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

Leading with Values-Based Influence in Higher Education

May 5, 2025

Why Values-Based Influence Matters Now  Higher education is undergoing seismic shifts—demographic changes, budget constraints, AI disruption, and questions of relevance. In this environment, how we lead and why we lead matters as much as what we do as leaders. Leaders who operate from a strong internal compass—those grounded in values—offer clarity, stability, and hope.  Values-based…

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Your Lifelong Learning Journey’s “Breadcrumbs” – How to Tell Your Story

April 28, 2025

As avid backcountry hikers, years ago my family decided it would be prudent to buy a GPS, even though we had a rescue dog with an incredible sense of direction. While many out-and-back or even loop hikes didn’t require high-powered digital GPS coordinates to find our way back to our vehicle, we did appreciate launching…

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

Becoming AI Literate this Summer

May 14, 2025

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of contemporary practice in higher education. This summer is an ideal time to become AI literate for the fall. Perhaps you just haven’t had time to keep up with the advent of agentic AI. Or, you simply didn’t realize that AI is not just a fad in…

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Urgent Need for AI Literacy

April 30, 2025

As we approach May, alarm bells are ringing for all colleges and universities to ensure that AI literacy programs have been completed by learners who plan to enter the job market this year and in the future. The rapid advent of AI capabilities, coupled with the developing economic pressures worldwide, have led to a surge…

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

230 Recipients Receive Honors Across 26 Categories for Excellence in Marketing

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 27, 2016 — UPCEA, the leader in professional alongside SMR Digital, continuing, and online education, has announced the recipients of the 2016 Marketing Awards. The UPCEA Marketing Awards program recognizes the top marketing and creative work across the UPCEA membership. This year, UPCEA is honoring 230 recipients for their excellence in 26…

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UPCEA Joins Multiple Distance Ed Orgs to Offer State Authorization Comments

UPCEA co-signed, with a coalition of other organizations with a direct interest in distance education, a letter commenting on the Department of Education’s proposed regulations on state authorization. UPCEA joined along with five other non-profit organizations garnering a collective total of more than 1,000 institutions innovating in offering distance education, the leading organization in higher…

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Millennial demand drives higher ed badging expansion (University Business)

“Almost all U.S. colleges and universities now award certificates, digital badges and other forms of microcredentials so students can quickly show an employer specialized skills they’ve acquired. Driving this fast-growing trend are workforce millennials who want to learn, for instance, how to operate an Amazon delivery drone or repair a self-driving car without having to…

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7 new standards for excellent online learning leadership (eCampusNews)

“As online learning evolves from amateur experimentation to a mainstream professional entity on campus, new standards for quality online learning leadership are emerging in order to not only sustain these distance programs, but ensure they meet the growing demands of 21st-century academe. The UPCEA has released a report detailing seven hallmarks of excellence in online…

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Musings on trends and updates from UPCEA CEO Bob Hansen.

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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Beyond Degrees: How Credential Innovation is Closing the Gap for 42 Million Learners

October 24, 2024

A Movement, Not Just a Community Convergence is emerging as the place where the credential innovation community for higher ed comes together. But more than a community, it’s a movement. Not a movement to make degrees less valuable, let alone obsolete. Rather, it’s a movement to complement degrees by meeting the needs of those for…

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Valuable insights from UPCEA's trusted corporate partners.

Learning Design: Your Best Underutilized Marketing Tool

May 23, 2025

Many non-academic factors influence learners’ higher education decisions: financial implications, geography, degree paths, sports success, family legacy, and more. While there are many ways for a given institution to market itself, economic, technological, and societal shifts are motivating schools to refocus their marketing on attributes that specifically drive positive outcomes and generate industry-ready graduates: Learners…

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Higher Ed SEO Trends to Stay Competitive

March 14, 2025

Higher education institutions are navigating a rapidly evolving search landscape. With so many prospective students turning to search engines to explore programs and make enrollment decisions, universities must ensure their SEO strategies keep pace with these changes. Without a clear SEO strategy, institutions risk losing visibility. According to the Higher Ed SEO Research Study developed…

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