Compliance
Can CEUs be earned through online courses and webinars?
Published April 8, 2026
Most BCBAs today earn at least some of their CEUs online — and most providers deliver at least some of their content remotely. The format is well-established and widely accepted, but I still get questions about it in workshops, mostly from providers who started in the in-person era and want to make sure they're not missing something. They're usually not. The compliance bar is the same; the delivery medium just changed.
Can BCBAs earn CEUs through online courses and webinars?
Yes. Online and on-demand formats are fully accepted as long as the CEUs are issued by a BACB-authorized ACE provider, the assessment meets BACB requirements (typically three questions per CEU hour), and the certificate includes all the required compliance fields.
Do live webinars and on-demand recordings count the same?
Both can count, but the documentation may differ. Live webinars typically rely on attendance verification plus an assessment; on-demand recordings rely on the assessment alone (since "attendance" isn't observable in the same way). I use the same shareable quiz link for both, with a timestamp that distinguishes when each learner submitted, which keeps the audit trail clean.
What does an online CEU course need to include to be BACB-compliant?
Educational content delivered by a qualified instructor, an assessment with the right number of questions, an evaluation component, and a certificate with all the required fields (learner name, ACE provider info, CEU type, hours, date, etc.). The "online" part doesn't change the compliance bar — it only changes the delivery medium.
How do I prove a learner actually completed an online course?
The assessment is the proof. If a learner can pass a real assessment about the content, that's the BACB's definition of completion. You don't need to track video-watching duration or implement DRM — you need a quiz that genuinely tests the material.
Can I offer Ethics or Supervision CEUs through an online webinar?
Yes. The CEU type is determined by the content, not the delivery format. An online webinar focused on the BACB Ethics Code can issue Ethics CEUs; one focused on supervision practice can issue Supervision CEUs. Just make sure the certificate explicitly lists the correct CEU type.
Online CEUs are now the default rather than the exception. The providers I see building the strongest reputations are the ones who treat online delivery as a first-class format — same compliance bar, same care, same automation — instead of treating it as a lesser version of "real" in-person training.
About CEU Lab Certs
I'm an Org ACE Provider who spent years manually creating CEU certificates and stitching together clunky systems that weren't built for the BACB's changing requirements. I built CEU Lab Certs to be the tool I wished existed — BACB-compliant templates, shareable quiz links, automated certificate delivery, and audit-ready records in one place, so you can spend your time teaching instead of doing certificate admin on a Sunday.
Keep reading
What should a BACB-compliant CEU certificate template include?
The exact fields the BACB expects on a CEU certificate, with a checklist you can use to audit your current template tonight.
What's the difference between a CEU certificate and a PDU certificate for behavior analysts?
CEUs and PDUs aren't interchangeable. Here's what each one is, who needs them, and how the certificates differ.
What are the CEU requirements for BCBAs in 2025/2026?
A current reference on BCBA CEU requirements for the 2025–2026 cycle, with notes for providers issuing CEUs.