The Distance Education Accreditation Commission (DEAC) has partnered with Higher Digital, the leading digital strategic advisor to higher education institutions, to create the (SEA)RESULTS® Distance Education Effectiveness Assessment. Using accreditation standards DEAC has developed, the assessment enables higher education leaders around the world to benchmark their distance education capability, quality, scalability, and sustainability along 40 data points spanning academic, operational, organizational, and technical dimensions.
Using the new assessment, college and university leaders will be empowered to:
- Assess their distance education effectiveness across academic, organizational, operational, and technical dimensions, to better understand their strengths and weaknesses;
- Plan their distance education accreditation strategy using their customized (SEA)RESULTS report and an easy-to-follow road map for implementation and achieving digital transformation; and
- Measure performance over time to hold staff and vendors accountable.
In assessing an institution's distance education capabilities, the (SEA)RESULTS® Distance Education Effectiveness Assessment focuses on four key categories identified by DEAC:
- Consumer Protection. Measures how clearly and fairly you communicate the costs and requirements of the institution’s education programs to prospective students.
- Institutional Viability. Measures how well you understand and prioritize your institution's mission and strategic plans as well as your ability to communicate it across the institution.
- Academic Quality. Measures whether the academic policies and procedures support your institutional mission, to effectively meet student, faculty, and staff needs.
- Technology Enterprise. Measures the maturity of your education technology ecosystem, including system efficiency, effectiveness, and interface between faculty and students. This includes evaluating components such as the levels of transparency schools have with students and how they invest in their technology infrastructure to provide the highest quality education possible.
This assessment will benefit institutions planning to seek accreditation, as well as those simply looking for a quick and effective way to evaluate the effectiveness of their distance education capabilities.
The assessment can be beneficial only when questions about the current status of the program and its distance education offerings are answered honestly and with transparency. The results of the assessment are completely confidential.