Upcoming Webinars

Check back soon for more DEAC webinars!


Webinar Archive

Presenting Data for Effect

Let your data tell a story about your institution and your amazing students. This webinar illustrates strategies on optimal data presentation for reporting and institutional effectiveness. Topics include turning raw data into actionable information, understanding audience and intent, creating benchmarks and KPIs, dashboarding, tracking data, creating meeting summaries, and the power of visualizations. The session is presented through the lens of a DEAC-accredited institution's institutional effectiveness strategies and implementation.

The one-hour webinar is now available on demand. 

Click here to watch the webinar!


Documenting the Credit Hour

Join Dr. Caulyne Barron as she offers insights to define and describe assigning credit to comply with DEAC's Standard III.F. In this webinar, you'll review DEAC standards and other critical documents to define academic units of measure. Using real world examples, attendees will be able to distinguish between engagement and preparation and apply best practices for estimating time on task. The session focuses on developing internal processes and emphasizes ways to document institutional practices that are immediately implementable in the course development and review cycle. 

The one hour webinar is now available on demand.

Click here to view a recording of the webinar!

Click here to download a copy of the presentation!

Foundations of Institutional Assessment - Part II

In his previous webinar, Foundations of Institutional Assessment, Dr. Ray Rodriquez offered a high-level overview of why institutional effectiveness assessment is necessary; principles of educational assessment; the role of assessment in teaching and learning, differentiating diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments; differentiating evaluation, measurement, and assessment; and what constitutes evidence of the achievement of student learning.

DEAC and Dr. Rodriguez offered a follow-up to this webinar that took a deeper dive into answering the most basic question on institutional effectiveness: How do we know we are fulfilling our mission? How do we know our students are learning and growing? How do we document that we are achieving our institutional mission? How can we fully unleash our institution's potential? Discussions and strategies on how to develop and organize your evaluation, assessment and improvement initiatives and effectively use data for institutional improvement were continued and deepened. These functions are key to institution research, academic program review, learning outcomes assessment, accreditation, and much more. 

The one hour webinar is now available on demand.

Click here to view a recording of the webinar!

Foundations of Institutional Assessment

Data-informed conversations impact just about everyone who is involved institutional success and improvement. Effective strategies for gathering data in ways that faculty, administrators and staff members can use in their everyday work and contribute to these important decisions – whether they are data people or not – are central to demonstrating outcomes and to understanding what's working at an institution and what's not.

Within this webinar, Dr. Raymond Rodriguez focused on a high-level overview of why institutional effectiveness assessment is necessary; principles of educational assessment; the role of assessment in teaching and learning, differentiating diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments; differentiating evaluation, measurement, and assessment; and what constitutes evidence of the achievement of student learning.

This ninety-minute webinar is available on demand. 

Click here to view a recording of the webinar! 


Taking the First Steps On Your DEI Journey

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is becoming an increasingly important priority for higher education. Informed DEI practices can provide institution leaders with deeper insights into how students, faculty and staff are experiencing the learning environment and help develop strategies to support a safe, inclusive and thriving academic experience at all levels within the institution.

There are many dimensions to DEI. With so many issues and so many opportunities to implement DEI initiatives, where do you start? How do you define a DEI goal? This webinar offered a framework for listening to the voices of your stakeholders and building DEI initiatives that included how to:

1. Develop a strategy to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion in a way that uniquely reflects institution mission;

2. Gather data and measure outcomes to improve program effectiveness across all demographic groups; and

3. Create a leadership development strategy to improve the effectiveness of the institution in serving underrepresented groups. 

This one-hour webinar, is available on demand.

Click here to watch a recording of the webinar!

Click here to download a copy of the webinar slides! 


Ready or Not? Navigating the DEAC Readiness Assessment Process

DEAC's accreditation process is extensive, comprehensive and rigorous. Passing the DEAC readiness threshold requires considerable time and resources. While many applicants who clear the readiness threshold go on to achieve initial accreditation, this outcome is never a certainty. It is important to fully comprehend all aspects of the institutional readiness assessment before deciding to apply to DEAC. This one-hour webinar offered a comprehensive overview of the DEAC readiness assessment process, which begins when an institution submits its initial Self-Study Report (SER).

Dr. Leslie Urofsky, DEAC's Academic Review Specialist, and Ms. Mary Adams, President Emeritus, American Sentinel University, reviewed and discussed the purpose, procedures, outcomes, and challenges involved in this crucial gatekeeping step toward achieving DEAC accreditation. This webinar is designed to help applicant institutions understand what happens once the SER has been submitted as well as the "deemed ready" and "deemed not ready" findings. Attendees were provided with strategies and insight on how best to use the feedback report generated by the readiness evaluation and prepare for the next steps.

This one-hour webinar is available on demand.

Click here to view a recording of the webinar!

Click here to view/download a copy of the presentation.

Bringing the Lens on Outcomes Assessment into Focus

As educators we are used to evaluating information—papers, student questions, research articles. But viewing outcomes assessment through the lens of continuous quality improvement is remarkably difficult at first and we tend to make it so hard. DEAC accreditation standards, however; are quite clear: to be effective, outcomes assessment plans need to document, monitor and analyze student outcomes data to improve the student learning experience and inform institutional effectiveness.

This webinar addressed the fundamentals of outcomes assessment such as terminology, purpose, and processes, and offered suggestions for each development step along the way, leaving participants with an understanding of outcomes assessment in general, how to design an outcomes assessment plan that meets their institutional needs as well as how to use the data collected not only for continuous improvement but to meet the requirements for DEAC accreditation.

Click here to watch a recording of this one-hour webinar!

Understanding Regulations for Private Lending: What Every Institution Needs to Know About Private Financing and Extended Payment Plans

In recent years, many states have enacted various laws to protect students from unfair lending practices. While there are many lending options that can provide affordable institutional loan programs, there are many complexities to managing private lending that necessitate a deep understanding of compliance with state laws on lending practices. Understanding such regulations and the underlying reasons behind these rules can help institutions to better serve students and increase access and affordability for those who may otherwise be left behind. Furthermore, it is not as complicated as it may seem.

This webinar, which featured presenters from TFC Tuition Financing, discussed various regulations, including Truth in Lending Act (TILA) that institutions must adhere to when offering payments plans to students. Learn more about how proper and compliant financing programs present a win-win opportunity for students and their institutions.

The one-hour webinar is available on demand.

Click here to view a recording of the webinar! 


A Conversation with Dr. Cynthia Jackson-Hammond, President of CHEA

The Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) was pleased to host Dr. Cynthia Jackson-Hammond, the President of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), for a candid conversation about higher education policies, politics and leadership, as well as her long standing focus on student success, education quality, equity, and diversity. DEAC is very proud to be a CHEA-recognized accrediting organization.

Dr. Jackson-Hammond has been a member of the higher education community for over 30 years. Her professional career has included tenured and administrative positions in universities throughout various regions of the United States: University of Louisiana Monroe, California State University Dominguez Hills; Delaware State University; University of North Carolina Charlotte, Winston-Salem State University; and Coppin State University. Most recently, Dr. Jackson-Hammond completed her tenure as president of Central State University in Ohio.

She is a sought-after thought leader on accreditation, multicultural diversity and inclusion. Jackson-Hammond has served on many national boards including the Fulbright Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES); the Thurgood Marshall College Fund; NCAA Division II Presidents Council; American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education; and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. She has appeared several times on Capitol Hill providing testimony regarding the status of 1890 Land-Grant institutions.

This one-hour webinar is available on demand. 

Click here to watch a recording of the webinar!


Chaos, Covid, and College: Returning to Learning in the Midst of a Pandemic

Students are well into their fall term. Some are studying fully online. Others are returning to campus after a year of online learning. Administrators, faculty, and staff are tentatively returning to their offices and classrooms, both online and in person. They all come to a familiar setting, but underneath all the excitement and trepidation are new rules, whether for vaccinations, social distancing, or new mandates that change day to day. Add to that the political positions on the pandemic and you have a combination of factors that impact the higher education community's mental health and ability to learn and grow. 

In this informative webinar, Dr. Perry C. Francis,  a professor of counseling and the coordinator of the Counseling Training Clinic at Eastern Michigan University, addressed the mental health challenges of returning to school in the midst of a pandemic and the uncertainty of infection in the face of ever-changing guidelines and politics. Participants were encouraged to consider not just the student as a learner, but as a developing adult who is preparing to enter society that struggles with how to care for one's self and others. 

This one-hour webinar is available on demand.

Click here to watch a recording of the webinar!


Strategies for Effective Institutional Assessment

Assessing student learning is fundamental to education at every stage and level. Done well, students thrive, programs innovate, and institutions sustain their viability. A robust assessment process that clearly articulates direct and indirect measures is critical to student achievement and institutional success. Even more, institutions need to embrace the assessment process as a means to foster a culture of quality enhancement and continuous improvement.

DEAC's Standard II.A calls for institutions to demonstrate a commitment to their educational offerings and administrative operations through processes that monitor and improve institutional effectiveness. DEAC-accredited institutions and those seeking accreditation need to demonstrate that they engage in sound research practices; collect and analyze evidence about effectiveness; and develop action plans that are used to improve operations, educational offerings, and services. During this one-hour webinar, the Peregrine Global Services team presented strategies for assessing student learning, described how to effectively utilize direct and indirect measures, reviewed best practices in institutional assessment processes, and demonstrated how a meaningful data analysis process closes the loop within an institutional assessment cycle.

This one-hour webinar is available on-demand.  

Click here to watch a recording of the webinar!

View or download a copy of the presentation!


Cyber Security – Protecting Student Data and PII

Institutions are entrusted with student financial information and personally identifiable information. Failure to adequately protect this information can wreak havoc within digital systems and could result in suspension or termination from Federal Student Aid Title IV programs, fines, compliance audit findings, and reputational damage, not to mention an increased vulnerability to cyber-attacks such as ransomware.

This one-hour webinar, which was presented by Sarah Glover and Brandon Sherman of Maynard Cooper, presented an overview of best practices to assure effective cybersecurity. Other topics included: NIST SP 800-171, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the SAIG Agreement, and breach reporting. Cybersecurity best practices were also discussed. 

Click here to view/download a copy of the presentation!

Click here to watch a recording of the webinar!


Online Lead Quality – Tools to Discern Authenticity

LeadReview® by iDatafy® has helped distance education schools avoid buying fraudulent online leads/inquiries for the past nine years (more than 100,000,000 leads checked!). Online inquiry/lead generation holds the most promise of all current online advertising methods to directly connect interested consumers with companies or institutions providing a valued service.

The challenge for online marketers is to identify which new online inquiries are truly new. iDatafy® is here to help with LeadReview® – the master bad lead database for online marketers. The leading online inquiry buyers report their bad leads to iDatafy® and check their new inquiries against the master database to shield against known bad leads.

iDatafy® provided this one-hour webinar to share information on its extensive research on marking fraud and how to implement an audit of lead generation activities to identify which inquiries are truly new and authentic.

The one-hour is available on demand.

Click here to watch a recording of the webinar!

Download a copy of the slides!

Download a copy of the  iDatafy® white paper HO-HO-DOUGH — THE TALE OF SANTA DAN

Download a copy of the  iDatafy® white paper  THE CURIOUS CASE OF TALLY TRACE—THE RISE OF "PAID TO ANSWER" AFFILIATE MARKETING FRAUD


Getting to Know Credential Engine and the Credential Registry

While you already know a great deal about DEAC, we would like to introduce you to Credential Engine are and their team. Credential Engine is a non-profit with the mission to create credential transparency so that learners, employers, educators, and government stakeholders can find valuable credentials. Credential Engine provides a suite of freely available web-based services that house information about all types of credentials, credential providers, competencies, and quality assurance, using a common description language to enable comparability. These services and the Credential Registry are used by federal and state agencies, higher education institutions, certification and licensure bodies, employers, and many others working together to make credential information more comprehensive and easily accessible. All of the credential data in the Registry is available to the public and can be linked to data from around the world, including connections to occupations and career pathways. 

This webinar provides an overview of publishing to the Credential Registry, including the process of setting up an account, an overview of the Credential Engine Bulk Upload Publishing tool, and next steps to begin publishing your institution's information to the Credential Registry.

Click here to watch a recording of the webinar! 


Collaborating for Student Success: Is your institution adult-ready?

The best adult learner strategies not only increase student satisfaction and employment outcomes, they also improve enrollment and completion rates. During this one-hour webinar, CAEL's vice president for partnership development Dr. Scott Campbell, senior director of member engagement Jeannie McCarron, and director of consulting Barry Nickerson provided tips and best practices for engaging and supporting adult learners at your institution, including:

  • How to identify and address gaps in practice to improve adult learner success through CAEL's Ten Principles for Effectively Serving Adults
  • How incorrect assumptions about adult learners' needs impact their success--and how to demystify their need
  • How the Ten Principles inform practice and change management at Harper College.

The webinar is available on demand.

Click here to watch a recording of the webinar! 


Course Planning is the Key to Success in Every Digital Modality

During a most unusual and challenging year, instructors have had to adapt to ever changing circumstances for teaching and learning. Digital learning materials and assessment adaptations require more time and careful planning, that is, they require careful course architecture. In this one-hour webinar, CourseTune CEO Dr. Maria Andersen will describe strategies for careful planning and up-front investment in the course architecture and explain how a system of instructional design created specifically for stakeholder buy-in acts as a feedback loop for fine-tuning courses over time—all toward improving student learning.

The one-hour webinar is available on demand.

Click here to watch a recording of the webinar!

Click here to view a copy of the slides!


Linking Open Data for Credentials, Competencies and Quality Assurance

DEAC and Credential Engine are collaborating to publish institutional information to the widely respected Credential Registry. The purpose of this one-hour webinar, is to introduce Credential Engine and its publishing process. Credential Engine is a non-profit with a unique mission to create credential transparency so learners, employers, educators, and government stakeholders can find valuable credentials. Credential Engine provides a suite of freely available web-based services that house information about all types of credentials, credential providers, competencies, and quality assurance, using a common description language to enable comparability. We hope you will join us to learn more about this effort to promote data transparency and showcase the quality represented by DEAC accreditation.

The one-hour webinar is available on demand. 

Click here to watch a recording of the webinar! 


Online Assessment: Best Practices and Practical Solutions  

Provided by the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE)

Join an international online event about distance education quality assurance, presented by the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE). This webinar features a conversation with an international panel of experts in distance education that is intended to share knowledge and best practices across global regions. 

The one-hour webinar is available on-demand. 

Click here to watch an archived version of the webinar.


A Review of Proposed Changes to DEAC Processes and Procedures

Dr. Leah Matthews, DEAC Executive Director, provided an overview of changes the Commission proposed for Part Two, Processes and Procedures, DEAC Accreditation Handbook. On May 22, 2020, DEAC issued a Call for Comment on the proposed changes. The Commission accepted comments through June 22, 2020. DEAC institutions as well as members of the public joined Dr. Matthews for this webinar and were encouraged to submit their comments for consideration by the Commission. The Commission carefully considers all comments, particularly those comments that provide thoughtful perspectives that reflect the best interests of the DEAC community as a whole and accountability to the students that DEAC institutions proudly serve. 

The webinar is available on-demand. 

Click here to watch an archived version of the webinar.

Click here to view/download a copy of the webinar slides.


Preparing for New Student Disclosure Requirements 

Provided by Thompson Coburn and DEAC

Join the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) and Thompson Coburn for a webinar examining the new student disclosure requirements that go into effect on July 1, 2020. These disclosure requirements apply to all institutions of higher education, and to all covered programs, whether offered through distance education or on-ground instruction. In particular, institutions offering courses or programs that lead to professional licensure have important, new responsibilities. This webinar will provide a detailed overview of the new rule, and practical advice for achieving compliance by July 1, 2020. Additionally, the presenters will consider related NC-SARA policies addressing disclosures related to professional licensure programs.

The ninety-minute webinar  is available on-demand.


Online Library Resources 

Provided by the Library and Information Resources Network (LIRN)

This webinar featured information from the Library and Information Resources Network, a nonprofit library service and content provider working to strengthen libraries for successful learning. Click here to watch an archived version of the webinar!