In late August, I had the opportunity to join the National Governors Association’s Intersectional Policy Lab on Non-Degree Credentials and Skills-Based Practices in Minneapolis. This first in-person gathering of NGA’s Data and Non-Degree Credential Learning Community and Skills in the States Community of Practice brought together state leaders, researchers, foundations, and employers for two days…
Read MoreWhen the New York Times ran a piece in August pointing out that companies are throwing billions into AI with little to show for it, I had déjà vu. It took me right back to the late 1990s, when everyone thought the web would change everything overnight. It did change everything—but not before years of…
Read MoreFall 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…
Read MoreLearning 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…
Read MoreDepartment of Education Provides Year Round Pell and Increased Flexibility for Students
US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION – WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced Year Round Pell grants will be available to students beginning July 1, 2017. This policy change will ensure hundreds of thousands of college students have the resources needed to finish their coursework in a timeframe that meets their individual needs. “This decision is…
UPCEA and Higher Education Groups Urge Congress to Continue Support for Student Aid, Research
UPCEA today co-signed a letter led by ACE and 32 other higher education associations to the leaders of the House and Senate budget and appropriations committees, asking them to maintain Congress’s “historic commitment” to student financial aid and scientific research as they begin work on funding the federal government for FY 2018, which begins Oct. 1. As…
UPCEA Signs DACA Support Letter Joining HACU and Others
UPCEA today joined the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and 26 other organizations to issue a letter to Secretary John Kelly of the Department of Homeland Security requesting clarification regarding protections offered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Our concern surrounds DACA holders being deported or detained and threatened with deportation…
The Future of Jobs and Jobs Training (Pew Research Center)
The Future of Jobs and Jobs Training (Pew Research Center) May 3, 2017 Ray Schroeder, associate vice chancellor for online learning at the University of Illinois, Springfield, commented, “It is projected that those entering the workforce today will pursue four or five different careers (not just jobs) over their lifetime. These career changes will…
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…
Read MoreOver 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…
Read MoreSince 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…
Read MoreTurn 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…
Read More