e-Academy
FAQ: IAF Online Seminars
What do I need and what to expect?
What online seminars at IAF are not
Boring lengthy Zoom meetings with hours of lectures.
What online seminars at IAF are instead
Like in our on-site seminars we are working very participant-orientented: You are the experts already and we get you together with like-minded people from all over the work to explore your findings and solutions jointly and for yourselves. Of course, you will be assisted and guided through the process by our experienced facilitators and you will have the possibility to meet known experts for inputs and discussion. This will be added by interactive group works and individual tasks that let's you reflect further on the topic and bring in your own knowledge and expertise.
A computer with stable internet access and browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera or Safari)
To attend the Zoom meetings you will need a microphone, speakers (or a headset) and camera, whenever possible.
Although it is possible to participate on a mobile device such as smartphone or tablet we highly recommend to use an actual computer as many of the tools that we will be using are much more convenient to use in a full-scale browser.
Depending on the seminar we are working with Zoom, Miro/Mural, Discord, Mentimeter etc. but there is no need to download anything.
We will guide you through everything and explain how it works. So don't be scared off if you haven't heard of these tools yet :)
No. We will provide a schedule in advance with the meeting hours, making sure it will be convenient for all time zones. Usually we will have about 2 - 2.5 hours/day where we will meet online for exchange or expert lectures.
Additionally, there will be some individual or group assignments which you can organize yourselves according to your personal time schedules.
No problem. Just inform the facilitator in advance (if possible) and maybe they can record the session.
Usually sessions will not be recorded as we expect you to take part in the live event to exchange and engage with the other participants.
We encourage to switch on your camera during the sessions as we would like to have a more personal experience for everyone.
If you do not have a camera or the internet connection is too unstable it will be fine to take part without a camera of course.
After you have been invited to participate in on of our online events you will receive an email with the schedule and respective links to log in.
Please inform us whenever you encounter any troubles with the log in, platforms or tools. The team of the IAF and the facilitators will always be happy to help you with everything as good as we can.
Yes. We will work with Zoom meetings and encourage everyone to switch on their cameras and also make oral contributions.
If you do not have a camera or the internet connection is too unstable it will be fine to take part without a camera of course.
As our program is designed to support our projects abroad, the projects identify and suggest participants for our seminars. Hence we can not offer the possibility to register for our programs directly. Kindly get in touch with our colleagues in our project office in your country/region directly, they will be glad to help you with all questions regarding our work, the seminars we offer and the application process, etc..
No, our online seminars are free of charge.
Of course! A participation in our online seminars will not exclude you from other future IAF seminars online or offline.
At the moment we are only offering online seminars in English.
We expect an active participation in our seminar, that means besides being able to understand input and contributions by others, you should be able to take actively part in discussions with other participants, the facilitators and experts, join the group works actively and be able to give oral contributions or inputs.
When you are unsure if your level of proficiency in English is sufficient please get in touch with our colleagues in your respective FNF project office who will be happy to give you feedback on this.
Yes, after successful and active participation we will be issuing a certificate for each participant.
If your question has not been answered here please get in touch with our colleagues in the respective FNF project office in your country or contact us at iaf@freiheit.org.
Fun - a serious factor for online seminars
Our seminars should be journeys of discovery, where participants enjoy participating in the working and thinking process, where they find knowledge and share theirs, try out new things and put old ones to the test. We want to make liberal values tangible, not just theoretical. Can all this be done online too? Even for international programmes that last as long as one or even two weeks? Yes, it can be done!