Arizona Department of Real Estate Education Update

August 30, 2018

Commissioner Judy Lowe
Arizona Department of Real Estate

 

Arizona Department of Real Estate (ADRE) recognizes that the caliber of real estate education provided to licensees is crucial in promoting professionalism and consumer protection. The ADRE, in collaboration with Arizona’s real estate educators, is constantly researching ways to enhance educational standards, including content quality, content relevance to Arizona’s real estate, and content delivery to the real estate profession.

In my last Journal column (April 2018), I shared the ADRE Focus on Education and the education goals outlined in the ADRE Strategic Plan. Two action items to be accomplished in 2018 include the following (with updates).

 

Action Item #1 – Improve the Quality of the Online Distance Learning Continuing Education (CE) Course Content.

As recommended by the ADRE Education Advisory Committee, a taskforce (under the leadership of Jon Kichen and Jim Hogan) met several times to review the ADRE Distance Learning CE course requirements and recommend improvement solutions to the commissioner. ADRE CE improvement actions shall be completed and implemented in early summer, and are to include (but are not limited to):

  1. Immediate separation of the ADRE CE Course Approval Application, the Distance Learning Course Approval Application, and the Prelicensing Course Approval Application;
  2. Modifications to the CE course requirements, as well as the ADRE CE Course Content Approval Application and the ADRE Distance Learning Course Content Approval Application;
  3. Review potential process improvement within the ADRE Education Division; and
  4. Increase the number of monthly volunteer monitor assignments from 13 to 25.

 

Action Item #2 – Review and modify, where necessary, the Arizona Real Estate Prelicensing education curriculum and the required exam(s) to make them more relevant to the present-day practice of real estate, while still adhering to Arizona’s statutory requirements, and to the proficiency of the real estate professional licensee.

In January 2018, a Prelicensing Review Committee, consisting of Arizona prelicense educators, was appointed the responsibility of reviewing and modifying the current 90-hour Detailed Instructor Outline Prescribed Curriculum (DIOPC) for both real estate salespersons and brokers. After many lengthy sessions, this group will soon present recommendations to the commissioner that will be considered in the initial proposed modification of the Prelicensing DIOPC. All components of the modified Prelicensing DIOPC and Examination Testing Outline for Salespersons and Brokers should be finalized by the fall of 2018. Then, the following will occur:

  • The revised Real Estate Salesperson and Broker DIOPC and Examination Testing Outlines will be posted to ADRE’s website, www.azre.gov, with links to the ADRE online outlines, and Salesperson DIOPC and Broker DIOPC. Watch for notices regarding the revisions, with plans to host an “Education Industry Day” with the Examination Testing Vendor.
  • A series of Prelicensing Instructor Development Workshop classes will be held.
  • ADRE will begin to accept Prelicensing Course Applications on a revised form.
  • It is currently proposed that all approved schools that currently offer prelicense courses must have submitted to ADRE no later than December 1, 2018, their Prelicensing Course Change Application(s) for all existing ADRE Real Estate Salesperson and Broker Prelicense Courses for review and approval prior to teaching.
  • During the above timeframes, the Examination Testing question bank will be reviewed and modified as needed to address modifications/additions to the DIOPC by Arizona Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). It will be very critical that every school and course content instructor cover the new curriculum content. This will take place the last quarter of 2018.

 

A version of this article was originally published in vol. 2018, issue 2 of the Arizona Department of Real Estate Bulletin.