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Perspectives on Online and Professional Education
from UPCEA’s Research and Consulting Experts

UPCEA/Pearson Survey: Demographic Shifts in Educational Demand and the Rise of Alternative Credentials

June 7, 2016

To thrive in today’s fast-evolving job market, students need flexible ways to quickly develop and demonstrate new skills. Alternative credentialing helps solve this problem. UPCEA and Pearson surveyed 190 institutions to determine the role alternative credentials play in higher education. Learn more about the key findings and download the complete report, Demographic Shifts in Educational…

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

AI Companies Roll out Educational Tools

September 4, 2025

Fall semesters are just beginning and the companies offering three leading AI models: Gemini by Google, Claude by Anthropic and ChatGPT by OpenAI have rolled out tools to facilitate AI-enhanced learning. Here’s a comparison and how to get them. Each of the three leading AI providers has taken a somewhat different approach to providing an…

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AI Can Facilitate Mastery Learning in Higher Education

August 21, 2025

Learning in contemporary higher education is rooted deeply in calendars and time rather than mastery of the topic of the learning. With an inflexible semester or quarter calendar and an often-inflexible schedule and length of meeting times, learners are marched through the system in the orderly method of an assembly line. As long as I…

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Your one-stop shop for the latest Association happenings, policy updates, plus thoughts from the desk of CEO Bob Hansen.

Honoring the Life and Legacy of Dr. James P. Pappas

UPCEA joins colleagues, friends, and the broader higher education community in mourning the passing of Dr. James P. Pappas, who dedicated his career to advancing the reach, relevance, and impact of online, professional and continuing education. Dr. Pappas, a former President of UPCEA, was the 1999 Walton S. Bittner Service Citation Award recipient and 2006…

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UPCEA Partners with AACRAO to Present 2025 Convergence: Credential Innovation in Higher Education

September 29-October 1 conference to take place in metro Washington DC area WASHINGTON, D.C., ISSUED SEPTEMBER 9, 2025. UPCEA, the online and professional education association, and AACRAO, a non-profit organization that supports higher education professionals, are again joining together to present Convergence: Credential Innovation in Higher Education, an event exploring the future of alternative credentials…

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Justice Department Threatens College Funding Over DEI Policies; Administration Requests Detailed Admissions Data | Policy Matters (August 2025)

Major Updates Justice Department Threatens College Funding Over DEI Policies; Administration Requests Detailed Admissions Data The U.S. Department of Justice has issued guidance warning that colleges and other federally funded institutions could lose federal support if they continue certain diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices. The DOJ’s new memo flags a sweeping range of campus…

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UPCEA’s 2025 Online Education Benchmarking Report Provides Vital Data for University Leaders

Second annual study provides new KPI benchmarks around enrollments, finance, and budget, explores the impact of AI, and provides strategic recommendations for online leaders to thrive in these uncertain times.  WASHINGTON, D.C., ISSUED AUGUST 12, 2025…UPCEA, the online and professional education association, today announced the release of a new research report, “Benchmarking Online Enterprises: Insights…

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Musings on trends and updates from UPCEA CEO Bob Hansen.

Foreword by Bob Hansen Featured in The COLO Guidebook

July 10, 2025

We are pleased to share the foreword by UPCEA CEO Bob Hansen from the newly released Chief Online Learning Officers’ Guidebook: A Framework for Strategy and Practice in Higher Education. The guidebook, now available from Routledge in paperback, hardback, and eBook formats, provides a comprehensive framework for today’s online learning leaders. Learn more and purchase…

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A new direction for the Distance Teaching and Learning Conference

November 7, 2024

Over the last three years, UPCEA engaged in an innovative partnership with the University of Wisconsin–Madison to enable the latter’s Distance Teaching and Learning (DT&L) conference to continue under UPCEA’s leadership. The partnership’s goals included making this valuable event for the distance learning community more sustainable and accessible to online practitioners focused on teaching and…

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Valuable insights from UPCEA's trusted corporate partners.

Building Better Learners, Educators, and Outcomes with Scenario-Based Learning

August 25, 2025

Since the 1980s, higher education has steadily shifted from passive lectures to more active, student-centered learning. As Bonwell and Eison noted in Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom, this shift not only reinforces content mastery but also fosters critical thinking and problem-solving. Cynthia J. Brame, writing for Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching, defines active learning…

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Building the Cyber Workforce the Future Can’t Live Without

August 11, 2025

Turn learners into the cyber pros every employer is chasing with stackable, multi-credential pathways The Cyber Talent Gap Is a Moving Target Picture this: the bad guys keep upgrading their playbook, but the good guys are still running last season’s plays. That’s the cyber talent gap in a nutshell. It’s not just about more people…

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