For many online and professional continuing education units, the primary barrier to adopting artificial intelligence is not access to tools, it is uncertainty about where to begin and how to proceed without disrupting daily operations. Leaders are often balancing innovation with stability, making it difficult to introduce new approaches without clear structure. A focused, time-bound strategy can reduce that ambiguity. A 90-day adoption…
The “traditional” student is quickly becoming a relic of a bygone era. The future of enrollment is concentrated in new, non-traditional markets: adult learners seeking rapid re-skilling, dual-enrolled high school students, and the millions of Americans with “some college, no credential” who represent a significant scalable opportunity for growth. Universities know they must pivot decisively…
The spring semester is coming to a close with the normal host of routines. Yet, beneath those routines, something is unfolding in the labor market that will greet your new graduates who will face an incrementally tighter job market. I asked Claude Sonnet 4.6 Extended Thinking to research the tasks relevant to preparing our new…
Technologists, economists, and visionaries are warning us that in the next three to 18 months, we are going to experience rapid and pervasive disruption of our professional lives, workplace models, and distribution of income. Professional positions requiring college degrees will be lost, remade into highly-productive, cost-efficient, hybrid human-AI models where human contributions and compensation will…
How to Use Technology to Enhance Leadership and Workforce Development
There’s no denying that the landscape of leadership and workforce development has evolved significantly over the past several years. As time progresses, it becomes apparent that technology has an increasingly present role in enhancing the quality and scope of higher education programs. If your institution is seeking practical ways to improve leadership development and educational…
New Distance Education Regulations Proposed by ED Includes Required Attendance-Taking, Additional Reporting – Public Comment Open Until August 23 | Policy Matters (July 2024)
Major Updates New Distance Education Regulations Proposed by ED Includes Required Attendance-Taking, Additional Reporting – Public Comment Open Until August 23 UPCEA Members Take Note, and Make a Comment! The US Department of Education recently released the proposed regulations for Distance Education, Return to Title IV, and TRIO. In another major announcement, they signaled in…
How the Education Department Wants to Police Online Education (Inside Higher Ed)
The Education Department wants to collect much more information about distance education courses and the students enrolled in them as part of a broader effort to increase oversight of online programs. The department’s proposal would require colleges and universities to take attendance in distance education classes, which include those offered online or via correspondence. Institutions…
Major Gaps in Tracking of Higher Ed Marketing Metrics: New Report
Search Influence and UPCEA Establish Higher Ed Marketing Cost Benchmarks in Joint Industry Report NEW ORLEANS, LA., July 30, 2024 — Search Influence, a leading higher education digital marketing agency, and UPCEA, the online and professional education association, announced their co-authored Higher Ed Marketing Metrics Research Report. The study establishes industry-first benchmarks for marketing cost…
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…
Online enrollment leaders don’t need another mandate to “use AI.” They need relief. Most teams are already stretched thin by demands to manage inquiry volume, follow-up expectations, data hygiene, and prospect responsiveness. They lack the capacity to take on yet another complex initiative, especially one that feels abstract or disruptive. AI mandates promise transformation when…
Discover how to explain AI SEO ROI to university leadership when attribution is imperfect, with insights and strategy from Search Influence. Across higher education, marketing teams are being asked to explain AI search visibility before institutions agree on how to measure it. Leadership discussions are moving quickly, while reporting frameworks remain centered on keyword rankings,…