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

Leading in the Age of AI: Learning from Lincoln

October 20, 2025

“How would you describe your leadership style?”  This question is a common one for both mid-level and senior-level candidates in the interview process. In the past, many relied on descriptors such as transformative, collaborative, or authentic to explain how they approached people and built teams. But as you think about your next career step, perhaps…

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Maximizing Audience Lifetime Value: The Role of Branding, Partnerships, and Alumni Networks in Credential Success

October 13, 2025

Shifting Student and Employer Priorities Create Opportunities for Higher Education Interest and innovation in workforce-related programming and credentials continue to surge, emerging as one of the fastest growing markets in higher education. Two-thirds of colleges and universities are making significant investments in this area, with more than one-third also embedding professional certifications into their online…

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

Higher Education AI Transformation 2030

October 16, 2025

We have begun a transformation in higher education that will make us more responsive, efficient, and effective at achieving our multiple missions. This will not be easy or without trauma, but it is necessary. I had the honor and good fortune to be invited by the generous and insightful Board Chair of the International Professors…

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AI Hallucinations May Soon Be History

October 2, 2025

An artifact of the race to the top in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is that mistakes inevitably occur in refining the models that are under continuous development. One of those many mistakes apparently led to hallucinations in outputs. We all are witness to the incredibly frenetic race to develop AI tools that publicly kicked off on…

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

New Study Reveals Keys to Re-Engaging the 41.9 Million Americans with Some College, but No Credential

Students’ Perception of the Value of a Degree Drops 50% After Stopping Out WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 15, 2024) — StraighterLine, the leading provider of flexible, affordable post-secondary online courses and industry credentials, and UPCEA (the online and professional education association) released findings from a new study examining the motivations, challenges, and readiness of individuals with…

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Collaborating for the Future: Employer Partnerships and Credential Innovation

UPCEA members are often the advocates and aggregators for credential innovation on their campuses, as those flexible learning opportunities are often noncredit or certificate-centric, and usually online, avenues pioneered by our online and professional community. To help institutions better advocate for the resources needed for a successful, holistic micro-credentialing strategy, UPCEA engaged in a grant-funded…

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2024 UPCEA MEMS Award Recipients Announced

40 Recipients Chosen For Three Award Categories WASHINGTON, D.C., September 27, 2024 — UPCEA, the online and professional education association, has announced the recipients of the 2024 Excellence in Enrollment Management Award, the Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness in Marketing, Enrollment, and Student Success Award, and the Excellence in Marketing Award.  All three awards…

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Reporting Deadline on GE and FVT Pushed to 2025 | Policy Matters (September 2024)

Major Updates Reporting Deadline on GE and FVT Pushed to 2025 The Department of Education (ED) has announced a further delay in the reporting deadline for Gainful Employment (GE) and Financial Value Transparency (FVT) until early 2025. Initially extended to October 1, 2024, the deadline has now been pushed to January 15, 2025. This follows…

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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.

Reflections from Convergence 2025: Lessons in Agility, Leadership, and Lifelong Learning

October 16, 2025

There are few conferences that truly bring together such an inspiring mix of vision, innovation, and authenticity as UPCEA’s Convergence. This year, the event in Washington D.C. proved why it’s one of my favorite gatherings in the field of continuing education. The energy, the openness, and the collective drive to redefine learning for a changing…

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AI and Cybersecurity: The New Power Couple on Campus

October 10, 2025

Innovation attracts attention, and not all of it good. Protecting data, students, and credibility now means securing every AI experiment before it secures you.   The Bright Side, and the Blind Spots, of AI in Higher Ed AI is higher ed’s new favorite partner and, like any power couple, it comes with complications. It’s rewriting…

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