(40 IDUs maximum)

You can earn up to 40 IDU`s by completing different continuing education activities. You earn one (1) IDU credit hour for each hour of continuing education, not including activities such as registration, meals, breaks, exhibit hall time, “pre-work,” and so forth.

The number of IDUs that can be earned from webinars, webcasts, podcasts, videoconferences, and audiotapes is limited to 15 IDUs during each three year certification cycle.

Continuing Education activities include:

• College and University Courses
• Conferences and Seminars
• Workshops
• E-Learning Courses
• Webinar/Webcasts, Video-conferences (15 IDUs limit)

(30 IDUs maximum)

You can earn up to 30 IDU`s by delivering instruction or training on a subject relating to innovation. You earn one (1) IDU credit hour for each hour of presentation time.

Instruction / teaching activities include:

• Delivering a formal presentation within your organization relating to Innovation.
• Teaching a course or workshop, or presenting a public seminar or conference session relating to innovation.

You may earn reaccreditation IDU`s for each time you present a presentation or teach a course, workshop, seminar, conference session, etc., so long as it is being delivered to a different audience each time. There is a 15 IDU cap however on IDU credits derived from the same presentation, course, workshop, seminar, conference session, etc.

(30 IDUs maximum)

You can earn up to 30 IDUs for first-time on the job experience projects that have added to your Innovation knowledge.

Examples of projects that earn credit include:

• Developing an Innovation Framework.
• Researching and designing an Innovation Strategy.
• Researching, designing, and implementing an innovation tool or system.
• Participating in an Innovation Senior Committee and implementing a procedure within the organization.
• Designing and Implementing an Innovation Lab, a Business Incubator, or an Accelerator Program.

Recording Your On The Job Projects & Claiming Their IDU Credits

For each first-time on the job project being reporting, you will complete the following steps:

1. State the name and nature / topic of the project.
2. State the amount of time invested in the project (in hours).
3. Describe how the project has added to your Innovation knowledge.

(20 IDUs maximum)

You can earn IDUs by conducting primary research on an Innovation-related topic and then writing and publishing the results of that research in a scholarly journal or publication. This research must be independent of your normal job duties.

Examples of such research and publishing can include:

• Writing – as the primary or sole author – an article that is published in a recurring journal or periodical – 10 IDU`s.
• Making a significant contribution to a published text, such as a textbook or similar work – 10 IDU`s.
• Co-writing or editing an article or a chapter in a textbook – 5 IDU`s.
• Developing an Innovation video – 5 IDU`s.
• Writing and publishing a fact-based blog post covering subjects relating to Innovation – 1 IDU per post, with a limit of 20 IDU`s during each three year certification cycle. Each such post must be approved by GInI and also published on GInI’s website.

(20 IDUs maximum)

IDU Credits

You can earn IDUs by submitting questions for potential use on a GInI examination. GInI awards one (1) IDU for every two (2) exam questions accepted, with a limit of 20 IDUs during each three year certification cycle.

After your submitted exam questions have been accepted, GInI will send you a formal notice of acceptance and issue your IDUs.

GInI welcomes all certified practitioners to submit high quality questions to be considered as potential exam questions. This involves writing a series of questions and their associated answer choices aligned to a specific GInI certification. Submitted items go through a rigorous review process by a panel of GInI master trainers.

Terms & Conditions for Question Writers / Submitters

To be eligible to write and submit exam questions for a given GInI certification, the individual must be actively certified in that particular certification.

One may submit proposed exam questions to GInI at any time. GInI accepts both electronically-formatted and hard copies of proposed questions.

Questions are applied through GInI’s professional membership portal under IDU submission.

Questions submitted for prospective use on a GInI examination must apply to GInI’s blueprint for that particular certification exam.

Questions submitted to GInI become the sole legal property of GInI.

Questions submitted must be the submitter’s original work and cannot be copied from materials which are copyrighted, owned, or created by another individual or organization. Those submitting questions found to not be their own original work may incur severe administrative and legal penalties.

For the purposes of confidentiality and security, those submitting questions to GInI must agree in advance that they will not disclose the content of any submitted question, submit them to other organizations, or use them for any other purpose. Similarly, they must also agree in advance to destroy all physical and electronic copies of submitted questions and scenarios, as well as any physical or electronic materials relating to them.

By submitting a question or scenario to GInI, the submitter is agreeing to these terms and conditions.

Question-writing Guidelines

To determine whether or not a given topic can produce good exam questions, first ensure that the topic is covered in the corresponding certification examination blueprint.

Questions should reflect methods and practices which are currently in use in the field of innovation.

Questions must be formatted as multiple-choice questions having the following attributes:

1. the question (the “stem”)
2. the one correct answer (the “key”)
3. three (3) additional incorrect answers (the “detractors”)

State the problem clearly. Examinees should understand exactly what is being asked of them. Use a question format rather than an incomplete statement format.

Use simple, precise, and unambiguous wording, and ensure that the wording is grammatically correct.

Present questions with positive phrasing and avoid using negative phrasing.

Use complete terms and spell out acronyms and abbreviations. Do not use abbreviations or acronyms that are not commonly used unless the question is explicitly intended to test that specific item of knowledge.

Each multiple-choice question is to have only one correct answer. Ensure that the intended correct answer is clearly the best option from among the options presented.

Avoid making the correct answer appear materially different from the detractors, such as by being noticeably shorter or longer than the detractors. Maintain all answer options with relatively consistent appearance, complexity, and length.

Do not write questions that are based on textbook, verbatim phrasing, or that are based on the opinions of a single author or text. Examinees should not have to memorize a particular textbook in order to answer a question correctly. Though questions can cite a textbook as a reference, the application of knowledge tested by the question should be universal in practice.

Emphasize higher-level thinking skills:

• Use memory-plus application questions. These questions require examinees to recall principles, rules, and/or facts from a real-life context.
• Place the concept in a life situation or context that requires the examinee to first recall those facts and then apply or transfer the application of the facts into a specific situation.

GInI’s Question Review Process

GInI’s Master Trainer Committee reviews all question submissions. Questions which meet GInI’s criteria are then further reviewed by a working group of subject matter experts for possible inclusion on future certification exams.

Each question goes through several technical / editing reviews in order to verify its technical content, and to ensure that it:

• is current and valid.
• reads well without providing any clues as to the correct answer.
• is capable of performing well on an examination.

Questions meeting GInI’s high quality standards may be used on a corresponding GInI certification exam.

Whenever an edition of a certification exam is either created or updated, GInI will select from amongst these high quality questions to meet that examination’s specifications, and to also achieve good distribution from amongst the relevant domains, topics, knowledge, skills, and tasks involved.