering, completion certificates and a printed price of $99 a year. Speech-language pathologists, audiologists, therapists, counselors, psychologists, athletic trainers, massage therapists, respiratory therapists and early childhood educators get the same subscription model through their own sites. Practitioners who study best by listening will value the audio format, and those who want to see the courses first can start with the free course.

Organizations such as clinics, schools and agencies can use the group pricing route rather than reimbursing individual subscriptions one by one.

Two caveats. The subscription covers one profession's library, so a practitioner who holds two different credentials should check that each one is covered. And because the year runs from the day you join, it makes sense to sign up when you are ready to start working through courses rather than months before a renewal deadline.