AMTRA and VBMS supporting online provision of CPD for RAMAs

Professionals were already turning to online CPD in growing numbers before Covid – we’ve witnessed a 75% fall in attendance at the AMTRA/AHDA roadshows, for instance. Covid is thus accelerating an existing trend.

The benefits are clear:

• No travel requirements, saving time and money
• 24/7 access, allowing you flexibility of when to log in
• Being internet based, material can be accessed via laptops, tablets, smart phones
• A large choice of material supporting you in choosing what is most beneficial to you, rather than what happens to be available locally on a convenient day.

The SQP Training ELearning Portal from VBMS is the biggest source of online CPD. This isn’t part of AMTRA, but we work closely with VBMS, and they host four AMTRA modules for us.

The portal hosts accredited CPD from a variety of providers. While the options available vary at any one time, they currently offer:

• 65 Farm Animal CPD points
• 35 Equine CPD points
• 20 Companion Animal CPD points

Many RAMAs are already enrolled to the portal and receive regular email updates of training available.

If you aren’t getting those updates it will be because:

• AMTRA doesn’t have an email address for you, or
• You’ve opted out of AMTRA sharing your data with VBMS, or
• You were on the VBMS list but have been removed because you hadn’t used it for a period of time.

If you wish to check your log in details or register for access to the portal, please email your name and AMTRA number to [email protected]

These handy tips will help when using the SQPTraining portal:

• Log in via vbms-training.co.uk
• Note that this is NOT the same as the AMTRA website – you may have different passwords for the two websites.
• Most web browsers are supported and allow training to be accessed/completed. However, old versions of Microsoft Edge, with the icon shown below, will not allow courses to complete.
• If ‘old’ MS Edge is your default web browser, simply copy the web link in your invite email, or the link above, open an alternative web browser and paste it in the search bar. VBMS-Training recommend Google Chrome, as all courses are tested in Chrome prior to release.
• The majority of training courses have an accompanying voiceover, so make sure your speakers are turned on.
• CPD courses have locked navigation. You can only proceed once the contents of each page have completed.
• VBMS-Training portals include SQPTraining, BASIS Classroom, Feed Advisors Register, plus a number of corporate based training portals. Users registered with the same email address in these portals can access all of their accounts with a single email/password combination.  Please note if you change your password in one VBMS-Training portal, it changes in all of your VBMS-Training portals.
• CPD points for completed courses are automatically reported to AMTRA, updated in your AMTRA account and visible in your CPD points update from AMTRA, or via AMTRA’s website log in. Please allow up to 6 weeks for the points to show in your account.