Posts by UPCEA
Five 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…
Read MoreEducation Organizations Release Federal Policy Briefs Addressing Needed Modernizations To Higher Education Regulations
Briefs Authored by UPCEA, OLC, and WCET Cover Competency-Based Education, Financial Aid, Regular and Substantive Interaction, and State Authorization WASHINGTON, DC – February 27, 2019 – Today, three organizations in higher education—UPCEA, OLC and WCET—have issued a set of policy briefs relating to necessary changes to federal regulations affecting the professional, continuing, and online education…
Read MoreDon’t Tell My Mother…I Read a Fiction Book
My parents immigrated from China in the 1950s and 60s. They strongly encouraged my brothers and I to study engineering, computers, medicine or mathematics. Nothing else mattered. I chose math and my brothers chose computer science and electrical engineering. I went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in math and a master’s degree in statistics…
Read MoreThe Commons: Three Steps for Energizing Quality Assurance in Online Course Design
Many institutional leaders recognize the need for a quality assurance program, yet faculty and staff buy-in to those plans can be elusive. Samford University recently took a collaborative approach to organizational change in its online and professional studies programs, ultimately creating an appetite for quality assurance by increasing awareness, generating buy-in, and empowering faculty through…
Read MoreThe Promise of Personalized Learning, Enabled by AI
A centuries-old challenge for teachers has been how to adapt learning materials and presentations to meet the varied backgrounds and abilities of students. Emerging technologies, Ray Schroeder writes, can help meet students where they are and customize learning for them. From introductory gen-ed classes to advanced graduate seminars, wherever classes online or on campus include…
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