Online: Trending Now

Unique biweekly insights and news review
from Ray Schroeder, Senior Fellow at UPCEA

Online: Trending Now Archives (Earlier than May 2018)

Click here to access all of Ray’s articles from May 2018 back to the very start! 

Authored by
A man (Ray Schroeder) is dressed in a suit with a blue tie and wearing glasses.

Ray Schroeder is Professor Emeritus, Associate Vice Chancellor for Online Learning at the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) and Senior Fellow at UPCEA. Each year, Ray publishes and presents nationally on emerging topics in online and technology-enhanced learning. Ray’s social media publications daily reach more than 12,000 professionals. He is the inaugural recipient of the A. Frank Mayadas Online Leadership Award, recipient of the University of Illinois Distinguished Service Award, the United States Distance Learning Association Hall of Fame Award, and the American Journal of Distance Education/University of Wisconsin Wedemeyer Excellence in Distance Education Award 2016.

Other UPCEA Updates + Blogs

Leading Digital Learning Enterprises | Part 4: Beyond the Technology: Building a Digital Ecosystem with Purpose

Technology may be the most visible element of a digital learning enterprise. It is also one of the easiest to misunderstand. Institutions invest considerable resources in learning management systems, student information systems, customer relationship management platforms, analytics, communication tools, instructional technologies, cybersecurity, and an expanding array of emerging technologies. Each promises opportunities to improve some…

Trust, but Click: What Prospective Students Are Teaching Us About AI Search in 2026

During arms-control talks in the 1980s Ronald Reagan made “trust, but verify” one of the most quoted phrases of the era. Four decades later, prospective online and continuing education students appear to have quietly borrowed it back and pointed it directly at their search bar. Trust, but click. That is the story of AI Search…

2026 UPCEA MEMS Award Recipients Announced

26 recipients chosen across three award categories WASHINGTON, D.C., September 16, 2026 — UPCEA, the online and professional education association, has announced the recipients of the 2026 Excellence in Enrollment Management Award, the Excellence in Advancing Student Success Award, and the Excellence in Marketing Award. All three awards are sponsored by UPCEA’s Marketing, Enrollment Management,…

New Research: AI Answers Decide Which Schools Prospects Choose as Consideration Sets Continue to Shrink

UPCEA and Search Influence’s 2026 study finds prospective students question AI more, but increasingly use and trust it in their search for programs NEW ORLEANS, La. — September 16, 2026 — Prospective students consider just three or fewer continuing and online education programs before applying, and AI-generated search overviews increasingly shape which ones make that…

Leadership Conversations in the Age of AI | An UPCEA Executive Briefing | From Awareness to Leadership: A Conversation with Ray Schroeder

Artificial intelligence has become part of higher education’s operating environment. New capabilities, applications, and predictions emerge almost daily. Staying informed is important, but awareness alone is not leadership. Leaders must determine what these developments mean for their institutions, their people, and the learners they serve.  Leadership Conversations in the Age of AI begins an ongoing…

Academic Rigor Is a Financial Defense: What Every Institutional Leader Should Take From the Ghost Student Problem

A follow-up from the 2026 SOLAR COLO Convening By Julie Uranis & Tim Lehmann FSA awards more than $120 billion a year to roughly 13 million students. Some of those enrollments are fraudulent. Fraud rings use stolen identities, synthetic identities assembled from real and fabricated information, and sometimes complicit individuals to enroll, obtain aid, and…

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