On 05 November 2020, FIBAA held its first fully digital workshop with almost 40 participants.
On the subject of "What distinguishes the quality in distance learning?", in addition to Dr Tino Shahin, FIBAA Project Manager and consultant in the Consult area, two external speakers will be secured: Professor Dr Ulf-Daniel Ehlers, professor at the Baden-Württemberg Dual University in Karlsruhe for educational management and lifelong learning and representative for lifelong learning at DHBW as well as Antonia Lütgens, Project Manager at the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), for which she has been certified since a 2016 online programme in the field of management training. She has also been an external Project Manager at FIBAA since 2020.
Dr Shahin, in his lecture, depicted an intermediate summation of the digital upheaval in higher education from the point of view of an accreditation agency. In particular, the lockdown caused by COVID-19 in spring 2020 forced higher education institutions to switch to online teaching within a short period of time, which did not go smoothly everywhere. The accreditation agencies also had to switch to digital assessments of higher education institutions and study programmes, which was challenging for both sides. Building upon this, Professor Ehlers explained in his lecture how the quality in distance and online learning can be measured and evaluated, both from a research and a practical perspective.
After the lunch break, the participants had the opportunity to exchange ideas in smaller groups in a virtual network space. Here they were able to discuss key questions about their own experiences and network with one another, which offers added value for participation in every face-to-face event.
Then Ms. Lütgens presented the criteria of the Online Course Certification System, EOCCS, as an example to illustrate what needs to be considered in online educational formats.
Finally, a panel discussion took place with the speaker and the FIBAA Managing Director, Ms Diane Freiberger, MBA, and the FIBAA Programme Accreditation Division Management, Ms Elisabeth Rosenthal. Questions about the topicality and importance of the digital transformation of teaching and learning were discussed from different perspectives.
Ms Freiberger was happy with the successful event with its lively discussions among the participants and assured all that FIBAA would continue to dedicate itself to this subject in the future and would continue to promote the discourse with the stakeholders with events of this kind.
