The Federal Emergency Management Agency is changing the way Professional Development Series (PDS) Courses are delivered to make them more accessible to wider audiences and to give more delivery options to trainers. The PDS courses are being updated as Independent Study courses, and new procedures are necessary.

FEMA’s Professional Development Series consists of the following courses:

NOTE: PDS Courses will still be offered through the NJOEM in the traditional classroom format. Independent Study affords you an alternative option for taking PDS courses and may aid you in scheduling completion of the series.

The following courses are now available in Independent Study format :

There will be a common measure of evaluating achievement—a test – for every PDS course. A test will be given whether the course is taken on-line or in the classroom.

After July 1, 2003, all PDS courses taken for a Certificate of Achievement from the FEMA Emergency Management Institute will require that each student take and pass a test to be scored by the FEMA Independent Study Program Office.

For a PDS Certificate of Completion awarded after July 1, 2004, only courses for which a student has passed the tests will count toward fulfillment of PDS requirements.

July 1, 2003 to July 1, 2004 is a “grandfathered” period when courses taken before there were tests can still be used in fulfillment of PDS requirements.

For independent study versions of each course, a Student may request a paper copy from:

A student may also enroll online, access the course materials, and test online at:
http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/IS.

If you take the course on-line, you will take the test on-line. It will be scored by the FEMA Independent Study Office.

If you take the course in the classroom, you will take the test in the classroom. The Course Manager will administer the tests and then package and transmit completed tests to be scored by the FEMA Independent Study Office. A report on that classroom’s batch of tests will be sent to the State Training Officer. FEMA’s Independent Study Program Office will keep the transcripts.

All students will be notified of their test results by FEMA’s Independent Study Office. Students who pass will receive a Certificate of Achievement; those who fail will be given a chance to retake the test.

When a student has completed all seven courses, the PDS Certification of Completion will be prepared at FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute and sent to the State Director to award. \

If a student has taken any PDS classroom course without taking a test prior to that date, he or she must take the test at the end of the new independent study version of the course. For those who need to validate PDS courses taken at a time when there were no exams, a convenient way to get credit is by using the Independent Study Website address cited above and taking the online exams.