Posts by UPCEA
The Rise of a New Entertainment Category: Esports
As I deepen my liberal arts side by reading Ernest Cline’s novel Ready Player One, it caused me to flashback to my 70s and 80s childhood of videogaming and skateboarding. It also piqued my interest in exploring the impact of today’s esports world and trends in the gaming community. In professional, continuing, and online (PCO)…
Read MoreAre Big Data and Data Science a Threat to Higher Education?
It was encouraging to read an UPCEA blog post from August 2018 in which Mindmax CEO Lee Maxey critiqued our data and knowledge environment. Mr. Maxey’s description of how we’re drowning in data was on point; the sheer mass of analytics, metrics and all things measuring is indeed a problem. With Big Data, comes Data…
Read MoreThe Maturing MOOC
Online courses are changing — sometimes less open, sometimes less massive — but they’re still relevant. In the summer of 2011 we produced eduMOOC — a constructivist massive open online course about online learning with the help of a small group of talented and expert professionals at the University of Illinois Springfield as well as colleagues around…
Read MoreTrump Administration Releases Budget Cutting Approximately 10% of ED Funding
On Monday March 11th, the Trump administration released their budget proposal for the 2020 fiscal year. Included in the proposal is a $7.1 billion cut to the Department of Education, approximately equal to 10% of its total current operational budget. These proposals follow similar attempts in past budgets the administration has put forward. The cuts…
Read MoreFive Key Trends for Professional and Continuing Education Leaders in the Next Five Years (The EvoLLLution)
Higher education is on the cusp of major changes. Enrollments are on the decline—both online and on campus—and the trend is expected to accelerate. Graduates are laboring under substantial college loan debts totaling more than $1.5 trillion. Employers are demanding that applicants possess soft and hard skills that many college graduates do not hold. At…
Read MoreWhat is Regular and Substantive Interaction? The Term That Has Defined Online Learning Still Lacks Clear Definition (Elearning Inside)
There’s an issue with online higher education that has yet to be resolved. For learners to apply for federal student loans, and for institutions to receive these Title IV funds, online or distance programs must demonstrate “regular and substantive interaction” (RSI) between students and instructors. There’s just one issue in following this guideline. No policymaker…
Read MoreExtend financial aid to cover more alternative education programs, groups say (edscoop)
Despite a surge of regulations in the 1980s designed to prevent fraudulent use of financial aid funds for online courses, the Department of Education still struggles to balance consumer protections with a growing need for short-term and distance education to offer student aid, according to a report released Wednesday by higher education policy advocates. The report — authored…
Read MoreThe Building Blocks of Higher Education’s Future: Blockchain
Are you reading the blogs on technology by Ray Schroeder, Director of UPCEA’s National Council for Online Education? When he’s not talking about augmented reality or robotics, he’s talking about blockchain. Are you at an awkward mixer and everyone is talking about blockchain? You’re not alone. It’s a simple, but challenging concept that is coming. …
Read MoreGeorgia Tech Is Creating the Next in Education
With its online master’s in computer science and its recent commitment to a lifetime of education for its students, Georgia Tech challenges MIT as most innovative university. Over the decades, I have always considered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to be the leader in innovation in higher education. Ever since its open courseware initiative was…
Read MoreHigher ed groups ask for flexibility with online learning rules (EducationDIVE)
Dive Brief: As regulators and industry representatives hash out a potential future for higher education accreditation, particularly rules governing online learning, three industry groups have put forward their own policy recommendations. Covering topics such as competency-based education (CBE), regular and substantive interaction and state authorization, the policy briefs were written by the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), the…
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