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Stay engaged and informed! . For more information on UPCEA government affairs, contact Jordan DiMaggio ().

We’ve partnered to help you increase capacity around instructional design

Do you need to increase your team’s capacity around instructional design? Would you like to add instructional design to your skillset?

Great news! UPCEA has recently partnered with iDesign to offer even more online professional development through iDesign’s self-paced learning opportunities, LX Pathways. Our partnership with iDesign extends the continuum of online professional development that UPCEA announced last week.

Instructional Designer Training Through our Partner, iDesign

These competency-based learning options address the role-specific skills required of instructional technologists, learning architects, and online instructors with a focus on quality and leadership in the field and offer the following features:

  • Beginning and advanced levels
  • Online, self-paced, modularized content
  • Learners receive microcredentials upon completion of the associated tracks.

Learn more here, and use our special UPCEA Member-only discount code at lxpathways.com to receive 10% off.

The COVID-19 pandemic has served to accelerate the changing market for postsecondary education.

We know all too well that the current virus pandemic is impacting enrollments in the near term, but this is temporary — the pandemic will pass. It will take months, perhaps even a year or two, but this threat will be behind us. We will be wiser and, I hope, better prepared for such disasters in the future.

Meanwhile, trends that began before the virus emerged are growing stronger. These changes will impact the demand for programs and modes of delivery for the long term. Employers are seeing expanding pressure to provide rapidly changing advanced technical services and products. Their needs are growing while the supply chain of qualified workers is tightening. As a result, we are seeing a growing demand for lifelong learning. We are already seeing students of all ages returning for continuing and professional education. The U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average tenure of American workers with their current employer is 4.2 years. That means that workers are not just changing jobs, but changing places of employment at a rapid pace. Advancing in this environment requires regular training and advancing education. Upskilling is the key to success in this fourth industrial revolution.

Strada Education has released the results of their most recent edition of the longitudinal study of prospective learners. With more than 5,000 surveyed, the nonprofit Strada reports, “We expect this is a wide range of formal and informal education activities,” Dave Clayton, senior vice president for consumer insights at Strada, said in an email. “As we prepare for economic downturn, everyone’s wondering about the implications for education — we don’t fully know the impact yet, but we’re tracking this closely. What we do know so far, based on this survey and our historic surveys, is that Americans want to see direct career benefits from their education.”

We need to respond to these trends in student demand. As Clayton points out, adult learners want their programs delivered online and directly tied to career development and advancement. That is our expanding role in higher education — online professional and continuing education. It is the growth sector of higher ed.

The first step in this process is to identify job market needs and student demands. We can do that by checking in with the business and industry in our region — create an advisory committee of business and commerce leaders. National resources are already in place to help guide us in tracking demand for new employee qualifications.

LinkedIn Learning released a list of the skills that companies need most in 2020. This valuable report is worth a careful read. Among the top soft skills are creativity, persuasion, collaboration and adaptability. These are topics that can be best addressed in short courses. They must be online — available anywhere, any time. Even self-paced modules can be effective. They are most effective for students seeking jobs if they carry badges that identify the specific skills learned and evidence of that learning. The LinkedIn Learning report also lists the hard skills that top its 2020 list. These include blockchain, cloud computing, analytical reasoning and artificial intelligence. These skills may require a series of modules or classes to master. For hard skills a certificate that also carries badges for each increment is the best approach. The badges will certify the learning in each incremental part — module — of the certificate.

This is the new role for higher education in the fourth industrial revolution. That does not mean we need to discard our degree programs. Not at all. Instead we can use these approaches to build on-ramps to the degree programs and to build career ramps from the degrees to jobs. We will see graduates returning to us for just-in-time, up-to-date learning opportunities to build their e-portfolios. Our connections to students will not end with graduation but will continue throughout the following half century and more if we continue to provide offerings that meet their needs.

As the economy reopens after we have subdued the coronavirus, it will be clear that we have arrived in the fourth industrial revolution, where demands for leaders, collaborators and communicators will be paramount to advance the incredible technologies that are now emerging. Our success in higher education hinges on our recognizing and responding to those needs by providing relevant new career paths for new students and upskilling career-advancing paths for returning learners.

Are you connecting with business and industry leaders to determine their needs and preferences for new hires? Are you using badging, e-portfolios, certifications and related strategies to meet these demands? Will you be prepared for the reopening of the world economy?

 

This article was originally published in Inside Higher Ed’s Transforming Teaching & Learning blog.

Over the past five years UPCEA has published two Hallmarks of Excellence frameworks, first in Online Leadership and then Professional and Continuing Education. These quality frameworks have been endorsed and used by countless organizations and institutions as they evaluate, enhance, and sometimes even build professional, continuing, and online enterprises. Today, I am so pleased to share UPCEA’s third set of the series—the Hallmarks of Excellence in Credential Innovation.

Each of these Hallmarks of Excellence is intended to be both aspirational and a practical toolkit to assist those in Professional, Continuing, and Online Education (PCO) to think systematically and concretely about the nature of credentials at their institution as well as the strategy and logistical components of supporting learners throughout their lifetimes. This most recent Hallmarks of Excellence is focused on alternative credentials, which includes certificates, micro-credentials, digital badges, or micro-certificates, signaling specific competencies, certification, and sometimes licensure. Use these Hallmarks to:

  • Assess your institution’s readiness for more flexible student learning opportunities
  • Plan for meeting workforce needs and employer demand in the new economy
  • Define roles and responsibilities required for an enterprise-wide effort to achieve credential excellence
  • Benchmark against key performance indicators
  • Generate revenue with quality credentialing programs and badges

Get your copy of the UPCEA Hallmarks of Excellence in Credential Innovation here.

A special thanks to Dr. Jay Halfond, formerly Dean of Boston University’s Metropolitan College, who led the team of experts who developed the new Hallmarks. Jay is the 2020 recipient of UPCEA’s most prestigious award, the Julius M. Nolte Award for Extraordinary Leadership, and is the new faculty director of UPCEA’s professional development certificate programs, launching in July—yes, UPCEA practices what it preaches!

Also, please join us for a free webinar, The New UPCEA Hallmarks of Excellence in Credential Innovation + Benchmarking Research Findings, on June 17th. The webinar explores the new Hallmarks of Excellence and how members plan to use them, and shares a report from a research study on alternative credentials by UPCEA and MindEdge entitled The State of the Alternative Credential Market.

No matter what type of alternative credential students are earning, most institutions don’t retain official information about it. In a recent survey, just a third of institutions (38 percent) that offer alternative credentials said they allow those to be represented on students’ university records. Nearly half (48 percent) said they weren’t in student records; and another 14 percent said they didn’t know. Those responses include institutions that deliver credentials as graduate and undergraduate certificates, which are intended to serve as degree supplements.

The survey, undertaken by the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) and online learning producer MindEdge, found that two-thirds of respondents in colleges and universities (68 percent) have seen growing interest in alternative credentials among students in recent years, and nearly half (46 percent) would call it “significant growth” in interest.

Read the full story here.

Older Gen Zers (often called the “iGeneration”) may be a deciding factor in not only the upcoming presidential and congressional elections, but also in what higher education will look like in the future, post-COVID-19. Generation Z is typically defined as individuals born between 1995 and 2005, are roughly between 14 and 24 years of age, and about 52[i] to 60[ii] million strong. A subsegment of this group is called the iGeneration, about 32 million individuals who will be 18 to 24 years of age by November 3, 2020—16 million more than the last presidential election in 2016. During the same time, we sadly saw a loss of approximately 5 million Baby Boomers. Depending on voter participation and the Electoral College, the iGeneration segment of Generation Z is likely to play a major role in deciding the leadership of the United States including the makeup of the Senate and House of Representatives. While Boomers have a higher voter participation rate than Millennials and Z’ers, the numbers have shifted and the impact of COVID-19 may influence in-person, as well as absentee and early, voting. The iGeneration will be a force to be reckoned with post-COVID-19 and may define their influence as a result of the upcoming election. Their power post-election will likely also redefine many qualities of higher education.

 

Many in the scientific community suggest that we may see a second wave of COVID-19 cases this fall. Many campuses are making plans or decisions whether to have campus-based education or move fully online. Many Spring 2020 students have endured the quick migration of courses to remote delivery and at times are questioning the quality. Some have resorted to legal channels to either seek refunds or compensation for the unplanned shift. The iGeneration is finding its voice. Graduates of the college class of 2020 will enter a period of economic uncertainty and high unemployment. Some will question the value of their degree-based educational investment.

 

“This generation has weathered multiple crises during their lifetimes. Gen Z students will be looking for solutions to help them survive economic hardship, underemployment or unemployment, and the lack of marketable skills. PCO units must be prepared to provide the skills and credentials Gen Z needs to adapt to their ever-changing future.”

Vickie Cook, Executive Director, Online, Professional, and Engaged Learning at University of Illinois Springfield.

 

Survival Mode: Flight/Fight/FreezeRegardless of whether these are current college or high school students, they are likely to adopt either a fight, flight or freeze approach from traditional higher education, according to InsideTrack and Strada Education.[iii] For those about to enter the college education pipeline, some may question the future return on investment on what many perceive as over-priced tuition which increased more than 154% over the last 20 years.[iv] As a result, the likely audiences will react to higher education differently post-COVID19 with implications to professional, continuing and online education (PCO) units:

 

  • High school graduates, Class of 2020: This segment of society is far along the decision-making process and they face uncertainty. As a result, the following paths are likely: 
    • (Fight) Wait-and-see and attend campus, but cautiously. PCO units will play a minor role here but may support campus initiatives should more online options be needed or as a fallback plan should COVID-19 outbreaks occur in the fall. 
    • (Flight) Wait-and-see and stay closer to home, making lower cost choices nearby and going part-time. PCO units could see these students enter enrollment channels typically designed for part-time learners, degree completers or professionals seeking online degree options. 
    • (Freeze) The gap-year graduate. This future learner will want to wait for the dust to settle or a new normal is established. Until then, this learner and their parents will be unwilling to consider a potentially shaky investment. For PCO units, this learner could be a source for single enrollments or alternative credentials to keep their mind engaged academically. 
  • High school graduates in the Class of 2021 and beyond: This future segment has the luxury of an additional year, when cooler heads may prevail and the dust has settled on the economy and the role of higher education. This more informed 18-year-old should benefit from an improved family financial situation and additional information about the pandemic. Hopefully, it will be in the rear-view mirror for them. However, it is likely that signs of a new economy will be evolving and scrutiny will be placed upon institutions of higher education as to whether the degrees these students seek in 2021—and graduate with in 2025—will have sufficient value and shelf-life. This class and the classes that follow will be looking for signs and evidence that their family’s annual investment of over $30,000[v] will be worth it. As a result, two new segments could emerge: 
    • (Fight) The full-time stay-at-home online student seeking a degree. This 18-to-22 year-old student and their family have been significantly impacted financially. Rather than pay full tuition, board and fees associated with living on campus or near a campus, this learner will seek the best value degree option while saving money by living with their parents. They have greater choices and buying power, despite a potentially more difficult financial situation. This student may present new challenges for the PCO unit as their demands, preferences and personas are different and they carry with them the power of technology, social media and networks of influence. They are more powerful and more likely than other generations to voice their displeasure. For these students entering a PCO inquiry channel, many may be disappointed in their experience and potentially abandon their higher education shopping cart. A recent UPCEA study of 100 institutions found that 15% of PCO units evaluated had an efficient request for information process, often geared toward the iGeneration. Another 54% had processes that were viewed as tolerable, but not necessarily efficient. The remaining 31% were viewed as invasive or downright creepy to iGen’ers.2020 UPCEA Study of the Request for Information Process
      The findings of this study are important in that iGen’ers will voice their dissatisfaction with their strong peer networks. They will be turned off by an institution’s unnecessary or inappropriate sequencing of questions.

       

    • (Flight) The fully non-degreed professional learner. This learner may have started the path of going to college, but now sees fewer assurances and guarantees of employment given what they see as a fast-moving economy. They may also perceive higher education as woefully obsolete for the future. Another learner who may consider this avenue could also be the high school graduate or noncompleter who would not have gone to college anyway, but sees the damage COVID-19 did to the U.S. economy and will seek to be better prepared through badges, certificates and alternative credentials.

 

In addition to the iGeneration, many other generations will look at the economy and the role of education differently post-pandemic. These segments could include the following.

 

  • Lost Their Job During the Pandemic. They know that they need to invest in education and training in the future but have little funds. They are most likely a Millennial or Gen X’er who felt secure and does not want to be caught off guard in the future. Strada Education’s “The Public Viewpoint: COVID-19 Work and Education Survey” shows that as of 4/29/2020[vi], 46% of individuals surveyed had lost their job or had their income reduced. Of this group, one-third believe that they need additional education and training to get a comparable job. While the degree market is likely to see a decline in the short term, a high-value alternative credential may be attractive to this segment. Given their financial situation, such noncredit, lower priced offerings may be stronger options for this group. The MOOC market may also have greater appeal for this segment. 
  • Retained Their Job but Fearful for a Repeat Economy. Similar to the previous segment, this group will look to strengthen their job security. PCO units will likely have the greatest impact through badges and certificates for this audience, most likely Millennials and Gen X’ers. Gen X’ers who are likely to have more disposable income and could potentially afford a degree may explore lower risk and quicker options. 
  • The New, but Unlucky and Unemployed 2020 College Graduate. They had a job offer, but lost it or had it delayed. Job fairs were cancelled this spring, so when the economy does open up, they will find themselves in competition with dozens, hundreds or thousands of others. Many also did not benefit from a stimulus check, as they were their parents’ dependents and will find themselves living with them again…eerily similar to 2008 Millennial graduates in the financial crisis. For PCO units, this audience may hold potential if they can be convinced to enhance their already existing degrees with “super credentials” to get ahead of others who will be competing for similar jobs. These credentials could be strategic communication, data visualization, Python, Tableau, cybersecurity, social or digital media, etc., or some other skill to build an advantage once the economy recovers. The worst case scenario for this group in the interview process will be not being able to answer a potential employer’s question of “What skills did you acquire or what did you do to better prepare while you were quarantined during the pandemic?” 
  • Worried for the Future, Lacks a Degree and Lost Their Job.These individuals will seek new ways to prevent this from happening to them again. They will look for education and training to change their trajectories in the future. Many of these individuals may have college credits, and therefore PCO units may see new, restored opportunities in degree completion. Those without college credits may lean toward less costly, quicker noncredit certificates or badges or see stackable credit credentials as attractive en route to a degree. However, both segments are more likely to be financially challenged and will look at debt and investment in education differently. For many, the recent pandemic showed them how vulnerable they were and that the absence of the next paycheck and the inability to quickly access unemployment funding left them exposed.

"For those about to enter the college education pipeline, some may question the future return on investment on what many perceive as over-priced tuition which increased more than 154% over the last 20 years." Jim Fong, Director, UPCEA Center for Research and Strategy

Higher education will be forever changed. While the degree will likely remain the gold standard in the next decade or two, the power that institutions have has been lessened, shifting more toward the consumer or employer. During the time of self-isolation or quarantining, some learned to learn in a new way, taking online masterclasses, Zoom personal training, or MOOCs. Learning has been redefined through quarantining where consumers, without knowing, have seized more economic power by learning online. They now realize that more learning can be done outside of the sacred ivy walls of higher education.

 

A new economy will more quickly evolve and be grounded in automation, the care economy, green energy and sustainability, new organizational cultures and new products that need to be brought to new markets[vii]. While higher education overall is likely to suffer in the short-run, PCO units are better positioned to respond—just as they did at the turn of the century when the internet, mobile and cloud economy was fueling online education. These units are used to adapting to change and are comfortable with new technologies. They can scale up and down as needed, understanding sales, marketing and revenue generation. They are able to develop innovative or highly customized ways of learning and can more quickly bridge the gap between employer need and institutional resources. As institutions of higher education plan well beyond the current pandemic and 2020, they need to leverage PCO unit strengths. As author William Gibson best put it, “the future is already here.”[viii]

 

[i] Estimated from www.knoema.com, World Population Prospects and Pew Research Center findings.

[ii] http://fourhooks.com/marketing/the-generation-guide-millennials-gen-x-y-z-and-baby-boomers-art5910718593

[iii] Pelesh, A., How to Support Students During COVID-19, Strada Education Network, April 19, 2020.  https://www.stradaeducation.org/uncategorized/how-to-support-students-during-covid-19/ and https://info.insidetrack.org/students-in-crisis

[iv] U.S. News and World Report, August 19, 2019

[v] Duffin, E., www.statistica.com,  May 5, 2020

[vi] The Public Viewpoint:  COVID-19 Work and Education Survey, Strada Education Network. April 29, 2020. https://www.stradaeducation.org/publicviewpoint/

[vii] World Economic Forum: Jobs of Tomorrow, Mapping Opportunity in the New Economy. 2019.

[viii] Gibson, W., The Economist. December 4, 2003.

I am pleased to share a major announcement today regarding a profession that is indispensable to the future of higher education. The field of Professional, Continuing, and Online Education (PCO) has truly come of age in the 21st century – and our importance and sophistication continues to expand exponentially as our members play an increasingly critical role in the success and survival of their institutions.

 

This reality has prompted the Board of Directors to elevate the profession itself with the most significant initiative ever undertaken by UPCEA: the creation of industry standards for what it means to be a professional in the PCO field, with certificate programs designed around those standards. It is time.

 

Especially in this global crisis, those at all levels of Professional, Continuing, and Online Education must have the expertise and broad understanding to contribute to their institutions. The pandemic makes this initiative even more urgent and impactful – indeed, a strategic imperative for the field.

 

We are proud to share UPCEA’s all-new online professional development programs!

 

Elevate Your Career

The UPCEA Professional Development programs offer opportunities at every stage of your career:

  • PCO Foundations Certificate: ideal for beginning (less than 2 years of experience) or new-to-PCO higher education professionals and colleagues from other areas whose work intersects with PCO.
  • PCO Professional Certificate: designed for professionals with 2-5 years of experience, PCO professionals in operational roles who possess an interest in expanding their knowledge, or experienced professionals from other institutional areas who have been tapped to fill roles in PCO operations.
  • PCO Leader Certificate: developed specifically for PCO professionals with extensive (8+ years) and increasingly responsible experience in the field and leaders with an interest in peer-to-peer learning with their colleagues in the field.

Each program is composed of five modules designed by highly respected PCO leaders. Selected via a national search, these Founding Faculty will bring their experience and knowledge to facilitate a vibrant learning community.

 

Professional Development that Fits Your Needs and Schedule

In July, we will release the first modules in two certificate programs (PCO Foundations and PCO Professional), as well as shorter Special Topics. Subsequent modules in each program will be released and available on a rolling basis.

 

All PCO certificate modules are:

 

Registration Opens in June!

Details coming soon! We’ll deliver the most important information right to your inbox, or you can explore the UPCEA Professional Development programs webpage for more specifics.

 

We look forward to bringing you these opportunities to take your career to the next level, or provide critical staff development for your team.

 

Finally, I’d like to recognize the leadership of Julie Uranis, UPCEA’s VP of Online and Strategic Initiatives, and new Faculty Director Jay Halfond for bringing this enterprise to a successful launch!

Are you Zooming through your days in discomfort and not liking what you see on the screen?

Zoom has become part of the lexicon of our lives. It is the way many of us meet and teach. In a similar way, we use Google Hangouts and other analogous synchronous meeting apps for live classes and the myriad of meetings that previously populated our workdays. If you are like me, you have three or four Zoom sessions a day. They are with the same colleagues as before, but they just don’t feel the same as in-person meetings. Those routine meetings can become anxiety-producing and exhausting.

Research is being conducted in real time as we experience the impact of virtual conferencing on a daily basis. The BBC interviewed leading experts in the area of workplace studies: Gianpiero Petriglieri, an associate professor at INSEAD, who explores sustainable learning and development in the workplace, and Marissa Shuffler, an associate professor at Clemson University, who studies workplace well-being and teamwork effectiveness. The researchers are examining the phenomenon called “Zoom fatigue,” an array of physical and psychological factors that combine to make our synchronous online communications less effective and wrought with discomfort. Among their suggestions:

Having your screen off to the side, instead of straight ahead, could also help your concentration, particularly in group meetings, says Petriglieri. It makes you feel like you’re in an adjoining room, so may be less tiring … Shuffler suggests shared files with clear notes can be a better option that avoids information overload. She also suggests taking time during meetings to catch up before diving into business. “Spend some time to actually check into people’s wellbeing,” she urges. “It’s a way to reconnect us with the world, and to maintain trust and reduce fatigue and concern.” Building transition periods in between video meetings can also help refresh us — try stretching, having a drink or doing a bit of exercise, our experts say.

Zachary Yorke, UX researcher, reports in the Google Blog that there are science-based reasons for the different feel of virtual conferencing. Among the things Yorke suggests are:

Conversations on calls are less dynamic, and the proverbial “talking stick” gets passed less often. That’s a big deal for remote teams because sharing the floor more equally is a significant factor in what makes one group smarter than another. Computational social scientists like Alex “Sandy” Pentland and Anita Woolley have shown that higher performing groups aren’t made up of individuals with higher IQs but instead people who are more sensitive to emotions and share the floor more equally. Identify calls where conversational dynamics could be better. Encourage more balanced conversation, help some get their voice heard and remind others to pass the talking stick.

In far too many conferences, our video images and those of others are far from flattering — sometimes blurry, sometimes blue, and often our faces are shaded to the point of being unrecognizable. Even more aggravating are the moments when voices and images freeze and break up. Many of these problems can be solved with a couple of tweaks and following some simple rules.

Let’s start with the worst situation first. That’s when your signal breaks up, images freeze and audio drops out. You may even be disconnected. This can happen at any point in a conference. Most often either you or the current speaker has run out of bandwidth at their location. You may have had plenty at the start of the conference, but your bandwidth has dropped down due to a heavier load on the local internet service provider. The immediate resolution is to reduce the amount of data streamed per second in the conference.

I was recently in a conference with 55 others, all with cameras and microphones on. As you might imagine, that is a recipe for disaster! In terms of bandwidth, if everyone other than the speaker could turn off their cameras and microphones, the bandwidth would drop significantly. This will stream less data and may be enough to keep the conference signal stable.

It is courteous to establish your presence with the camera on when you log in to the conference, but then when things get going, turn off your camera until it is time for you to speak. This also helps hide your eye rolls and other nonverbal cues that you may wish to avoid. How can you look your best on camera? Here are some tips:

  • Be sure you’re illuminated! Set up your laptop or camera with you facing a window or other light source.
  • Do not have a light source, such as a window, behind you — the camera will adjust for that luminosity and put your face in the shadows.
  • Put your camera (or entire laptop) so that it is at or slightly above eye level.
  • Pay attention to the background.
  • Take a look at your setup (turn on your laptop’s camera) before you log in — make sure things look the way you want.

There are lots of resources out there to make you a Zoom pro in no time. PC magazine has even more suggestions on how to look good on video conference calls. There are some tricks in Zoom to allow you to enable a background and even insert one of your own. You can invert your image and much, much more. CNet has a list of “13 Hidden Features in Zoom,” and the Groove blog has 16 more tips, including many shortcuts you can use in Zoom.

Certainly, one doesn’t need to use all of these tips and tricks to communicate effectively through videoconferencing. I hope some of the links are useful to you in creating a better image. It seems we may be meeting virtually for weeks and perhaps months to come, so a little time invested will be well worthwhile.


This article originally was published in Inside Higher Ed’s Transforming Teaching & Learning Blog.

Today I’m writing to shine a light on UPCEA’s best kept secret: the Center for Research and Strategy led by Jim Fong and featuring some of the best consultants in the industry. The Center provides actionable research and benchmarking free of charge for all members; and high value custom consulting across the entire spectrum of professional, continuing, and online education.

 

Research, Benchmarking, and “Second Opinion” Service (complimentary for Members)

Unlike corporate membership subscriptions, UPCEA’s research and benchmarking is both high quality and free for members. How’s that for value!

In the coming year we have an exceptional research agenda from Jim Fong and his team. Watch for these forthcoming studies to benchmark your unit to others in the field and to your peer institutions. With the pace of change accelerating so quickly, and the stakes for decision-making so high, the value of this member benefit is significant.

As a sample, check out the Center’s most recent benchmarking study, conducted in partnership with MindEdge — The State of the Alternative Credential Market: UPCEA Member Survey Results. You can also find Jim Fong’s latest data and reflections, like “A Glimpse into the Future Economy after the Pandemic,” on his blog, “Benchmark This!”.

Have a question today about how to move forward in the current climate? Ask UPCEA’s featured experts via our expanded Second Opinion program. Request a free consultation to address your questions on organizational strategy, professional and continuing education, marketing and recruitment, online strategy and operations, and many other areas. Second Opinion is a free service exclusively for UPCEA members!

 

Customized Consulting, Tailored to Today’s (and Tomorrow’s) Needs

Are you looking for greater value in your consulting partners? Did you know UPCEA has consulted with institutional clients of all sizes and structures? Check out the list — you’ll be surprised by the scale of our work!

UPCEA consulting offers the best value in the business, by far. In addition to staff experts with deep experience in the field, UPCEA consultants include many leading deans and chief online learning officers in the field today.

Why now? The need for realignment of programs and consulting is at an all-time high, and many institutions are looking to fund critical projects despite frozen travel and professional development budgets. For example, in the current environment we have seen an uptick in demand for consulting on transitioning to online with scale and quality.

Many of our clients have said UPCEA consulting was a wise investment to help minimize the risks associated with new initiatives. The Center can help you with:

  • Online Quality at Scale
  • Online Operations
  • New Program Development
  • Alternative Credential Development
  • Online Program Evaluation
  • Online Program Administration and Leadership
  • Program Portfolio Assessment
  • Market Opportunity Identification and Assessment
  • Data-Driven Solutions
  • Enrollment Process Improvement
  • Occupational Analysis, Trending and Forecasting
  • Local Economic Forecasting

Learn more here.

Today, UPCEA has submitted comments to the US Department of Education in response to their Notice of Public Rulemaking (NPRM) issued on April 2, 2020, which closes on May 4, 2020. These regulations were informed by the 2018-2019 negotiated rulemaking committee. We wrote regarding clarification and suggested edits for how the NPRM amends key definitions and title IV eligibility requirements for distance and correspondence education providers. UPCEA recognizes the importance of regulating distance education to protect students and the general public. We appreciate the efforts the Department has taken to protect these interests while still encouraging innovation in higher education and student access to affordable, high-quality educational opportunities. 

We generally support the proposed changes contained in this NPRM and believe they advance each of these goals. However, we do seek clarification on several new and amended definitions from the Department as outlined below. The following suggestions and requests for clarification have been submitted both by UPCEA member institutions and by UPCEA’s Policy Committee, and include concerns raised by online program administrators, instructional faculty, and instructional designers:

 

Click here to read our full comments and suggestions on these issues.