Virtual Attendance Policy and Regular Attendance Equivalency

The organization considers online attendance as equivalent and as important as face-to-face attendance. Accordingly, trainees are required to attend virtually synchronized classes at the specified times that appear on the calendar in the platform and send notifications on their devices.

The organization believes that students must attend class if they are to be well prepared and succeed. It is expected students attend synchronously no less than 85% of the duration time. Online courses are no different from face-to-face classroom courses in this regard.

Students are expected to be in all synchronous virtual classes scheduled for the entire period. Students are expected to be fully engaged in the E-learning class as they would be in an in-person class.

However, participation is defined in a different manner. Student attendance in online courses is defined as active participation in the course as described in the individual course syllabus. Online courses will, at a minimum, have weekly mechanisms for student participation no more frequently than daily, which can be documented by any or all of the following methods:

• Completion of tests or quizzes
• Discussion forums
• Submission/completion of assignments
• Communication with the instructor
• Or other course participation

Attendance policy followed by Trainers

Trainers must not count students’ logging into a course’s learning management system as participation in that course. Only “academically related” activity in a given course is counted towards participation in that course. For online classes, the activities in the following categories are considered “academically related”:

1. Participating in any assigned activity (e.g., attending a synchronous teleconference or video conference class session, submitting prepared material, taking examinations, engaging in an assigned study group, providing a self-introduction to the class in a discussion forum designated for this purpose);
2. Completing interactive tutorials or interactive, computer-assisted instruction; or
3. Discussing the course’s subject matter (e.g., online with other students, by email with the instructor)

It is solely the responsibility of the student to stay on track with any updates related to the course. Should a student fail to meet these attendance requirements for one week of the course, he or she will be given an absence for that week. Students are required to have attendance of at least 85% in a course. Should a student fail to meet these attendance requirements, he or she may be recommended for withdrawal from the course. In the case of an anticipated absence, a student should contact the instructor in advance and make arrangements to complete the required assignments. In case of an emergency (illness/accident or death in family), a student should contact the instructor as soon as possible providing documentation supporting the need for any late submission of a graded assignment or an activity.

The organization provides the technical mechanism that enables trainees to attend virtual attendance and familiarize trainees with its equivalence to regular attendance through the following procedures:

• Create a file for each trainee, including the username and password
• Directing the trainee to enter the platform according to his/her lecture schedule
• Activate the attendance verification mechanism
• The electronic system records the time of entry and exit of the trainee
• The electronic system displays reports on the time the trainee spent on the platform
• The organization monitors, through the coach-training coordinator, the extent of the trainees' commitment to virtual attendance
• Provide a communication mechanism to provide assistance to the trainees
• Trainees are notified of their attendance reports and kept confidential
• In the event that the absence rate is 10% of the number of concurrent classes or more, 30% of the general average of the trainee in the subject (experimental course) will be reduced.