ABOUT ME

Russ Poulin

Chief Executive Officer
EduPolicy Insights, LLC 

My clients will benefit from the wealth of experience earned step-by-step throughout my career. I witnessed digital learning grow from its infancy to being ubiquitous across almost all college and university courses. Accompanying this growth, I emerged as an expert on federal, state, system, and institutional policies for digital technologies, whether for online, on-campus, or hybrid courses. My leadership positions for WCET (the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies) allowed me to learn from innovative minds from throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Russ Poulin speaking at a podium while Kim Nawrocki (from WCET) laughs behind him .

Some hallmarks of our consulting relationship:

  • Students:  Center students’ needs to assure success.
  • Compliance:  Follow the law.
  • Policy:  Allow for tomorrow’s innovations.
  • Results:  Expect deep analysis and actionable options.

Finally, I enjoy honesty and humor. I will be honest with you and you can be honest with me.
And let’s have a good time doing it. Life is too short to take ourselves too seriously.

FULL BIO

Russ Poulin champions serving postsecondary students through collaborative efforts that advance quality online and digital learning.  He helped develop and lead the North Dakota Interactive Video Network and was part of the formation of WCET-the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies. Both organizations centered on sharing expertise and services across institutions. He created and led the State Authorization Network and participated in the formation of the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement, NEXus-Nursing Education Xchange, and the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association. Poulin worked at WCET for three decades and led it for five years.

He is often noted for his expertise on digital learning laws, regulations, and policies. This resulted in his serving on a federal negotiated rulemaking panel and subcommittee. Poulin received recognition for his work from many of the leading digital learning organizations. He received lifetime achievement recognition for his work from four digital learning membership organizations and a university. He now consults on digital learning policy and practice issues as EduPolicy Insights, LLC.

RESOURCES

Official Public Comments Submitted

March 2026

U.S. Department of Education
Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; State Authorization
Docket No. ED-2026-SCC-0001

 “The Department should continue its collection of state authorization information, the institutional burden for collecting this data is underestimated, and the collection should continue only if the Department plans to use the data.”

October 2025

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

State Approval Agency Jurisdiction Rule
VA seeking to ‘modernize’ its definitions to improve oversight of distance education programs.
Docket No. VA-2021-VBA-0024 

“Suggestions were given on how to update the “distance education” definitions used by the VA and how to harmonize them with similar definitions used by other federal entities and non-federal entities.”

Recent Publications

Johnson, N. and Poulin, R. (October 1, 2025). OLC Insights, “Escaping the Digital Definitions Rabbit Hole.” Online Learning Consortium.

Widmer, J. and Cavanagh, T. (2025). The Chief Online Learning Officers’ Guidebook: A Framework for Strategy and Practice in Higher Education, “A Question that Needs to Be Asked,” p. 155. Routledge. 

Dowd, C. (Editor), Thompson, S., Poulin, R., and Contreras, A. (Contributing Authors) (2026). State Authorization of Colleges and Universities:  A Handbook for Colleges and Universities, Third Edition. State Authorization Network.

Russ Poulin is a renowned leader in education policy whose work is known for its depth, clarity, and impact. In our collaboration analyzing state legislation and its impact on national agreements, he delivered a comprehensive dossier while thoughtfully addressing stakeholder concerns and identifying opportunities for further engagements. His professionalism and ability to bridge policy, practice, and national context are a confluence of expertise rare in our field.

–Rolin Moe
Associate Vice Provost, UC Online
University of California  

What’s the Latest?

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