Greetings and good morning from California.

Have any of you conducted onsite visits? What was the biggest difference you noticed between a virtual visit and an on-site visit?

Does bandwidth/internet accessibility make it difficult for any of your schools to participate in an online site visit?

I was on the very first ATS Virtual Visit with Tisa Lewis back in 2008. The biggest difference I noticed was that the sense of protocol was lost. We interviewed the president and the academic dean, but by the time we got to the faculty, all three of us on the team realized that the president and dean had stayed in the room the whole time.

We had no issues with bandwidth - we were all on T1 (!) lines back then.

would an online site visit mean additional days...for eg would a typical three of four day visit be extended with additional days?

Just as evaluation team will need training for virtual visits, I also see the need for the training of the host schools that will be evaluated to be able to conduct their virtual visit.

The network as well as bandwidth are good in NBTS, with gratitude to God for our recent upgrade to 100mbps, which incidentally took place this May during COVID-19 era.

I understand the interview aspect of the visit. What about the review of the physical facilities in the case of an institutional review?

That’s fantastic news `prof. Emiola. More African schools are upgrading their digital infrastructure and I see a possibility of successfully conducting online site visits.

Security and confidentiality are issues even with Zoom. Should the licenses for the technology that are used for the visit belong to the accrediting agency and not the institution visited?

Ours was a focus visit on academic assessment, I think, so we didn't have within our plans a facilities review. That would have been interesting - I guess in 2020 it would be done with Facetime on an iPhone, but that would be a challenge.

Erroll Joseph I share your question and wonder if it would be helpful to have a local visitor whose role is to do the site visit, physical plant etc. (in these days following virus protocol). This way no travel.

That's an interesting possibility where it is feasible

One could plan a team inclusive of a professional member who is near the site.

`how do we assess facilities`?

We could also require a third party facilities audit.

What about the recording of meetings during the visit?

Recording raises data protection issues, but i also tends to stilt conversations

I'm thinking of the institution recording the meeting and its impact on privacy of some meetings

Most QA agencies in Europe discourage this

Yes Errol I am with you on that concern.

From Emiola Nihinlola: From the viewpoint of administration, I am wondering if the visit can be hybrid with some team members being present in person?

May we request ATS’s Guidelines for Online Site Visits (for accreditors) if available. Thank you.

Agreed that will be helpful David

David-ACTEA, we'll be sure to address your request. Thanks for asking.

Thank you, Lester.

I too agree that the host's ability to record the zoom interviews poses a confidentiality issue.

not just the host - but any participant. I can record this Zoom meeting with my video screen capture synched with Audacity

Of course the host can disallow recording

I hope, Sebastian, you won't have the audacity to record for yourself... :)

:0

In the ATS context, we have also been keeping an eye on hybrid models of visits... It's an important issue to attend to for the medium and long term.

For those of you who have participated in virtual visits (or are planning for upcoming visits), what roles have you found that are needed for an online visit that would not be needed in person?

What kinds of things that happen organically in an in person visit need to be intentionally scheduled in an online visit?

A Zoom moderator is useful - someone who serves in the role of online team organizer. This is different from a chair.

Someone who can mute microphones, ensure that private chats among team members aren't happening publicly, etc.

Great point Sebastian. Very much.

Private rooms, too - in an onsite visit, team members will split apart for private sessions with various individuals, but in plenary zoom meetings the whole team is there at once for all events.

So, zoom breakouts are needed

Marvin’s PPT is available in the online Facebook group. It is a private group, so you will need to request to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/347462256262472

Marvin mentioned the nanocourse. Anything more on that?

That is available on the ICETE Academy websitehttps://icete.academy/mod/book/view.php?id=1644&chapterid=609

Here is the link to the nanocourse https://icete.academy/course/view.php?id=134

Thank you

Wow! They've just left us here with an open chat room. We can talk about anything!

Just remember it will be recorded ;)

Covid19 has forced schools into online mode--among the issues is that there is a difference between triage/emergency online teaching and distance learning. For some this resulted in a conflation of the 2 and for a false impression that somehow online learning is not "real teaching/learning." A similar issue may arise with accreditation --somehow virtual or hybrids are not "real." It would be important to think through processes, framings, articulations, etc. that take these perceptions into account.

;=)

The ICETE Academy is happy to offer a complementary subscription to all those in this webinar. This amounts to one year in which you can take all the courses you want. When you register, write the promo code ATS/ICETE QA. You can find the registration link here https://icete.academy

That's a good point, Carmen, and something one of my groups has been working on this spring and summer

Thank you Marvin.

At the Faith-Based Online Learning Directors (FOLD), we've held a series of webinars on various aspects of emergency remote teaching - all online at http://www.distancelearningdirectors.org

We have a book coming out in late-August that makes the distinction and provides a series of articles to guide faculty through those ERT/Online distinctions

A chapter on Emergency Remote Site Visits would be fun

We’ve developed several guidelines in the ECTE which might be useful http://ecte.eu/qa/guidelines/

this opens up possibilities for inter agency participation in online visits, at least within ICETE...any thoughts?

https://www.enroutebooksandmedia.com

A good point concerning the "virtual" vs. "real" distinction. Online teaching is real teaching.

I am grateful for the coming together of ATS and ICETE to organize this webinar. The two presentations are quiet helpful. The host, co-host and facilitators are greatly appreciated. I will depend on ACTEA Director to raise questions that relate to how to go about this task in the African context. Thanks everyone.

Post COVID will also still find institutions struggling financially which could well prolong evaluations via online mode.

Thank you Dr. Nihinlola. It is very important that these conversations be intentionally attentive to the real unevenness of the globe including the areas of resources broadly defined. I believe that if we don't attend to these differences, the "new normal" has built in issues of parity that need to be attended to.

I have 65 students from Eritrea and 6 from Tanzania in my online program at Holy Apostles. I wouldn't have been able to do it without online, especially since the Eritrean government doesn't let the men travel outside their country until they reach age 50.

Online is a great leveler for program delivery.

Marvin’s 7 conditions have addressed my concerns. The challenge we have is on infrastructure development to enable this process to move smoothly.

Does anyone have, or know of, a beginning bibliography for online education, particularly spiritual formation online? Related to this, I'm currently working with a group of field educators (contextual educators) assessing site supervision online for ministerial internships. Since all contextual education has moved online, we are re-learning how professional formation is being done.

That would be really useful, Kristina. Stand by.

Kristina, I wrote briefly about character education in online mode in my book on Character and Virtue in Theological Education

Thank you, Sebastian and Marvin! I'll be checking out your book, Marvin.

There is an overwhelming amount of documentation that is curated for an accreditation visit. Sometimes so much so that teams can miss important details (sometimes avoided in self study) because we are so scheduled with f2f meetings Perhaps distance accreditation visits may intentionally schedule the team to look more closely at some of this documentation (eg reading days as part of visit). Syllabi. minutes, etc help to add dimensionality and might lead to more focus in interpersonal meetings online.

Okay, Kristina, we'll generate one as an appendix to the book, and I'll make it available for free access at https://www.enroutebooksandmedia.com/realonline by September 1

Thank you, Sebastian - that is incredibly generous. This will be a helpful resource for us all.

Real work in this area of online spiritual formation is being done by Mary and Steve Lowe. Mark Maddix has published on it as well. With one more cup of coffee, I could list another dozen.

Thank you!

Friends, I am grateful to you all for the coming together on this webinar. I am having another meeting coming up and I have to leave this meeting. Thank you everyone and blessings

That's a good point - so, those who've developed strong online delivery protocols can be used as models for what will have to be a secure kind of visiting protocol.

Yes it is a wonderful opportunity for collaboration. We are also benefiting through this webinar. Thank you very much

This has been most helpful for those of us who have not yet been on an online accreditation visit.

Thanks for all presenters and the resources that are being shared.

Who is the contact person for the distance learning directors? I am interested in chatting with them more.

Thanks a lot for inviting ATESEA to this helpful conversation

That's me - Sebastian Mahfood smahfood@holyapostles.edu

Great! Thank you Sebastian

I just created the page for the book we're producing at https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/realonline/

It'll be available by September 1

Can we have a picture before we all leave?

I'll get the bibliography generated in advance of that

Yes, Lester!

Freinds... it was great to listen to the wisdom shared.

Thank you for this helpful presentation and resources.

It was very eye opening. For us in Ethiopia, we are just beginning to start offering our programs online. Therefore, our concern would be to ensure that we have a good beginning. A clear standard would be very helpful in helping institutions be aware of the standard right from the beginning. The sharing of experiences with institutions who have done this is great.

Great conversation. paul it's encouraging knowing that online accreditation is possible looking forward to more learning.

Gracias colegas. Wishing you all safety and health.

Great time today, friends!

Thank you very much. It was a great help.