Artificial intelligence is becoming part of the everyday work of higher education. From enrollment management and student services to academic administration and continuing and professional education, AI is creating opportunities to rethink how work is accomplished. Much of the discussion has focused on what AI can do. For institutional leaders, however, a more important question…
There are many assumptions about AI use across generations. Gen Z readily embraces artificial intelligence. Millennials are integrating it into their work. Gen X is more cautious and pragmatic. Baby Boomers are reluctant adopters. Is it really that simple? Perhaps not. Generational differences in AI use appear to be real. What those differences mean is…
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…
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…
UPCEA CEO Robert J. Hansen to Retire in 2027; Board to Launch National Search for Successor
Hansen will leave an organization that has nearly quadrupled its annual revenue and become the leading association for online and professional education WASHINGTON, October 21, 2026 – The UPCEA Board of Directors today announced that Dr. Robert J. Hansen, who has led UPCEA, the online and professional education association, for more than 16 years, will…
Workforce Pell Moves from Rules to Reality: State Pipelines, New Federal Training, and $65 Million from Labor | Policy Matters (September 2026)
Major Updates Workforce Pell Moves from Rules to Reality: State Approval Pipelines Mature, ED Launches Training, and Labor Awards $65 Million Nearly three months after Workforce Pell Grants (Pell awards for programs of 150–599 clock hours, or 8 to fewer than 15 weeks) became available on July 1, the rollout is moving at very different…
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…
In 1915, UPCEA’s founders built this association on a simple idea: carrying knowledge to the people. That founding purpose never had an expiration date, and it does not have one now. It is why, more than a century later, the question in front of us was never whether professional learning needs to change. It is…
The tagline for Convergence, Credential Innovation in Higher Education, raises two important questions: First, what kind of credentials are we talking about? Is the scope of credentials unlimited, blue sky, or confined to incremental changes on the margins of the status quo? And second, who is leading that innovation, and what do they need to…
AI tools now play a big role in which online and continuing education programs make a prospect’s shortlist, and that shortlist has room for only three. Search Influence and UPCEA’s 2026 AI Search Research Study shows what it takes to earn one of those spots. Key Insights 56% of prospective online and continuing education students…
Cut the Roles, or Support the People? When generative AI began fielding most of IKEA’s customer service questions, the company faced a choice familiar to any employer navigating fast-moving technology: cut the affected roles, or retrain the people in them. IKEA retrained them. The retailer built a program that moved 8,500 customer service employees into…