IOA to Resume Training with Online Version of Foundations in October 2020

For many years, the signature training course for new Ombuds has been “Foundations of Organizational Ombudsman Practice” offered by the International Ombudsman Association. (It was previously known as "Ombuds 101.") The three-day course was offered several times a year around the U.S. and occasionally internationally. Since the onset of the coronnavirus pandemic, all of the classes have been canceled. IOA has just announced the development of an online alternative consisting of shorter days over a full week starting in October. Specific details, including times, dates, instructors, and cost have not yet been released.

Here's the full announcement from IOA:

2020 Course Update: Going Virtual

Foundations will be taught virtually beginning in the fall of 2020. In-person courses will also resume when it is safe and possible to do so. Like the in-person course, Foundations online will be taught by a team of at least three experienced ombuds. Synchronous learning will take place via Zoom in roughly 3-hour class sessions each day for one week, Monday through Friday, plus an additional 3.5-hour session on Wednesday. To ensure a meaningful and connected experience, each virtual course offering will be limited to 24 participants.

Adapting the course to a virtual platform provides new opportunities to serve the ombuds community. An online course can be offered more frequently, which we hope will satisfy the needs of eager participants from canceled in-person events as well as address future registrants in a timely fashion. Virtual Foundations will also leverage IOA’s Online Learning Center to keep learners engaged and organized before, during, and after their course. And, of course, Foundations can now be accessed by ombuds around the world without the barriers inherent in travel. 

Virtual Foundations will first be offered in October 2020 with class sessions conducted in the Eastern Time Zone (UTC -4). Further online Foundations offerings are scheduled monthly through March 2021; time zones will vary as instructor availability allows. 

Registration will be prioritized for those that were registered for a canceled course in 2020.

(IOA Foundations.)

Related posts: IOA's Ombuds Training Returns to Baltimore in October 2019; IOA Cancels Foundations in Geneva; IOA Cancels 2020 Conference.