Strengthening Review. Expanding Partnerships. Advancing Global Digital Education.
Digital education is no longer simply an alternative way to deliver learning. It has become an increasingly important part of how institutions expand access, serve international communities, respond to workforce needs, and rethink what meaningful education can look like.
This September, the International Accrediting Commission for Digital Education (IACDE) is strengthening its institutional-review systems, welcoming new organizational leadership, expanding professional opportunities throughout our network, preparing for our December Global Virtual Conference, and continuing to support institutions entering the quality-assurance and accreditation journey.
Across all of these developments, one principle remains central to our work: innovation and quality should grow together.
Building the Infrastructure Behind Quality
As IACDE grows, one of our priorities is making sure that the systems behind our work grow with us.
Accreditation and quality assurance should never become a collection of confusing forms, unnecessary delays, or unclear expectations. Institutions deserve to understand the process they are entering. Peer reviewers deserve organized information and clearly defined assignments. Mentors should understand the boundaries of their support. Review staff should have systems that allow institutional progress and findings to be documented consistently.
Most importantly, accreditation decisions should remain grounded in evidence, professional judgment, institutional mission, transparency, and clearly established standards.
We are building more than a review process. We are building a professional ecosystem around quality assurance—one in which institutions can learn, reviewers can contribute their expertise, consultants can independently support developing organizations, and educators can share the ideas shaping the future of digital education.
Dr. Roxanne Kemp, Ph.D.
Founder & President
International Accrediting Commission for Digital Education
Welcome Kimberly Washington, MAOM, MSTPM
Director of Memberships, Onboarding & Partnerships
IACDE is pleased to welcome Kimberly Washington into this important leadership role.
Kimberly brings professional experience spanning education, behavioral healthcare, technology, nonprofit service, compliance, program leadership, and project management.
She will lead and support institutional onboarding, membership engagement, orientations, partnership development, professional-network relationships, and ongoing institutional relationship support.
As IACDE’s international network expands, institutions need a clear, welcoming, and responsive entry point into the organization. Kimberly’s work will help strengthen that experience.
Welcome Taneise Polk, M.Ed.
Director of Institutional Review & Operations
We are equally pleased to welcome Taneise Polk as Director of Institutional Review & Operations.
Taneise brings extensive experience in instructional design, e-learning, curriculum development, online education, and learning systems.
Her work will include Self-Study workflow, administrative review, peer-review communications, documentation, reviewer coordination, evidence organization, and preparation of institutional review records for Commission consideration.
Clearer files. Better-organized evidence. Stronger review documentation. More efficient communication. A more consistent institutional-review experience.
A Clearer Peer-Review Process
IACDE has completed an important redesign of its peer-review workflow. The goal is straightforward: clear assignments, organized evidence, independent evaluation, stronger documentation, and less unnecessary back-and-forth.
Newly assigned reviews will use the IACDE Independent Peer Review Evaluation & Scorecard. Reviewers receive the case number, institution or program, review scope, deadline, applicable Self-Study materials, and supporting evidence.
Conflict-of-interest safeguards remain central to the process. Professionals who have previously worked with, advised, consulted for, or maintained another relationship with an institution must disclose that relationship before participating in an independent review.
VIEW THE PEER REVIEW SCORECARDInstitutional Growth and Accreditation Development
School of the Great Commission Bible College & Seminary
Earlier this month, IACDE announced that the School of the Great Commission Bible College & Seminary (SOGC), under the leadership of Founder and Chancellor Rev. Dr. Winford Thompson, had entered IACDE’s formal accreditation pathway through Candidate Status.
SOGC traces its educational history to 2003 and centers its mission on preparing “Kingdom Builders” through biblical education, ministry preparation, leadership, service, and spiritual development.
Candidate Status is a developmental stage and should not be confused with Full Accreditation. Institutions use this period to examine systems, complete Self-Study work, organize evidence, strengthen quality practices, address developmental needs, and prepare for further review.
IACDE congratulates the SOGC leadership, faculty, administrators, and ministry community as the institution continues through its quality- assurance journey.
READ THE ANNOUNCEMENT VIEW THE IACDE DIRECTORYDevelopments Digital Institutions Should Be Watching
These are not distant trends. They are already affecting institutional policy, student expectations, assessment, quality assurance, course design, and organizational strategy.
1. AI Is Moving from Experimentation to Institutional Governance
The OECD’s 2026 Digital Education Outlook emphasizes an important distinction: generative AI can support learning when connected to intentional pedagogy, but simply outsourcing cognitive tasks to general-purpose AI can improve task performance without necessarily creating meaningful learning.
Institutions should now be thinking beyond “Can students use AI?” and addressing privacy, academic integrity, transparency, faculty expectations, assessment design, learner competencies, and responsible implementation.
Read the OECD Digital Education Outlook 2026 →2. Online Education Has Become Core Institutional Strategy
The 2026 CHLOE Conversations research from EDUCAUSE, Quality Matters, and Encoura reflects the increasingly strategic and financial role of online learning within higher education.
Institutions are looking to digital education for market expansion, workforce development, graduate-program growth, and new learner populations, while placing greater emphasis on quality, student support, data, AI strategy, and measurable value.
Explore the 2026 CHLOE findings →3. Trust, Value, and Authentic Assessment Matter More Than Ever
The 2026 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report identifies artificial intelligence, enrollment pressure, institutional value, and rapidly changing teaching practices among the forces reshaping higher education.
One important response is increasing attention to more authentic and process-based demonstrations of learning—especially as AI complicates traditional assignments.
Read the 2026 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report →Review your AI policies, assessment practices, faculty expectations, learner-support systems, public claims, and evidence of student outcomes. Institutions should be able to demonstrate not only what they say they do—but how they know it is working.
Stop Treating Online Quality as a Technology Problem
A learning-management system does not create an online education program. Neither does a library of uploaded PDFs.
Quality digital education requires an ecosystem in which curriculum, instruction, assessment, technology, learner support, faculty engagement, accessibility, policy, data, and continuous improvement work together.
Five questions to ask your institution this month:
- Are learning outcomes clear and actually assessed?
- Can students consistently reach a real person when they need academic or administrative help?
- Is faculty engagement visible and meaningful?
- Do published policies accurately reflect how the institution actually operates?
- Can the institution produce evidence showing whether learners are succeeding and systems are improving?
Design for Learning—Not Simply Faster Completion
One of the most important lessons emerging from current AI research is that better output is not necessarily the same thing as better learning.
Institutions can respond by redesigning assessments so students demonstrate judgment, process, reflection, and application—not simply submit a polished final product.
Ask learners to explain why they made key decisions.
Use drafts, checkpoints, reflections, and staged submissions.
Connect learning to professional, community, and institutional contexts.
Ask students to evaluate and improve AI-generated material.
IACDE Global Consulting Directory
Independent expertise for emerging, digital, faith-based, workforce, professional, and mission-driven institutions.
As institutions enter the IACDE network, some identify developmental needs that extend beyond accreditation review itself.
A new school may need help developing policies. Another may need curriculum mapping, LMS implementation, faculty-development systems, governance support, student-services planning, cybersecurity guidance, enrollment strategy, compliance systems, or AI integration.
- Institutional development
- New-school launch planning
- Accreditation readiness
- Self-Study preparation
- Policies and procedures
- Curriculum development
- Program mapping
- Instructional design
- Faculty development
- Learning-management systems
- Student services
- Assessment and outcomes
- Compliance documentation
- Governance
- Strategic planning
- Marketing and enrollment
- Faith-based education
- Healthcare education
- Cybersecurity
- Artificial intelligence
Professionals interested in being featured should provide:
- Your hourly consulting rate
- Your top 3–5 areas of expertise
- Preferred institution or project types
- Whether you provide one-time consultations, ongoing support, or both
Consulting relationships are independent of IACDE and separate from accreditation review and decision-making. Consulting participation does not guarantee Candidate Status, accreditation, a favorable review, or any particular Commission decision.
Calling Researchers, Writers, Trainers & Practitioners
A professional network becomes more valuable when its knowledge is shared. IACDE is inviting contributions that help institutions understand emerging challenges and implement stronger practices.
Practical pieces on digital education, institutional leadership, learner success, quality, policy, AI, and emerging issues.
Research findings, institutional case studies, evaluation studies, quality frameworks, and lessons learned.
Professional-development sessions, webinars, workshops, implementation resources, and practical training.
What can another institution learn from what you have discovered?
PROPOSE A CONTRIBUTION
IACDE Global Virtual Conference
Planning continues for IACDE’s first Global Virtual Conference—an international gathering designed for institutional leaders, educators, peer reviewers, consultants, researchers, technology professionals, workforce specialists, and others shaping digital education.
- Featured speakers
- Research and practice presenters
- Panelists and moderators
- Workshop and training facilitators
- Institutional leaders with innovative practices and case studies to share
Potential programming will explore accreditation readiness, online institutional development, artificial intelligence, learner success, assessment, digital credentials, workforce education, faculty practice, technology, faith-integrated learning, international partnerships, and emerging models of educational leadership.
Your Work Deserves to Be Seen
Some of the strongest stories in education never reach a major publication. A learner succeeds. A faculty member develops something innovative. An institution launches a meaningful program. A partnership expands access. A leader publishes important work.
IACDE members, candidate institutions, accredited organizations, reviewers, advisors, and partners are encouraged to submit news for possible inclusion in future newsletters, website features, and network spotlights.
- New programs and institutional initiatives
- Leadership appointments and new partnerships
- Publications, awards, and presentations
- Learner achievements and community impact
- Technology, curriculum, and educational innovations
Ready to Begin Your Accreditation Journey?
Building a new institution? Strengthening an existing school? Preparing for independent quality review?
IACDE works with emerging and established digital, hybrid, professional, workforce, faith-based, training, and mission-driven education providers committed to strengthening educational quality, transparency, learner outcomes, and institutional effectiveness.
Candidate Status provides a developmental pathway to:
- Complete the institutional Self-Study
- Organize and strengthen supporting evidence
- Evaluate policies, governance, and institutional systems
- Address identified areas requiring development
- Strengthen student, faculty, and academic support systems
- Prepare for independent peer review
- Build toward Full Accreditation consideration under IACDE’s published process
You do not have to be perfect before beginning.
You do need to be committed to quality, transparency,
institutional development, and continuous improvement.
Whether you are preparing to launch, strengthening an existing institution, or simply want to understand whether IACDE may be a good fit, we invite you to begin the conversation.
