DEAC Accreditation News 2018

California Coast University was active in 2018 attending a variety of Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) events including the Spring Annual Conference, the Fall Workshop, along with various other accreditation activities through the year. Some of the highlights this year included:

• In April of 2018, President Tom Neal and Director of Compliance Christi Okuma traveled to San Diego, CA to attend the DEAC Annual Conference. Items on the agenda included: The current state of education in the U.S. and changes on the horizon; employer needs; educational resources; accreditation readiness; competency based education; and experiential learning. The conference provided an interesting and informative opportunity to reconnect with our educational colleagues and keep up to date.
• In October, DEAC held their Fall Workshop in Scottsdale, AZ. Director of Compliance Christi Okuma attended for CCU. Topics on the agenda included: Innovation as a continuous, creative process; direct assessment; strategies for institutional sustainability; the institutional mission; compliance and continuous improvement; and curriculum mapping.
• Throughout the year, Christi Okuma was active and participated in a number of accreditation visits for DEAC. As educational institutions seek accreditation and reaccreditation, a team will visit the school to ensure that school is complying with DEAC standards. In her role as a Business Standards Evaluator, Christi’s job is to focus on the business side of a particular school, while other evaluators focus on the academic side. The visiting team will then send their findings to the Committee Chairperson who will compile the findings into a final report with recommendations for actions that need to be taken prior to accreditation or reaccreditation. The work these evaluators do is an important function of maintaining the high standards DEAC requires for all its schools.

For 2019, California Coast University will continue to actively attend the annual conference in Miami, FL, the Fall Workshop in Chicago, IL, and to support DEAC activities. For this year, we will also be getting ready for our reaccreditation visit in the fall. We will keep you all posted on our progress!