In the very near future, in many types of occupations, participation in some form of continuing educational experience is going to become virtually a necessity. Many professional societies and associations have committees studying requirements and making recommendations to membership for maintaining professional updating. Therefore, we must start now to lay the groundwork for the future situation as we conceive it will probably be. A structural element on which to organize continuing education experience is the Continuing Education Unit (CEU), which will make recordkeeping possible. The history of the CEU development began with a National Planning Conference at which various points of view were presented. The need for a uniform unit of measurement for non-credit continuing education activities was recognized, as was the role of the consumer of the educational product. A task force was organized to conduct a feasibility study for a uniform measurement unit to be used, and the CEU was the product of the study. Designed to give recognition for organized but non-credit continuing education experiences, the CEU meets the needs of this educational area. (AG)