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Introduction
Archival continuing education (ACE) provides professional archival knowledge beyond the formal credit/hour structure of education institutions. ACE connects with individual archivists in all phases of their careers by delivering basic, intermediate, and advanced courses in the areas of archival knowledge listed below.[1]
These guidelines encourage lifelong learning opportunities within the archival community, and our primary audience for the guidelines are providers of archival continuing education, including the SAA Education Department, state and regional archives associations, and other providers of archival education. Many secondary audiences will also find value in the guidelines, including archival educators and course designers, practicing archivists, allied professionals, employers, students, accrediting agencies, archival and library administrators, and those who participate in archival continuing education.
Continuing education is often focused on applied practice but should be grounded in archival principles, theories, histories, and values. All programs should engage the latest developments, technologies, and best practices in the knowledge areas.
Archival continuing education should address the areas of archival knowledge described by the Society of American Archivists Guidelines for a Graduate Program in Archival Studies 2023 (GPAS) and the Academy of Certified Archivists’ (ACA) Role Delineation Statement for Professional Archivists.[2]
Areas of core archival knowledge in GPAS:
Courses on specialized topics that do not fit neatly into the GPAS or Role Delineation Statement categories may also be appropriate for continuing archival education, including knowledge from allied professions, new and emerging technologies, special formats, or repository systems.
Delivery Options, Course Formats, and Evaluation
Matching the needs of participants and topics being taught with the optimal format, venue, and accessibility of content is important. Providing low-cost, widely available continuing education should be the primary goal.[3] Course information and materials must match well with the intended subject, duration, delivery mechanism, and audience.[4] Course developers will create learning materials based on identified needs and will incorporate and assess learning outcomes using recognized assessment methods and formal evaluation instruments. Instructors should be qualified in their fields.[5]
Providers must consider accessibility when developing and offering courses and make efforts to meet the needs of persons with disabilities. Providers must have a policy for handling ADA-related requests. Any materials promoting and advertising continuing education courses should contain information about how participants may request accommodations to address any access needs. Instructors and students should evaluate specific continuing education courses. Developers and providers of individual courses and multi-class programs should evaluate the total range of courses offered over time to avoid needless duplication or competition.[6]
In addition to the appendix section below, archival continuing education course developers may want to consult the following resources:
Appended to these guidelines are materials intended to serve as a general “toolkit” to aid continuing education providers and users in developing and preparing to attend continuing education offerings:
Appendix 1: Evolution of the ACE Guidelines
Appendix 2: Recommended Guidelines for Evaluating Instructor Qualifications
Appendix 3: Effective Delivery Formats
Appendix 4: Guidelines for Evaluating Continuing Education Programs
[1] ACE "courses" is a generic term that includes online and in-person workshops, seminars, clinics, institutes, short courses, webinars, and asynchronous content such as recorded programs. See Appendix 3: Effective Delivery Formats.
[2] The Areas of Archival Knowledge list is taken directly from GPAS and informed by the ACA Role Delineation Statement for Professional Archivists.
[3] See Education Fees and Policies from SAA.
[4] See Appendix 5: Guidelines for an Ideal Course and Curriculum Development.
[5] See Appendix 2: Recommended Guidelines for Evaluating Instructor Qualifications.
[6] See Appendix 4: Guidelines for Evaluating Continuing Education Programs and sample evaluation forms.
HOME » ARCHIVAL CONTINUING EDUCATION (ACE) GUIDELINES (2017)
A field as complex and rapidly changing as the archival profession requires effective continuing education and training. In 1997, SAA adopted “Guidelines for the Development of Post-Appointment and Continuing Education and Training Programs” (PACE), which had as its basis the Guidelines for a Graduate Program in Archival Studies (GPAS) guidelines. The ACE Guidelines resulted from a scheduled review and revision of PACE in 2005 – 2006. The ACE Guidelines adopted by the SAA Council in 2006 incorporate information from SAA’s 2002 GPAS guidelines and the Academy of Certified Archivists’ 2003 Role Delineation Statement Revision.
In 2017, the Committee on Education revised the ACE Guidelines to be in better accordance with a 2016 revision of the Guidelines for a Graduate Program in Archival Studies. During the 2017 ACE revision, an appendix referencing the 2004-2005 A*CENSUS was removed due to concerns about the census being outdated.
In 2025, the Committee on Education revised the ACE Guidelines to reflect a 2023 revision of the Guidelines for a Graduate Program in Archival Studies and revisions to other sources, as well as evolving trends in course delivery, instruction, and archival practice.
These guidelines are intended both for providers of archival continuing education in evaluating instructor qualifications and for those considering becoming instructors of archival education. Additional audiences may find these guidelines helpful as well.
Instructors may possess a variety of areas of expertise and come from diverse professional backgrounds, but excellent communication skills are necessary for effective instruction. Instructor qualifications are not limited to academic expertise and may also include practical experience and communication skills. Examples may include, but are not limited to:
Instructors should demonstrate an ability or a strong potential to teach effectively. This could be confirmed by a successful instruction record; experience leading workshops or training staff or volunteers; or completion of instructor training geared toward adult education. Potential instructors are welcome to consult with Committee on Education members or the Education Director to discuss their qualifications.
There are a variety of in-person and online delivery formats within continuing education. Some continuing education programs result in a certificate for completing a series of courses. The below provides some examples of continuing education formats and their advantages and limitations.
All of these formats take place in real time, whether online or in person. Institutes typically take place in-person only, while other formats may take place in person or online.
Course (Co): A relatively short-term, intensive, problem-focused learning experience that actively involves participants in the identification and analysis of problems and in the development and evaluation of solutions. A course may last for just a few hours or may take place over multiple days.
Seminar (S): A session or series of sessions in which a group of experienced people meet with one or more knowledgeable resource persons to discuss a given content area.
Institute (I): A short-term, often residential program, that fosters intensive learning on a well-defined topic. New material is presented to add to the knowledge that the participants already have on the subject.
Workshop (W): A short-term program organized around a specific topic that is designed to build practical knowledge on a process, tool, or activity. Workshops emphasize hands-on activity, and attendees may bring their own projects to work on.
Clinic (Cl): A short-term program that emphasizes diagnosis and treatment of problems that participants bring to the session. Experts available at the clinic, rather than participants themselves, have primary responsibility for diagnosing problems and prescribing treatment.
Recorded Webcasts (RW): Pre-recorded lectures that can be viewed on demand.
On-Demand Courses (OC): A self-paced online course that can be taken at any time. On-demand courses may come with accompanying materials, such as slides, PDFs, and quizzes.
Advantages of Each Format
Limitations of Each Format
Criteria for Selecting a Format
There are a number of factors that may help an instructor determine their format for continuing education, and whether it will be online or in-person. A course can be flexible in length, take place in a single day or over multiple days, and can include both lecture portions and hands-on activities. A course may be appropriate for an introduction to a topic or for teaching more advanced concepts. Seminars are better for more experienced learners focusing on advanced concepts in a topic, and may include more discussions and readings. An institute can be a great way to teach in-depth knowledge on a topic and create a cohort of learners. Institutes are often intensive and in-person, making them ideal for a summer program. Workshops can be a great option if an instructor wants to teach about a tool or concept, and include lots of hands-on activities. Clinics can help learners troubleshoot issues that they are experiencing in their own work.
Asynchronous options, including recorded webinars and on-demand courses, can reach a wide audience and provide learners with the flexibility of participating in any location, on their own schedule. They can also be a way for instructors to repurpose content that they have already created. A disadvantage is that there is often no opportunity to ask the instructor questions or engage with other learners.
Online learning is now commonplace, and many types of instruction can be adapted to an online format. Online learning takes place on a computer or mobile device such as a tablet or smartphone and may employ various technologies, including video conferencing software and course management systems, to facilitate learning. Online learning formats include live (synchronous) and asynchronous instruction. Both live and asynchronous instruction offer greater flexibility to participants, allowing them to attend from a location of their choosing. Online learning may include activities to help learners stay engaged, including breaking out into smaller groups to work on an activity with other participants, quizzes and polls, and frequent question and answer sessions. One disadvantage to online learning is that learners do not have the same “in-person” experience where they are able to interact face-to-face with instructors and fellow participants. Topics that include viewing and handling physical materials, or that require one-on-one feedback between instructors and participants, may be better suited for in-person formats.
Feedback from participants, peers, reviewers, and instructors is essential to assess the quality and relevance of individual courses and programs of continuing education courses.
Use the course evaluation forms that follow or construct your own to assist in collecting feedback from students after they take a course. Lengthy evaluation forms typically defeat the purpose as participants are eager to leave – one sheet of paper with questions on both sides appears to yield the greatest results for face-to-face instruction. In an online learning format, an online survey or form can be emailed to participants during or immediately following a webcast or live training with a deadline for submitting responses. Include succinct questions and request answers based on a scale of one to five as well as open-ended questions encouraging more detailed responses. For online instruction in particular, consider sending multiple reminders asking students to take the course evaluation survey, both immediately after the course concludes and in the days following.
Ask participants about the complete education experience, including:
Evaluations allow instructors and education providers to identify areas for improvement in course content, presentation, and materials. Both instructors and education providers should review course evaluation feedback carefully, and incorporate feedback from evaluations into the design of the course. Pay particular attention to negative comments, even if there are few. Assess their legitimacy and attempt to address the concerns they raise even while keeping positive comments in mind.
Course assessment and evaluation does not have to be limited to a survey immediately following the course. Consider other ways in which the effectiveness of a course can be measured as well, such as using course auditors who can provide feedback on instruction and materials, or incorporating course feedback throughout, particularly for longer courses. This could include short quizzes or asking students for feedback on what they have learned at the end of content sections.
As an archival continuing education provider, you have identified an educational need, perhaps through research and feedback from others, or through review of existing courses. A good first step for a prospective course instructor is to contact the provider and determine that your course idea is a good fit for the provider, in terms of content, delivery format, audience, and development timeline.
Consider addressing the following for your course, either in the course description or a more detailed syllabus: