2020 UPCEA Annual Conference Cancellation

Today we have been forced to cancel the UPCEA Annual Conference originally scheduled for March 18-20, 2020, at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. This year’s conference will not be rescheduled.     As we shared previously, we originally opted to postpone the conference due to conditions stemming from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Though we had every…

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Joint Response Regarding COVID-19 and Advice on Transitioning Face-to-Face Courses Online

Updated March 12, 2020 During the week of March 2nd, the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), Quality Matters (QM), University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA), and WCET (the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies) released a joint statement on the spread of COVID-19 and academic continuity planning. Since then, a number of institutions of higher education…

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What Katrina Taught Us About Online Delivery

What Katrina Taught Us About Online Delivery

In 2005, more than 120 U.S. universities came to the aid of some 20 colleges and universities that had been impacted by Hurricane Katrina through shared online classes. There is much discussion now about continuing the delivery of the curriculum in instances where the new coronavirus may disrupt traditional campus offerings. This is not the…

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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response from OLC, QM, UPCEA, and WCET

The Online Learning Consortium (OLC), Quality Matters (QM), University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA), and WCET (the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies) represent diverse perspectives from across the field of online learning. In this capacity, the four organizations have the ability to mobilize around topics and concerns relevant to our collective memberships. The Coronavirus…

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Semester Without End

What if the learning and engagement from a single class offering were not to stop with the semester — if instead it continued throughout a career? More than two decades ago, I was teaching technology courses in the communication department at the University of Illinois at Springfield. One of my favorites was a graduate seminar, New…

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Identifying Local Skills Gaps (Inside Higher Ed)

Cities in California and Minnesota both have growing medical technology manufacturing industries, but job seekers in those states need different skills to be competitive in the industry. In California, the jobs focus more on programming and life science skills, while the jobs in Minnesota focus more on product development and industrial engineering. […] This may…

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Policy Matters | Trump Administration Releases FY 2021 Budget Proposal; Education Funds Request Reduced (February 2020)

Welcome to the February edition of Policy Matters. Each issue has the latest updates and actionable items in public policy for adult and nontraditional education stakeholders. Major Update Trump Administration Releases FY 2021 Budget Proposal; Education Funds Request Reduced Earlier this month, the Trump Administration released its FY2021 budget proposal request. The efforts specifically relating to education…

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Creeping Out Generation Z

Creeping Out Generation Z

The next generation of adult learners, Generation Z (those currently between the ages of 13 and 23) and young Millennials (roughly 24 to 30), are very different from other generations.  They research providers more, as well as being more likely to abandon shopping carts.[i]  They get creeped out by our efforts to extract too much…

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UPCEA Releases Competency Statements for Professional, Continuing, and Online Practitioners

WASHINGTON, February 18, 2020 – UPCEA, the leader in professional, continuing, and online education, is pleased to announce the release of the association’s Competency and Attribute Statements for Professional, Continuing, and Online Practitioners.  The competency and attribute statements consist of the essential knowledge, skills, and dispositions required of Professional, Continuing, and Online (PCO) Education practitioners,…

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Know Your Students

Far too often we begin planning a class with the content, pedagogy, technology and outcomes in mind — without first researching the students. When teaching, it seems logical to begin with the content or the pedagogy and then apply technologies to meet the outcomes we see, yet this misses the most important foundational step in…

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