There’s a moment from my college days I remember more clearly than any midterm I ever took. I had stepped away from my bachelor’s degree at Penn State because I wanted to live a little. I’d grown up in the same town that I went to college and I just needed an extended reprieve, something…
Is your online and professional continuing education unit looking for ways to improve job-market outcomes for graduates and alumni? Are you exploring strategies that better align your program portfolio with the skills business and industry leaders say they need both for new hires and for upskilling current employees? Recent employer data provides a clear signal that high-demand employees are ones with verified AI skills and practical experience. A 2025…
As we look at Artificial Intelligence in teaching and learning, we must look beyond facts, figures and formulas to ensure that the skill of perceiving and managing feelings, emotions and personalization are engaged in the process. Looking back on my lifelong history of learning experiences, the ones that I would rank as most effective and…
Agentic AI is no longer merely an interactive tool we talk to; it is a colleague that acts for us. In a very active and highly competitive environment, AI has grown at breakneck speed. As with so many technologies, business and industry have moved far faster than academe to embrace the cost savings, capability expanding…
Best Colleges Ranking – 2025 (WalletHub)
Insights from Ray Schroeder, Senior Fellow at UPCEA – The Online and Professional Education Association and Professor Emeritus of Communication – University of Illinois Springfield Are Ivy League and other “name- brand” schools worth the high sticker price? Wise consumers of higher education should begin with the outcome. What career or job is your desired…
Motivating Students Who Have Some College but No Credential (Inside Higher Ed)
“A survey of roughly 1,000 learners with some college credits but no credential found that many of these former students distrust higher ed and question the value of a degree. The study, highlighted in a new white paper released Tuesday, was conducted by StraighterLine, an online course provider, and UPCEA, the online and professional education association….
Stopped-out students are confident in their academic skills — but financial concerns remain (Higher Ed Dive)
“Facing the rapidly approaching demographic cliff — an expected dropoff in high school graduates starting around 2025 — many colleges are pivoting to reengaging students who attended college but left before earning a credential. Officials see significant enrollment potential among this group, as the nationwide pool of stopped-out students is large and growing. By July 2022,…
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…
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…
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…
Introduction Higher education is at a crossroads, marked by declining public trust, diminishing enrollments, substantial budget cuts, and increased scrutiny on post-college outcomes. Recent research from UPCEA underscores growing skepticism about the value of traditional degrees, driving institutions and learners alike to explore innovative educational pathways and revenue models (UPCEA, 2025). To address these challenges…
Online programs are no longer a nice-to-have. They are essential, with many schools looking to online as their primary growth lever amid market headwinds. A strong portfolio of online programs can allow institutions to grow enrollment, reach new student populations, and future-proof their offerings. But building, launching, and sustaining a successful online program operation requires…