Live "in-person" Education From A Distance

[Eli]

Online courses force me to read the material more. Sometimes in live classes I find myself reading the material because of wild tangents.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

That doesn't make much sense Eli. I guess I have been lucky. Most of the instructors I've had don't spend significant time chasing rabbits. They stick to the script. In the very early days when the educational offers were slim to none, and instructors often had to "wing in" - yes, there were times the instructor rambled. But if you simply reduce CE to an open book quiz, then personally I don't see it. They used to "train" farmers how to apply regulated chemicals with such nonsensical booklets and finally decided to get your Applicators license you need to spend several hours in class going over it. They dropped the cartoon book. I honestly don't remember a single thing from that book.

 

[TD Morgan]

The AQB has changed its policy. I don't know if the policy will be written into its actual guidelines or not.

The AQB has implied that is will not be concerned with the matter as long has the state does not have an issue with an appraiser taking a live class without physically being in the classroom. (Certainly the course and the course provider must be otherwise approved by the state and the provider needs to be able to provide a video feed and verification that the person attended all facets of the course.)

I am not certain if this tacit approval is limited to those with disabilities, but the comment did not indicate that the AQB would be involved in further discussions of the matter and that the issue would be up to the individual states.

At least this gives some satisfaction surrounding the matter. I am shocked that the AQB's chair refused to consider the matter and took the time to send to denial letters before he finally got the board's attorney involved.

Now, I am not certain what authority this attorney actually has to make this decision, and the AQB refuses to provide any documentation about the decision. But I presume that the attorney was following the Chairman's directions in doing so.

Hopefully the course providers will be able to change things up and open their in-classroom model to allow people to learn via webinar or webcam!

 

[TD Morgan]

The ASC is supposed to monitor the activities of the Appraisal Foundation and its Appraiser Qualifications Board and Appraisal Standards Board to ensure that their actions are reasonable, not arbitrary or capricious, and otherwise consistent with law. As authorized by Title XI, the ASC also provides funding, via annual grants, to the Foundation and its boards to support their Title XI-related activities.

From where I stand, the AQB and TAF overall need MUCH better oversight.

I find the following statement from TAF laughable:

PUBLIC TRUST AND TRANSPARENCY - A cornerstone of the work of the Foundation lies in building and maintaining public trust in the appraisal profession. In fact, the words “public trust” appear in our mission statement: The Appraisal Foundation is dedicated to promoting professionalism and ensuring public trust in the valuation profession. This is accomplished through the promulgation of standards, appraiser qualifications, and guidance regarding valuation methods and techniques.

One important way to build and maintain public trust is to promote transparency whenever and wherever possible. Our Boards conduct public meetings and adopt their work product in that setting. The Boards issue exposure drafts of pending work and post all public comments received on our website.