By Pamela R. Rorie, Continuing Education Officer
An eager crowd of real estate instructors, school officials and publisher representatives attended the 2014 Real Estate Educators Conference in Raleigh on March 17-18 at the Hilton North Raleigh/Midtown. The Commission-sponsored meeting drew 170 participants from across the state.
Miriam Baer, Commission Executive Director, kicked off the conference with a “Commission Update” in which she gave an overview of the past year’s activities and initiatives accomplished by its staff. Baer noted the new Commission Web site, proposed changes in educational requirements for brokers-in-charge who may now take an elective course as part of their annual continuing education requirement, and a library of new videos to inform and instruct brokers and consumers.
Bruce Moyer, the Commission’s new Director of Education and Licensing, addressed the Conference for the first time. He succeeds Larry Outlaw, who retired effective March 1, after 35 years of service.
A demonstration of the Commission’s newly re-designed Web site was presented by Jake Gore, the Commission’s Network Administrator. Gore emphasized the site’s improved search capabilities and the structure of the new Home page from which visitors can more easily navigate to other areas of the site.
A highlight of the first morning session was the Instructor Development Workshop conducted by Vicki Ferneyhough, DREI. Ferneyhough provided instructor attendees with various strategies and suggestions for teaching all types of adult learners. She stressed the importance of learning new instructional methods, staying current in the profession and constant self-evaluation in order to obtain superior results as an instructor.
During the first day’s luncheon, the North Carolina Real Estate Educators Association (NCREEA) held its spring meeting, officiated by President Brian Pate. Immediate Past President Kim Stotesbury conducted the annual awards presentation, which included this year an “Emeritus Award” presented to former Commission Director of Education and Licensing Larry Outlaw for his outstanding contributions to real estate education.
The Association presented its “Program of the Year” award to Dr. Deborah Longfor her continuing education elective course, From Heaven to Hell: Air, Surface and Subsurface Rights., and its “Educator of the Year” award to Tom Mangum, Vice President and Director of the HPW Real Estate School.
Mangum was also the receipient of the Commission’s Billie J. Mercer Excellence in Education Award, presented by Commission Chairman Everett “Vic” Knight. The award is given annually in memory of former Commission member and chairperson, Billie Mercer, who was especially dedicated to the cause of real estate education. The names of all award winners are engraved on the Mercer Award cup that is displayed in the Commission’s lobby. Commission members Cindy Chandler and George Bell were also in attendance for the award presentation.
The afternoon session began with NCREEA President Brian Pate giving a demonstration of NCREEA’s improved website. New Commission Education and Licensing Director Bruce Moyer then discussed changes and improvements within the Division.
The first day’s program concluded with the popular “Legal Issues, Hot Topics and Open Forum” segment featuring the Commission’s Director of Regulatory Affairs Janet Thoren, Assistant Director Charlene Moody, and Deputy Legal Counsel Fred Moreno. They discussed various legal topics including a case law update, and answered many questions from conference attendees.
Anita Burt, Education & Examination Officer opened day two of the conference with a Pre- and Postlicensing Education Update, in which she discussed proposed amendments to several rules impacting the pre- and postlicensing programs, and also recognized instructors and schools exhibiting superior exam performance during the previous license year. Dr. Lawrence J. Fabrey, Senior Vice President of Psychometrics at AMP (Applied Measurement Professionals, Inc.), discussed the examination development process as well as how North Carolina exam candidates compare with candidates nation-wide.
Pamela Rorie, Continuing Education Officer spoke to the group about various proposed rule amendments affecting the Continuing Education Program, and reminded CE instructors and sponsors of upcoming responsibilities and deadlines.
Legal Education Officer Tricia Moylan discussed with participants a summary of the remaining proposed amendments to Commission Rules, and informed attendees of the proposed topics for the 2014-2015 Update course.
The conference concluded with a very informative and highly entertaining presentation by Matt Davies and Len Elder, DREI on “Technology in the Classroom.”
The Commission thanks North Carolina’s real estate educators for their continued interest and support, and congratulates Larry Outlaw, Tom Mangum, and Deborah Long for their achievements.
This article came from the May 2014-Vol45-1 edition of the bulletin.