See below for the full set of all blogs hosted by the association.

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

Artificial Intelligence is Non-Negotiable for Higher Education Marketing and Enrollment Management

August 5, 2025

Why Institutional Leaders Can No Longer Afford to Wait on AI adoption The clock is ticking for higher education institutions that haven’t fully embraced AI. What was once an experimental advantage in marketing and enrollment has quickly become an urgent necessity. AI has firmly established itself as an operational imperative across diverse industries, with the…

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Accelerating Institutional Capacity for Employer Engagement in Credential Innovation

July 22, 2025

As the future of work rapidly evolves, higher education institutions must accelerate their capacity to engage with employers—building bridges between learning and labor market relevance. At UPCEA, with support from Walmart, the world’s largest employer, we’ve undertaken two major initiatives to strengthen these bridges. The first project provided foundational benchmarking data, a practical playbook, and…

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

Walking, Talking, Engaging AI in Higher Ed

June 26, 2025

We are most accustomed to writing prompts and challenging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to give us answers, insights, sources, videoclips, and creativity. Emerging now is the walking, talking AI that engages us on our level. We have front-row seats to the maturing of AI in higher education. There has been audio for a while, but now…

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Our New Co-Workers in Higher Ed

June 12, 2025

It takes a team, if not a village, to work together to deliver quality higher education. Fortunately, we have a new cohort of colleagues joining us at colleges and universities. These new colleagues are eminently qualified; most have been knowledge-certified as above-average for Ph.D. holders in their field. They are truly tireless; working 24 hours…

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

Congress Passes President Trump’s OBBB—Workforce Pell Included, but Higher Ed Gets $300 Billion Slash | Policy Matters (July 2025)

Major Updates Congress Passes President Trump’s OBBB—Workforce Pell Included, but Higher Ed Gets $300 Billion Slash President Trump’s newly signed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) overhauls the federal approach to higher education policy. Short-term Pell advocates (of which UPCEA has been a long supporter) have something to be thankful for, as it opens Workforce…

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Synchronizing Pathways: Advancing the National Dialogue on Credentials and Learning Mobility

Incubator grant supports critical work to align data practices and learning mobility frameworks to benefit today’s learners WASHINGTON July 31, 2025 – UPCEA, the online and professional education association, has launched a national initiative to advance credential transparency and learner mobility through improved data quality and institutional capacity-building. The project titled, “Synchronizing Pathways: Expanding Institutional…

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UPCEA Recognizes 2025 Award Recipients at the Summit for Online Leadership and Administration Conference (SOLAR)

Association Award Recipients Highlighted at Event WASHINGTON (July 17, 2025) – UPCEA, the online and professional education association, is pleased to recognize the recipients of this year’s online and distance education awards. Award recipients will be showcased at the Summit for Online Leadership and Administration (SOLAR) Conference, July 22-24 in Portland, Oregon. The annual SOLAR…

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Unlocking Opportunity: How Tax Policies Like Section 127 Can Drive Employer Partnerships

By Chelsea Miller, UpSkill America, and Amy Heitzman, UPCEA Partnership is a key driver to unlocking opportunity in America, which is why UPCEA and UpSkill America are so excited to come together to help academic institutions understand one particular priority for employers: leveraging tax policies to drive engagement (really!).  UpSkill America focuses on how employers…

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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.

Understanding the Evolving Needs of Online Learners

August 4, 2025

Every year, the Voice of the Online Learner report offers a window into the motivations, preferences, and challenges of today’s online students. Now in its 14th year, the 2025 edition provides timely insights for UPCEA members seeking to design courses and programs that meet the needs of adult learners, employers, and communities. At Risepoint, we’re…

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Rebuilding Student Trust: 6 Coaching Strategies to Support Belonging for Online and Adult Learners

July 28, 2025

Rebuilding Student Trust: 6 coaching strategies to support belonging for online and adult learners How institutions can help online and adult learners feel seen and supported throughout their college journey In today’s higher education landscape, more adult learners are enrolling in online programs, often while managing work, family and other life commitments. However, these motivated…

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